Pleasures in Conflict: Maternity, Eroticism and Sexuality in Tango Dancing

JULIANA VERDENELLI

Music, Dance, Affect and Emotions in Latin America

Lexington Books

Año: 2017; p. 87 - 111

I propose to orient this chapter with a brief summary of the changes associated with sexuality in everyday life that have taken place in recent decades. To mention just a few, these include the distancing of sexuality from reproductive ends; transformations in sexual and affective connections; the increasing visibility of sexual minorities, the diversification of sexuality, etcetera. To my way of thinking, it is in the interweaving of these historic processes where we can find the plurality of discourses regarding maternity that have flourished in recent years. After this I will focus my analysis on a series of discourses that, as I see it, represent the subjective feelings of many middle class heterosexual women -mothers, young women- and tango dancers within the ?relaxed milonga? circuit of the city of Buenos Aires. Finally, I will propose some interpretations of how the presence of a reproductive sexuality represents a possible challenge to the established erotic practices and sexual bonds in such places.