[TANGO-L] Tango - gender - sexroles

[Melina Sedo <melinasedo @onlinehome.de>]

Hi all,

Sergio wrote:
"There are cultures where to talk about sex or body functions, or the
use of
certain words make people very uncomfortable such as in the USA.
 There are other cultures where conversation on those subjects is
socially
acceptable and discussion is done routinarily in proper form.
    This was obvious recently when Antonio Cervila Jr. attempted to
discuss
sex , psychoanalysis and tango. He was not only misunderstood but also
ridiculed and attacked.  I personally think that sex, gender role,
psychoanalysis and tango could be extremely interesting subjects."

Well, you're right.
Refering to sex in the context of Tango is thought to be vulgar. Even
mentioning that in Tango (like any other field where people meet) there
may be possibilities to find a partner for bed or life does seem to be a
sacrileg to this highly intellectual and spiritual dance.

I wrote my psychological dissertation about "Sex roles in Argentine
Tango".
Therefore I developed a questionnaire which was distributed all over
Germany containing questions about the ideal tango dancer (male or
female), the tango etiquette and the numerous reasons why people dance
tango... (In addition to that in contained a german version of Bem's
sex-role-inventory.)
And guess what: Altough in Germany a lot of singles are dancing tango
(in my poll: 100 of 170) the connection between Tango, sexuality and
finding a partner is not a strong one:
71,1 % of the questioned people do renounce the possibility of finding a
partner in the tango contect.
But: For 41,2 % Tango also means passion and erotics. May this be only
the passion of the Tango shows?

Funny, funny: there are this places where you get in a real close
contact to sexual compatible people, where erotic experiences can be
made. But: do not dare mentioning to a men or woman that you are
interested to share this intimacy in bed! No one will dance with you any
longer! ;-)

Women coming from holidays in Buenos Aires often mention the frequency
of men trying to get friendly to them and one of the most important
themes in argentine Milongas seems to be the relations between men and
women. And: Tango lyrics mostly refer to men and women! But we
non-argentine only speak of tango!  ;-)

Cultural differences? Social differences?
In Europe, USA and other non-argentine places tangueros and tangueras
seem to be mostly people with high school or university degree. In my
poll 136 of 170 tangueros had high school and 125 of them university
degree..
Well, most of the argentine tango-dancers coming to teach in Europe and
the milongueros in Buenos Aires are no university graduates. And their
approach to Tango and sexuality seems to be a little more relaxed than
ours, does it not?

Will I be tared and feathered now???  ;-)))

Melina

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