Problematic Modernity: Gender, Sexuality, and Reproduction in Twentieth-Century Argentina

This article examines the limits of twentieth-century Argentine liberalism in light of two important rights for women: divorce and free access to contraceptive methods. Taking into account the liberal impulse of modernity at the beginning of the century and a phase of "neomodernity" upheld by neoliberal forces at the end of the century, the article argues that, while modernizing phenomena often foretell a greater rationality, secularity, and consolidation of private rights, such was not the case in Argentina because of the extreme influence of the Catholic Church. The article concludes with a discussion of how liberalism was inflected by its encounters with the Catholic Church, whose influence managed to delay passage of a divorce law until 1987, forestall free access to contraceptive methods, and block the legalization of abortion.