Beyond the Ballot Box: Sex and the Meanings of Democracy in Postdictatorial Argentina

In 1983, elections in Argentina ended one of the bloodiest dictatorships in Latin America (1976–83) and Argentines rejoiced in a democratic spring. One of the most important socio-cultural transformations of the democratic transition was the destape, a process of sexual liberation after years of sexual repression and censorship imposed by the military regime. This talk explores how for most Argentines, the new culture of sexual frankness re-signified the meanings of democracy. New sexual freedoms—from purchasing an erotic novel or attending the screening of an adult movie to campaigning for school-based sex education—rendered democracy a lived experience as much as practices like voting and protest marches did.

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Natalia Milanesio is a professor of Modern Latin American History at the University of Houston. She is the author of Destape: Sex, Democracy, and Freedom in Postdictatorial Argentina (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019) and Workers Go Shopping in Argentina: The Rise of Popular Consumer Culture (University of New Mexico, 2013). Spanish translations of both books were published by Siglo XXI. She has published in leading journals in the field, including the Hispanic American Historical Review, Gender and History, the Journal of Women’s History, and the Journal of Social History. She is currently a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at UCL Institute of the Americas.

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In 2015 and 2018, two historic referendums were held in the Republic of Ireland. The first, on marriage equality, and the second to repeal the eighth amendment of the Irish constitution and thus legalise abortion in the country. Both referendums passed with clear majorities in favour, signally to many across the world, that the country was moving away from the influence of Catholic teachings which had profoundly affected legal and medical structures in relation to sexual and reproductive rights since Irish independence from Britain in 1922. Looking at the press coverage of these referendums, which focused on the younger generations of campaigners, it would be easy to forget the decades of resilience of campaigners who had gone before them. Similarly, recent historiography, with some notable exceptions, has tended to focus on the work of campaign groups of the 2010s.

One group which has received scant scholarly attention is the pro-choice Women’s Right to Choose Group (WRTCG), established in Dublin in 1980. In the three years of its existence, group members focused their campaign on two key elements: the Irish Pregnancy Counselling Service, which provided counselling to women facing crisis pregnancies and referred those who required abortions to service providers in Britain. The other element of their work was a direct-action campaign to bring attention to the issue and help to reduce stigma and silences. Ultimately, the organisation wound up in 1983 with the defeat of the Anti-Amendment campaign and the introduction of the eighth amendment in Ireland by popular vote.

Using oral history interviews with ten of the original members of the WRTCG, in addition to a range of archival sources and print publications, this paper explores the personal experiences and efforts of the female activists involved, the meaning of and challenges of pro-choice work in the context of 1980s Ireland, and activists’ feelings regarding the legacy of their work. Finally, this paper will address the transnational elements of Irish pro-choice activism.

‘Feeding the Roman Army in Britain: New evidence for Provisioning the Frontiers’.