Between the Local and the Global: Chronicles for Understanding the Field of Sexology in Mexico

ABSTRACT

This article examines the emergence, institutionalization, and configuration of sexology in Mexico. We conducted a qualitative study that included interviews with nine key actors, participant observation at relevant events, and a review of relevant documents specific to the field. The data collected indicate that the sexological field in Mexico participates intensely in processes and discourses in a dynamic that follows global strategies. The article covers several decades and reviews contextual factors involved in the configuration of Mexican sexology. The information presented here allows us to think about the relationship between local and global processes in the sexological field. Characterizing and analyzing this relationship is fundamental to understanding specific mechanisms, which have permitted sexology to legitimate itself as a discourse of truth on sex.

KEYWORDS:

• Sexology in Mexico
• qualitative studies
• history of sexology

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the research assistance of Olivia Pilar Ruíz García. We want to acknowledge the assistance and help of Jane Russo and Alain Giami on previous versions of this manuscript.

Notes

Sexuality: Science and Profession in Latin America, coordinated by Jane Russo (Latin American Center on Sexuality and Human Rights at Rio de Janeiro's Institute of Social Medicine) and Alain Giami (Inserm, French National Institute of Health and Medical Research).

According to Monrroy (1986), the founding members were doctors Luis Rodríguez Villa, Luis Castelazo Ayala, Luis Ricaud Rotito, José de Jesús Álvarez Ierena, Hubert de Kanter, Santiago Ramírez, Alfonso Quiroz Cuarón, and Manuel Mateos Cándano.

Sex therapies offered by sexologists without medical training—and who were usually initially trained as psychologists—usually consist of therapies of short duration aimed at individuals and couples looking to solve problems in their sex life, generally classified as dysfunctions. The aim of therapies is to achieve an adequate sexual performance according to the standards set by experts.