Sex and Love in Porfirian Mexico City

Exploring the sexual lives of the poor and working

class in turn-of-the-century Mexico



This social

history explores the romantic and sexual lives of the poor and working class in

Mexico City during the rule of dictator Porfirio D?az from 1876 to 1911. By

analyzing sexually based crime cases and stories in the penny press, Michael

Matthews sheds light on everyday struggles, joys, and desires. Matthews argues

that lower-class individuals had more liberated sexual lives than their

wealthier counterparts, influenced by the city's growth and cultural changes.

In this book, Matthews

examines how Mexico City's expanding infrastructure, increasing factory work,

and new leisure and entertainment activities shaped courtship and sexual

practices. He delves into the world of tenement buildings and street life to

reconstruct days defined by love and desire, romance and rape, seduction and sex

work, and promises kept and broken. Matthews connects the sexual culture of the

poor to the changes taking place as the Mexican state modernized and underwent

tremendous capitalist growth and development.

Sex and Love in

Porfirian Mexico City

provides insights into how social and economic developments shaped cultural

norms surrounding honor, marriage, morality, and parental authority during this

period. It will spur new reflections on the possible influence of lower-class

culture on modern-day romance and sexual values.