La frígida y el donjuán: sexualidad, género y nación en el cine y la cultura popular del tardofranquismo

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between gender, sexuality and nation in late Francoist popular culture, exploring and comparing different and conflicting representations of masculinity and femininity. The analysis focuses mostly on how popular film comedy engages with existing sexological discourses disseminated through medical essays or sex manuals. In this sense, attention is particularly paid to filmic representations of marital relations and to the cultural pervasiveness of the figure of the polygamous, lustful, and adulterous macho ibérico. It is contended that sexological discourses expressed concern about a ‘sexual divorce’, which referred to the inability of men and women to function sexually together. At the same time, anxieties were voiced about the so-called female frigidity. This condition was blamed on the sexual ineptitude of Spanish men, which ultimately rested on the primitive and selfish character underlying their national and racial nature. Finally, it is argued that these discourses showcase diverse narratives about gender and nation against the backdrop of a crisis of masculinity.