Estudos e Pesquisas em Psicologia
ISSN 1808-4281
BENITEZ, Sebastián Matías. The Education of Argentinean Males in the Early 20th Century: Psychology, Sexuality and Nation. Estud. pesqui. psicol. []. 2022, 22, spe, pp.1729-1751. 27--2024. ISSN 1808-4281. https://doi.org/10.12957/epp.2022.71778.
This article analyses, from a historical-critical perspective, the conceptualizations made by Psychology in the first decades of the 20th century about the emergence of puberty and behaviour in adolescent boys in Argentina. Tools from intellectual history are incorporated to analyse the relationships between the production of local knowledge and the reception of foreign psychological theories. This work examines the specialized knowledge on the subject and its articulation with the socio-cultural and political project proposed by intellectuals and leaders of the country. The idea of progress, linked to naturalistic and evolutionary ideas, formed part of the matrix of knowledge production about sexuality in Argentinean men. Different dimensions of analysis are included, such as the classification of sexual behaviour in adolescent boys, the problem of onanism at puberty, the psyche of boys at this stage and the role of medical and pedagogical interventions in establishing the parameters of normality/abnormality. At the same time, specific proposals on sexual education for Argentinean adolescents are analysed considering its place in a broader context of educational projects.
: History of Psychology; adolescence; masculinities; sexuality; Argentina..