Publicaciones sobre sexualidad en la España del primer tercio del siglo XX: entre la medicina y la pornografía

Abstract

In Spain in the 1920s and 1950s a great number of books, pamphlets and articles were published in magazines and newspapers about sex and sexuality. This was an important response to the tension created by major changes taking place in Spanish society and in the prevailing rigid moral norms. Within this literature there were works of all types; those strictly medical, works of popularization of the so-called «sexólogos», medical or not, novels, etc. I analyze here this ambiguous type of publications, whose seriousness may be called into question, although those who called themselves doctors signed them. They are publications that fall in the pornographic category in many cases. I analyze in this paper some of the works that belong to this category; a form of literature that spans what might appear to be serious popularization of knowledge about sexuality to almost open pornography.