The Dance of the Forty-One or the Ball of the Forty-One (Spanish: ) was a society
scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
in early 20th-century
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, during the presidency of
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori ( or ; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915), known as Porfirio Díaz, was a Mexican general and politician who served seven terms as President of Mexico, a total of 31 years, from 28 November 1876 to 6 Decem ...
.
[
] The incident revolved around an illegal
police raid
A police raid is an unexpected visit by police or other law-enforcement officers with the aim of using the element of surprise in order to seize evidence or arrest suspects believed to be likely to hide evidence, resist arrest, be politicall ...
carried out on 17 November 1901 against a private home on Calle de la Paz (since renamed Calle Ezequiel Montes) in
Colonia Tabacalera
Colonia Tabacalera is a colonia or neighborhood in the Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, on the western border of the city's historic center. It was created in the late 19th century along with other nearby colonias such as Colonia San Rafael a ...
of
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
, the site of a dance attended by a group of men, of whom 19 were dressed in
women's clothing
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
.
The press was keen to report the incident, in spite of the government's efforts to hush it up, since the participants belonged to the upper echelons of society. The list of the detainees was never published.
Only 41 men were officially arrested, however there were rumors that
Ignacio de la Torre y Mier
José Ignacio Mariano Santiago Joaquín Francisco de la Torre y Mier (July 25, 1866 – April 1, 1918) was a Mexican businessman, politician and owner of a hacienda, the son-in-law of Porfirio Díaz, then president of Mexico, married to his eldest ...
, son-in-law of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Porfirio Díaz was also in attendance. Of the 41 men arrested for "offense to morals and good manners", most paid for their freedom and only 12 were eventually sent to work in the Yucatán.
The scandal was called by prominent writer
Carlos Monsiváis
Carlos Monsiváis Aceves (May 4, 1938 – June 19, 2010) was a Mexican philosopher, writer, critic, political activist, and journalist. He also wrote political opinion columns in leading newspapers within the country's progressive sectors. ...
"the invention of homosexuality in Mexico", due to it being the first time homosexuality was openly spoken about in the Mexican media.
The event was derided and satirized in the popular media of the era. The group was frequently termed the ''41
maricones''. With the rise of the
LGBT movement
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...
, the event has been depicted more empathetically in contemporary media.
Details
In the early 20th century in Mexico performing dances where only men or only women attended was done frequently, albeit in a clandestine way due to discrimination and public condemnation of
sexual diversity
Gender and sexual diversity (GSD), or simply sexual diversity, refers to all the diversities of sex characteristics, sexual orientations and gender identities, without the need to specify each of the identities, behaviors, or characteristics that ...
at the time. Several sources reported the celebration of parties and public events as parades with
transvestite
Transvestism is the practice of dressing in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. In some cultures, transvestism is practiced for religious, traditional, or ceremonial reasons. The term is considered outdated in Western c ...
men and women, although they were justified as
costume parties
A costume party (American English) or fancy dress party (other varieties of English) is a type of party, common in contemporary Western culture, in which many of the guests are dressed in costume, usually depicting a fictional or stock chara ...
.
The presumed organizers of the party would have been the son-in-law of then-President Porfirio Díaz,
Ignacio de la Torre y Mier
José Ignacio Mariano Santiago Joaquín Francisco de la Torre y Mier (July 25, 1866 – April 1, 1918) was a Mexican businessman, politician and owner of a hacienda, the son-in-law of Porfirio Díaz, then president of Mexico, married to his eldest ...
, married to his daughter
Amada Díaz, and Antonio Adalid, nicknamed "Toña la Mamonera",
godson of
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I (german: Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen, link=no, es, Fernando Maximiliano José María de Habsburgo-Lorena, link=no; 6 July 1832 – 19 June 1867) was an Austrian archduke who reigned as the only Emperor ...
and
Carlota of Mexico
Charlotte of Belgium (''Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine''; 7 June 1840 – 19 January 1927), known by the Spanish version of her name, Carlota, was by birth a Princess of Belgium and member of the House of ...
;
Other sources quoted the journalist Jesús "Chucho" Rábago and the landowner Alejandro Redo as frequent organizers. The party began the night of November 17 secretly in a house rented for that purpose in what were the limits of Mexico City, the Colonia Tabacalera. Media cite the fourth street of La Paz (current Ezequiel Montes or Jesus Carranza) where the guests had gathered in different carriages. The party included, in addition, the "Raffle of Pepito", a contest where the prize would be a
sex worker
A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker"
According to one view, sex work is d ...
.
Around three o'clock on the morning of November 18, the police raided the house after a transgender woman opened the door. This was stated in a journalistic note of the time:
A rumor, neither confirmed nor denied, soon emerged, claiming that there were in reality 42 participants, with the forty-second being
Ignacio de la Torre, Porfirio Díaz's son-in-law, who was allowed to escape. Although the raid was illegal and completely arbitrary, 19 of the 41 were convicted and
conscript
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
ed into the army and sent to
Yucatán
Yucatán (, also , , ; yua, Yúukatan ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Yucatán,; yua, link=no, Xóot' Noj Lu'umil Yúukatan. is one of the 31 states which comprise the political divisions of Mexico, federal entities of Mexico. I ...
where the
Caste War
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
was still being fought:
Most of the names of 41 are not known. Historian Juan Carlos Harris found some of them listed in the records of the
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ( es, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación (SCJN) is the Mexican institution serving as the country's federal high court and the spearhead organisation for the judiciary of the Mexican Federal Go ...
. Seven of the convicted ( Pascual Barrón, Felipe Martínez, Joaquín Moreno, Alejandro Pérez, Raúl Sevilla, Juan B. Sandoval and Jesús Solórzano) filed a writ of protection against their conscription to the army. Their claim was that homosexuality was not illegal in Mexico. Hence, the charge was simply replaced, to be a crime against decency, leaving the punishment the same
On 4 December 1901 there was a similar raid on a group of
lesbians
A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fem ...
in Santa María, but that incident received far less attention.
[
]
Impact on popular culture
As a result of the scandal, the numbers 41 and 42 were adopted by Mexican popular parlance to refer to homosexuality, with 42 reserved for
passive
Passive may refer to:
* Passive voice, a grammatical voice common in many languages, see also Pseudopassive
* Passive language, a language from which an interpreter works
* Passivity (behavior), the condition of submitting to the influence of on ...
homosexuals.
The incident and the numbers were spread through press reports, but also through engravings, satires, plays, literature, and paintings; in recent years, they have even appeared on television, in the historical ''
telenovela
A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...
'' ''
El vuelo del águila
''El vuelo del águila'' (''The Flight of the Eagle'') is a Mexican telenovela produced by Ernesto Alonso and Carlos Sotomayor for Televisa in 1994–1995. Telenovela based on the Mexican soldier and President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz, from his ...
,'' first broadcast by
Televisa
Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
in 1994. In 1906
Eduardo A. Castrejón published a book titled ''Los cuarenta y uno. Novela crítico-social''.
José Guadalupe Posada
José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar (2 February 1852 – 20 January 1913) was a Mexican political lithographer who used relief printing to produce popular illustrations. His work has influenced numerous Latin American artists and cartoonists becaus ...
's engravings alluding to the affair are famous, and were frequently published alongside satirical verses:
Such was the impact of the affair that the number 41 became taboo, as described by the essayist
Francisco L. Urquizo in 1965:
Film
The feature film ''
Dance of the 41 ()'' is a fictionalized retelling of the events surrounding the dance, focusing on Ignacio de la Torre. Since there is little historic evidence of the events, including the attendants, the film takes significant
artistic license
Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...
. It premiered in November 2020 at the
Morelia International Film Festival
The Morelia International Film Festival (''Spanish'': ''Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia''; FICM) was founded in 2003 in the city of Morelia, Michoacán, México. It is an annual event that takes place during the second week of October.
F ...
. The movie was directed by
David Pablos
David Pablos (born July 28, 1983) is a Mexican director, editor and screenwriter. An active filmmaker since 2007, Pablos has been involved in six feature films, including shorts and documentaries. Pablos attained recognition for directing ''La Vi ...
, written by Monika Revilla, produced by Pablo Cruz and stars
Alfonso Herrera
Alfonso Herrera Rodríguez (, born 28 August 1983) is a Mexican actor and former singer.
Born in Mexico City, Herrera made his television debut in ''Clase 406'' in 2002. In the same year, his made film debut in '' Amar te duele'' and won a MT ...
as Ignacio de la Torre y Mier.
Filman la escandalosa fiesta del Porfiriato
/ref>
See also
*Cadet scandal
The cadet scandal ( es, escándalo de los cadetes), also known as the Ballvé Case ( es, Caso Ballvé, link=no), was a sex scandal, sex and political scandal that broke out in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in September 1942, regarding the involvement ...
*LGBT rights in Mexico
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Mexico have expanded in recent years, in keeping with worldwide legal trends. The intellectual influence of the French Revolution and the brief Second French intervention in Mexico, French ...
External links
*
References
{{Reflist
LGBT rights in Mexico
1901 in Mexico
Political scandals in Mexico
Porfiriato
1900s in LGBT history
November 1901 events
Police raids to LGBT venues