I have been in Iberia a few times (4 or 5 at most over three years). Yes, at certain times there are ladies of the night upstairs in the loft, for sure. But not always, and not very often early. Although, I guess with the closing of Excedra almost two years ago, I have seen a few ladies from Excedra sitting downstairs as well. Cafe Orleans is a place I would categorize as unequivocally a monger bar, but Iberia is more like a sometimes kind of thing, unless things have changed a lot in the last 4 months or so (the last time I was there, which was the time of this incident).
Although many of my friends are mongers (though I am happily married and don't partake of the pastime myself), and indeed we were in the loft upstairs, there were zero working girls there that night. It was quite crowded with couples for the most part. Upstairs was quite occupied and no working girls for sure.
Indeed, the guys I hang with rarely like to go to Iberia for mongering purposes anyway - for them, it's the absolute dregs. Not that they never go there for that, but it's pretty rare. That particular night we were there because we had just finished eating at Imparcial, right across the street.
So although it is possible that the guy and his girlfriend thought we were there for mongering, there was no reason for them to think so other than they might suspect that all foreigners who would go to Iberia would be looking for that. But it never came up in his conversation either. He just didn't like us speaking English, was what I semed to gather from his very broken English and the nearly rabid spitting Spanish that I had to wade through when he realized I speak good Spanish and he was in his rabid mode.
As far as local Argetines practicing mongering behind a screen of hypocracy, I know there is some truth to that. However, I have been to the clubs with my buddies quite a bit over the years and along with the brasileiros, mexicanos, estadounidenses, europeos and other nationaliteis, the argentinos are quite well represented out in the open in those places.
However, you're right - most argentinos make use of the privados around the corner from where they work, for example, sneaking out for a quickie with one of their favories during lunch.
