The deal with Argentine men and their "girl" friends

[STELLA53]

Exactly.

Human males are genetically hardwired to seek out females who can get the most children = young; and human females are similarly hardwired to find the male, who can give her children the best deal = a good provider.

This is well known and has been documented in the scientific litterature over and over again.

1. Can you cite some of the scientific literature to which you refer to support the referenced hardwiring ?
2. How do you square this hardwiring with the generally accepted fact that as women mature they get more hormone-related sexual drive whereas men's sex drive generally dissipates as they age and often peaks in their early 20s.

 

[Postmodernchild]

I have local colleagues in higher ed who highlighted how it was not kosher to date a student here. I agree that you can't impose the set of values and morals of another country which is one of the roots of ethnocentrism. However, it is a reality that the huge machismo of this culture ends up with much younger women dating old men and plenty of tv shows showing women's body parts up close and not the other way around. The equation is always balanced in a more egalitarian society e.g.; dating people closer to your age, men and women earning equal salaries, etc. We still have a long way to go in the US though; we still have Hooters and not D's. don't we?

 

[dr__dawggy]

Argentine social mores still suffer from machismo and racism inherited from the founding fathers. Perhaps over a few more decades, attitudes towards women (as well as other social ethics, e.g., "negra" work, tax evasion, acquiesence in the corruption of crooked politicians, and political mismanagement, etc) will mature and society will become more in tune with evolving (and more enlightened) cultural values, values that respect all people and honest civic conduct.

Conversely, I would love to see the U.S. adopt some of the more enlightened cultural values and mores found in Argentina: A meal where waiters are not trying to turn over tables every 27 minutes, the art of conversation over a meal (sobre mesa), civil discourse over politics or religion or other highly charged topics (where even when there is disagreement, even spirited disagreement it is possible to walk away friends), and so forth....

None of this to disagree with your post,...rather,to suggest there are some aspects of Argentine society that are superior to prevailing norms in my homeland.

 

[dr__dawggy]

I have local colleagues in higher ed who highlighted how it was not kosher to date a student here. I agree that you can't impose the set of values and morals of another country which is one of the roots of ethnocentrism. However, it is a reality that the huge machismo of this culture ends up with much younger women dating old men and plenty of tv shows showing women's body parts up close and not the other way around. The equation is always balanced in a more egalitarian society e.g.; dating people closer to your age, men and women earning equal salaries, etc. We still have a long way to go in the US though; we still have Hooters and not D's. don't we?

hmmm....this does not square with my experiences with profs from the facutad de derecho or the facultad de Ciencias Sociales at UBA...and less frequently from profs at a couple of other public universities...but maybe my friends are deviants.

 

[Celia]

The couples in the professional tango world often have big age differences but people respect them and don't cast their prejudices upon them - e.g the late Carlos Gavito and Maria Plazaola, a beautiful couple, he was 70 and she was in her twenties.
My last tango partner was nearly 40 years older than me...

 

[Postmodernchild]

lol! you are talking about a place about I will try to avoid my opinion since I do research in higher ed systems.....i heard those stories from that place....sorry dr dawggy..you are right with that place

 

[Postmodernchild]

The couples in the professional tango world often have big age differences but people respect them and don't cast their prejudices upon them - e.g the late Carlos Gavito and Maria Plazaola, a beautiful couple, he was 70 and she was in her twenties.
My last tango partner was nearly 40 years older than me...

As I mentioned previously is all about a personal "preference" that is rooted also on culture, yet such large age differences are not the norm here or anywhere else.

 

[John.St]

Old men are not sexy either ...

So according to you Sean Connery wasn't sexy at 50?
same goes for e.g. Marlon Brando or Clint Eastwood?

Ask a woman.

 

[dr__dawggy]

So according to you Sean Connery wasn't sexy at 50?
same goes for e.g. Marlon Brando or Clint Eastwood?

Ask a woman.

Given her stated sexual orientation, cabrera does not find men attractive, young or old. Not that there is anything wrong with that....jest sayin...

 

[STELLA53]

The age of consent varies from country to country. Not counting islamic countries it is ranging from 13 to 18 (the latter is the age in that of the industrialised countries, which has the comparatively largest number of teenage pregnancies - oops!).

Claiming that your personal morale or the morale of your home country should be the standard of another country seems rather ridiculous.

Well, it is all about that. Nobody is going to impose you our moral values. And that´s because we respect yours but we demand you respect ours. This is what Argentina is like nowadays. That´s why LGTB marriage is legal in this country. Who are we to tell somebody whom should he or she love? Or just have an affaire?

Regards

Yes and no. I am not an ethical relativist so I think there is a wrong and a right which can be applied to human and social behavior. It is not always a matter of black and white - there are often a myriad shades of grey in any given situation/norm, but that doesn't mean one should not strive to do the right thing on a personal and social level.
For example, we often hear "when in Rome, do as the Romans." This may be okay for the cultural relativists, but unlike the golden rule, it is not a recipe for right and proper conduct (though it might be fitting in a survival guide). Romans threw Christians to the lions, a conduct to which I do not subscribe (and one can only wonder in amazement how depraved Roman citizens were to celebrate such conduct).

I do not want to throw Christians to the lions today even if I am in a place where it is done. I will vote against it if given a chance or demonstrate and protest such a practice. I may engage in civil disobedience or in even harsher methods if circumstances justify it. Even if I remain acquiescent, I do not "respect" such offensive mores that are not just or fair, that do not respect the humanity of all, even the less wealthy, the less successful, the less capable, the less male, the less white, and the less straight.

Accordingly, and contrary Bajo_cero2's jingoistic demands written above, it is not ridiculous to seek to implement change even if I am a foreigner. In fact, I do it although with respect to mores less significant and deep-rooted than the sexual dating patterns of Argentine 30 somethings and teenager girls. I do it when I take the time to sanely criticize an errant driver who refuses to give the pedestrian the lawful right of way, to people who inconsiderately smoke in crowded places, to debate with my Argentine friends who complacently acccept the political status quo as if it were inevitable. Small things, to be sure, but things that do contravene local customs and which reflect a lack of respect for local mores.

Don't get me wrong. I am not an ideal person. Far from it as my husband will attest. I just happen to think we all have a responsibility to act in an enlightend, ethical manner consistent with evolvng notions of civilized behavior. To me, the terms ethical relativism and cultural relativism are euphemistic synonyms for an anti-humanistic abandonment of sound ethics.