The Afterlives of the Famous 41

• In Event: Fantasies of the Flesh: Histories of Gender, Race, and Sexuality

Abstract

In the early hours of November 17, 1901, police broke up a loud party being held on La Paz Street in downtown Mexico City. Upon their (illegal) entry of the private home, they discovered forty-one men in the midst of a ball – nineteen of whom were dressed as women. The “Dance of the Famous 41” is one of the most scandalous events in Mexican history, erupting at the tail end of the Porfiriato dictatorship (1876-1911). The incident incited new homophobic discourses among Mexico’s working classes and elites, leading to the eventual construction of the aberrant “homosexual” subject. The stigma surrounding the case also made the number “41” a symbol of degeneracy and deviancy, used throughout the century as an insult and raising eyebrows whenever it was strategically mentioned. This paper revisits the documentation around the scandal of the Famous 41, including earlier discussions in Mexico regarding the trial of Oscar Wilde, to study the ways in which transnational debates over gender, non-normative sexualities, and degenerate bodies set in relief emerging features within Mexican culture and nationalism at the turn of the century. It also explores the legacy of the scandal and the cultural artifacts the 41 inspired, such as a 1906 novel and even an episode of a 1990s telenovela, to consider the evolving nature of homophobia, masculinity and male bodies, and the different meanings the Famous 41 encompassed for Mexican audiences throughout the century.

Author

• Robert Franco, Duke University