On November 17, 1901, Mexico City police raided a private party and arrested 41 men, half of whom were dressed as women. Clandestine transvestite balls were not unheard of at this time, and a raid would not normally gain national attention. However, Mexican cultural trends in literature, art, the sciences, and in journalism were inciting an atmosphere of sexual curiosity that was in search of the right turn of events to ignite a discursive explosion and focus interest on what was not a new phenomenon, but what was about to become a new concept: homosexuality. The editors treat the "nefarious" ball as a cultural event in itself and have assembled pictures, including the famous engravings by Posada, and have translated part of an historical novel about the event. At the same time, they uncover the underworld in Mexico City with essays on prison conditions, criminology, mental health discourse, and working class masculinities to create a rare and comprehensive slice of Mexican history at the turn of the century.

Robert McKee Irwin is Chair of the Graduate Group in Cultural Studies and Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at University of California, Davis, USA.

Introduction; R.Mckee Irwin, E.McCaughan, M.Nasser PART I: THE FAMOUS 41 The 41 and the Great Raid; C.Monsiváis , translated by A.Walker ) The Centenary of the Famous 41; R.Mckee Irwin The Scandal of the 41: Mexican Newspaper Coverage, November 1901, Spanish Version English Version, (translated by R.McKee Irwin & M.Nasser ) The 41: A Socio-Critical Novel (1906): Eduardo Castrejón's Lost Novel, Excerpts, Spanish Version English Version, (translated by R.McKee Irwin and M.Nasser ) PART II: SEXUALITY AND SOCIAL CONTROL IN MEXICO, 1901 Homophobia and the Construction of Working-Class Masculinities: Mexico City, 1890-1910; R.Buffington The Lagartijo at the High Life: Notes on Masculine Consumption, Race, Nation and Homosexuality in Porfirian Mexico; V.M.González Interpretations of Sexuality in Mexico City Prisons: A Critical Version of Roumagnac; P.Piccato Beyond Medicalization: Asylum Doctors and Inmates Produce Sexual Knowledge at the General Insane Asylum La Castañeda in Late Porfirian Mexico; C.Rivera Garza Sentimental Excess and Gender Disruption: The Case of Amado Nervo, S.Molloy