Buenos Aires is known more for its tango than for its prostitutes. But the oldest profession in the world is almost as legal here as the seductive dance. And now it’s not just milongas and tango theaters that have their own maps. Thanks to Google Maps, whorehouses do too.

A brief look at this map here indicates that brothels are more common in Buenos Aires than are Burger Kings, movie theaters or shopping malls.

Though largely out of sight, and therefore out of mind, the city’s streets, especially those in the downtown “micocentro” area, are literally lined with houses of ill repute.

Of course, in some sense there’s nothing novel about this. The world’s cities have been home to underground pleasure palaces for millennia. What’s novel is the way BA’s sex industry has utilized the Internet and new technologies such as Google Maps to promote itself.

Online sites such as this one (WARNING: XXX material) provide prospective Johns with an www.amazon.com-like browsing experience, complete with photos, customer reviews, and contact information for call-girls and “massage therapists” throughout the city. (more…)

A while back when the hot story of the day was South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his furtive relationship with an Argentine woman, my colleagues and I rushed to write a related feature for the Wall Street Journal. As is often the case when working on such pieces, the story evolves or the facts change or views shift on what the feature should or shouldn’t look like.

While working on the story, I spoke with two very interesting people whose comments didn’t make it into the final feature. These are Victor Casafus, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Buenos Aires, and Alejandro Rozitchner, a philosopher and author of countless books and articles on philosophy and culture.

Their thoughts deserve attention and are sure to be of interest to anyone interested in the topic.

Among other things, I asked both men what they thought about the “scandal” and about how Argentines and Americans might react differently to it. So without further ado, but with their permission, here is some of what they had to say about the matter. (more…)

Though still a serious concern, violent crime seems to have become a bit less of a problem last month, according to a new study.

Torcuarto Di Tella University’s latest crime “victimization rate” survey indicates that both overall criminal activity and violent crime seem to be trending lower.

Di Tella’s study, which surveys households in 40 urban centers around the country, shows that 28.5% of these homes said at least one household member was the victim of a crime within the past 12 months. Although that figure is up 12.6% on the year, it’s down 5.8 points from the previous month.

In other positive news, the percentage of violent crimes declined in July, falling to 14% from 16.5% the previous month. That’s the lowest level for violent crime in the past year.

More than 74% of those surveyed said crime is a “very grave” problem while another 19% said it’s “somewhat grave.” Almost 72% said crime is getting worse.

Link: Di Tella Victimization Survey