Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality

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Summary: Machos, maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality
Review: I was aghast at reading this book! I wonder where or among who Mr. Lumsden has done the research for this book! Has he not heard about the UMAP (Military Units for Support to Production), where so many homosexuals perished dugged to their ears in mudd? Hasn't he even seen the film "Before night falls", on the writer Reynaldo Arenas plight whithin Cuba because of his homosexuality? He can rent it at Blockbuster! It's played by Antonio Banderas. And before UMAP there was the big campaign against homosexualkity of mid 1964, where everyone who talked or acted differently ended among prostitutes, pimps, a.s.o
Really, I can't understand what has he based his book on. It's the biggest lie I've read in many years.

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Summary: Reading Between the Lines
Review: Ian Lumsden's book Machos, Maricones, and Gays is both interesting in its focus and unique in its perspective. It unquestionably gives the reader an opportunity to see a side of the issue that, especially if living under an anti-Castro government such as America, one might be less likely to encounter.
I found much of the information fascinating (such as his description of machismo and how it functions within the society) and upon closing the book, felt I had a much greater understanding of the situation in Cuba.
However, while the prospect of a different perception seemed appealing, I feel that the author's own apparent biases were both distracting to the subject and, at times, bordering on infuriating.
Not only does he continually speak strongly unfavorably of the United States, he uses this repeatedly, as well as other means, to somehow lighten or excuse almost all horrible events within Cuba and all actions of Fidel Castro against gays.
For example, he talks (on page 70) about how the slave labor that camp members were required to do (such as harvesting sugar cane) was needed because of America's blockade. Granted, the US's stance on Cuba greatly harmed its economy, however, one cannot go on to say that America is therefore responsible for Cuba's slave labor. Many incidents, such as this, upset me to the point that I had to put the book down (or write a nasty note in the sidelines).
Even more frequent, the author uses wording or makes underling assumptions in order to further excuse the atrocities of Cuba. He writes (on page 69), "Although some camps were reserved exclusively for homosexuals, overall conditions in such camps were not necessarily worse than in other camps in which homosexuals were a minority. In some respects, they might have even been better as a result of the collective efforts of their inmates to humanize their environment by adding a gay touch to their barracks and camp life". For one, he is skirting the issue that it is atrocious that gays were even put into such camps, and two, "not necessarily" does not clarify anything. Further, his assumption about the 'gay touch' sounds almost comical and greatly undermines the seriousness of the issue. One would never say about the Holocaust that gays had it better because they could add a 'gay touch' to their barracks. It would be consitered insulting.
Also, I felt that many of his statements were contradictory, and I often found myself searching back through the pages in order to justify my claim. Such is the case, on page fifty-six, when Lumsden discredits Americans as not having strong family attachment in comparison to Cubans. He goes on the next paragraph, then, to talk about how the sexual affairs of husbands were "tolerated so long as the preeminence of wives over other women was affirmed in public". Somehow that does not seem to be harmonious with family attachment.
And every time he does mention something negative about Cubans, he premises it with 'but it is better than or equal to other Latin American countries' or with some negetive comment about the US.
While, in certain cases he has a valid point, I feel that, for me at least, this continual 'excusing' took away from the work.
I do realize, however, that it is very difficult to explain a different culture, and, many times, this is what he was trying to do. Yet, through subtly (and not so subtly) attacking another culture, he must realize that he runs the risk of isolating his reader (such as he did me).
Upon finishing the book, in spite of this, I did feel as though I had learned a great deal about Cuba. However, I feel that a lot of my knowledge was aquired through reading between the lines.

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Summary: Illuminating View of Gays in Cuba
Review: In his book "Machos, Maricones, and Gays," Ian Lumsden takes an intriguing look at gay life and homophobia in the context of Cuban history, beginning in pre-Revolutionary times. He gives background on the history of Cuban values and politics, and shows how they have shaped Cuba's treatment of homosexuals, particularly focussing on the experience of gay men.

Lumsden spent a great deal of time in Cuba, studying the history and interviewing individuals. As the title implies, Lumsden focuses a large part of the work on explaining the development of gender roles and their ideals and stereotypes. He elaborates this to show how these view of gender resulted in the eventual institutionalization of homophobia. The pre-Revolutionary values of machismo entailed a social rejection of men that weren't masculine enough. When the Revolution arrived, it left almost no aspect of Cuban social life untouched. The Revolutionary government sought to regulate gender roles; therefore, all those who did not fit Cuba's ideal of gender were subjected to persecution. Homosexuals were put in prison camps, and subjected to physical and mental abuses. Lumsden tends to place perhaps too much blame on the United States for the social problems in Cuba. In an attempt to overthrow all things revolutionary in Cuba, the United States has instituted a trade embargo, which Lumsden says is one of the main things hindering development in Cuba. He says that this has resulted in a continued attempt to regulate gender roles, and therefore, homosexuality, in order maintain cohesion and to gain economic prosperity.

The values of machismo continue to this day, but Lumsden optimistically argues that traditional values of gender and sex are being relaxed, particularly as women take on more traditionally male roles. The picture he paints of Cuba today shows that institutionalized homophobia is slowly disintegrating. He gives a positive image of the media, which is moving away from homophobic portrayals. Lumsden also discusses Cuba's controversial treatment of AIDS victims, who are quarantined in special hospitals.

One strength of Lumsden's work is his emphasis that homophobia comes in many forms and has developed out of diverse historical circumstances. Values in the United States are marked by extreme individualism, whereas Cuba has an alternate conception of human rights, which leans more to collectivism. Therefore, the aspirations of gay rights activists in Cuba are somewhat different from what U.S. activists are trying to achieve. The immediate needs are gays in Cuba are still more centered on gaining economic security, while issues such as gay adoption and marriage aren't of greatest concern. Lumsden's work clearly analyzes the uniqueness of the situation for gays in Cuba, resulting in a fascinating and illuminating read.

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Summary: An Insightful View into Homosexuality in Cuba
Review: In his book Machos, Maricones, and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality, Ian Lumsden provides important cultural and political insight regarding the role of the homosexual in Cuba. Lumsden explores and evaluates the place of gay men in Cuban society beginning before the revolution and its the progress through the revolution and Castro's regime. Explanations regarding homophobia in Cuba are particularly interesting in Lumsden's book. The author articulately discusses the deep-seeeded sexism that provides a backbone for much of the anti-gay sentiments in Cuba, citing the perceived weakness of women and the consequences of femininity in males. In Cuba, it seems that the effiminate man is viewed as the true homosexual, while the gay 'macho' is still held in higher esteem. Another point of interest in the novel is Castro's communist regime and its nearly fascist treatment of gay men, particularly during the 1960's. While the political powers were outwardly projecting many democratic ideals, many gay men were actually held in camps that were projecting the message -Work Will Make You a Man-, disturbingly similar to Nazi Germany's concentration camp slogan. I found this book to be very enjoyable and quick paced reading. Lumsden's optimism for the future of gays in Cuba shines through at many points through intellectual political commentary, making this book not only a historical summary, but also a personal insight into gay Cuban life now and in years to come

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Summary: Disingenuous apology for Castro's persecution of homosexuals
Review: Lumsden, a gay Canadian political scientist who grew up in Argentina and finds North American homosexuality alienatingly "regulated and commodified" visited Cuba regularly from1965 until the book's 1995 publication. He does not seem to have systematically gathered data on sexual behavior (or, indeed, anything else), but provides his impressions and value judgments based on conversations he has had with some Cubans and reading about Cuba. From the perspective of a long-time apologist for the regime who is troubled by its continued suppression of any civil society or culture outside direct supervision by the state, he writes about changes over time in official attempts to eliminate or control homosexuality and about popular attitudes about male homosexuality and gender.

As Cuba became a dependent neo-colony within the Soviet Empire, focus on growing more of a single crop (sugar cane) for export intensified. Rounding up "anti-social deviants" provided cheap labor for state-run sugar plantations, isolated rebels (sexual and other kinds), and was rationalized as therapeutic, in the same way as sending Chinese urban intellectuals to till fields was supposed to redeem them during the Cultural Revolution. After the involuntary Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP) camps were closed, homosexuals continued to be banned from many occupations.

Lumsden does not mention the practice of a variant of aversion therapy used on effeminate boys . He also fails to note the continuity in assumptions, rationales, and administration of the UMAP concentration camps and the "sidatoria" to which persons testing positive for HIV antibodies were involuntarily removed, starting in 1986. Both kinds of concentration camps were initially run by the army. Both were premised on removing potential contagion. Despite the difficulties of life outside, since confiable (trustworthy) inmates were allowed to move out in 1994, none have chosen to return even to the showplace-sidatorium. This shows that freedom from paternalistic control is important to Cubans, not only to those in more individualistic societies.

With the collapse of its patron, the USSR, and the concomitant loss of market and loss of subsidies, the Cuban economy all but collapsed. Foreign tourism, has been actively sought, and concessions have been made to sex tourism. Prostitution has revived. Hard-currency gay discos have been tolerated. And the interest in the immensely popular film "Fresa y chocolate" has demonstrated that the Cuban people's intolerance of homosexuals (even effeminate ones) has been exaggerated in claims by Castro and his subordinates that the people would not accept representations of homosexuality as tolerable.

This book is much better written than Lumsden's (1991) book on Mexico, but similarly deficient in recognition of empirical work on Latin American homosexualities.

Although Lumsden recurrently produces special pleading (writing that the object of this or that repression was "not homosexuality per se"), he is certainly right to note that the records of the other states in the Western hemisphere for permitting positive representations of homosexuality, providing realistic HIV-prevention education, and caring for persons with AIDS have been inadequate, and also that there have been changes in Cuban policies. Indeed, something of a sexual revolution seems to have occurred, despite the puritanism of a typically Stalinist state apparatus.

Rating:
Summary: Disingenuous apology for Castro's persecution of homosexuals
Review: Lumsden, a gay Canadian political scientist who grew up in Argentina and finds North American homosexuality alienatingly "regulated and commodified" visited Cuba regularly from1965 until the book's 1995 publication. He does not seem to have systematically gathered data on sexual behavior (or, indeed, anything else), but provides his impressions and value judgments based on conversations he has had with some Cubans and reading about Cuba. From the perspective of a long-time apologist for the regime who is troubled by its continued suppression of any civil society or culture outside direct supervision by the state, he writes about changes over time in official attempts to eliminate or control homosexuality and about popular attitudes about male homosexuality and gender.

As Cuba became a dependent neo-colony within the Soviet Empire, focus on growing more of a single crop (sugar cane) for export intensified. Rounding up "anti-social deviants" provided cheap labor for state-run sugar plantations, isolated rebels (sexual and other kinds), and was rationalized as therapeutic, in the same way as sending Chinese urban intellectuals to till fields was supposed to redeem them during the Cultural Revolution. After the involuntary Military Units to Aid Production (UMAP) camps were closed, homosexuals continued to be banned from many occupations.

Lumsden does not mention the practice of a variant of aversion therapy used on effeminate boys . He also fails to note the continuity in assumptions, rationales, and administration of the UMAP concentration camps and the "sidatoria" to which persons testing positive for HIV antibodies were involuntarily removed, starting in 1986. Both kinds of concentration camps were initially run by the army. Both were premised on removing potential contagion. Despite the difficulties of life outside, since confiable (trustworthy) inmates were allowed to move out in 1994, none have chosen to return even to the showplace-sidatorium. This shows that freedom from paternalistic control is important to Cubans, not only to those in more individualistic societies.

With the collapse of its patron, the USSR, and the concomitant loss of market and loss of subsidies, the Cuban economy all but collapsed. Foreign tourism, has been actively sought, and concessions have been made to sex tourism. Prostitution has revived. Hard-currency gay discos have been tolerated. And the interest in the immensely popular film "Fresa y chocolate" has demonstrated that the Cuban people's intolerance of homosexuals (even effeminate ones) has been exaggerated in claims by Castro and his subordinates that the people would not accept representations of homosexuality as tolerable.

This book is much better written than Lumsden's (1991) book on Mexico, but similarly deficient in recognition of empirical work on Latin American homosexualities.

Although Lumsden recurrently produces special pleading (writing that the object of this or that repression was "not homosexuality per se"), he is certainly right to note that the records of the other states in the Western hemisphere for permitting positive representations of homosexuality, providing realistic HIV-prevention education, and caring for persons with AIDS have been inadequate, and also that there have been changes in Cuban policies. Indeed, something of a sexual revolution seems to have occurred, despite the puritanism of a typically Stalinist state apparatus.

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Summary: A Good Look @ Homosexuality in Cuba
Review: Machos, Maricones, and Gays by Ian Lumsden is an excellent overview of what it means to be homosexual in Cuba presently and before the Revolution. Lumsden holds much hope in the Revolution for changing the lives of homosexuals. Thus, Lumsden sometimes in his favor of the Revolution, and as a Canadian writer, attacks the United States through his diction regarding American views toward the Revolution, capitalism, and homosexuality.

One of the most interesting discussions in the book is the way homosexuality is perceived as a product of machismo. In Cuba, homosexuals are regarded as lacking masculinity-they have the passivity of a woman. Thus, Lumsden also relates the homosexual struggle to the struggle of women. He discusses how policies toward homosexuality are both created by institutions, like the government and the church, as well as society, in the cities and rural areas.

As one of the few books that tackles the oppression of homosexuality in Cuba, it is very readable. The book is organized clearly and provides commentary in a factual context. Overall, I highly recommend this book to readers who are interested in gay issues at the global level.