Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies)

Rating:
Summary: "Oz" as ethnography
Review: This book divides into two clear halves. The first half discusses three types of homosexual relations found in a Costa Rican jail. This will be the section that non-academic readers will enjoy. It's fun reading about men in a Latin American country saying, "Yup! I love relations with dudes." Some of the interviews are filled with wild, sexy tales that will set your imaginations on fire. However, this book has many disturbing examples of prisoners abusing men and women, sexually and non-sexually, both in jail and outside of it. Though not writing in Spanglish, many colorful colloquialism shine through in the translations here.

The latter half consists of policy recommendations to curb the transmission of AIDS in Costa Rican jails. Academics and policy wonks may prefer this section. The author conducted self-improvment and AIDS education workshops for these prisoners. Obviously biased, he recounts how the interviewees thought the programs were phenomenally helpful. Some of this policy recommendations do not have the slightest chance of being enacted. Still, it is good that ideas are tossed around from well-intentioned observations. This book may be helpful for prison officials in the United States as well as AIDS activists that want to improve their outreach to American Latino MSM.

Many books on Latin American gay men say that heterogenderal relationships are the norm, but egalitarian couples (also called "internacionales") are becoming seen. Here, the author suggests that class is the basic determinant for which homosexuality is most common. This book gives clear evidence of how both types can exist in a Latin American country. Still, the older type (in this book called "cacherismo") wants to see the newer type wiped out. And heterogenderal coupling is not made to look respectful here. Thus, despite thinkers who argue that there are homosexualities, rather than homosexuality, those men within those models still fight to ensure their way of loving remains the norm.

I now understand why the author writes to prolifically on gay men in Latin America. This book is a fun, quick read at the same time that it grapples with competent anthropology and decent policymaking.