Machos Maricones & Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality

2. Machismo and Homosexuality before the Revolution

TWO Machismo and Homosexuality before the Revolution THE OPPRESSION of homosexuals in contemporary Cuba cannot be fully understood without relating it to the ways in which male sexuality and gender identity were constructed prior to the revolution. These are linked to the way in which male and female relations were historically organized. For the overall character of a patriarchal society will determine how men relate to each other as much as it determines how they will relate to women. In general, there is a correlation between the oppression of women and the oppression of homosexuals. Still there is no necessary correlation between the latter and the incidence of same-sex sex or homosexuality. The celebration ofconventionally masculine values extends to the way in which sexuality is experienced . The right of masculine males to enjoy their sexuality as they see fit matches the power they have in society as a whole. The greater their power, whether in terms ofgender, class, or race, the more likely they are to exercise it. Accordingly, before 1959 masculine ostensibly heterosexual males were able to satisfy some of their sexual needs with "nonmasculine" males while simultaneously oppressing them in other ways. In this respect there was not CopyrighteY3Material Machismo and Homosexuality before the Revolution much difference between how they treated homosexuals and how they treated women. These patriarchal relations evolved in a society that was conditioned by its Spanish, Catholic, and African origins and by the way in which the cultural values that were brought to Cuba were modified over time in a new context. This chapter will begin by examining the character and incidence of same-sex sex and then review the place of women in Cuban society on the eve ofthe 1959 revolution. Dominant values about homosexuals and women were affected by the fact that Cuba had been a Spanish colony for four hundred years and then retained close cultural ties with Spain subsequent to its independence in 190I. Catholicism is a central component ofSpanish culture and ofthe values that the Spaniards brought with them to the Western Hemisphere. After reviewing the place of Catholicism and its values in Cuban culture, particularly with respect to its attitude toward homosexuality, I will examine the other great historical factor in Cuban society, the culture of the Africans brought to Cuba as slaves. Afro-Cubans have been crucial to the formation ofCuba in terms of their role in a plantation economy, and their sheer numerical presence has led to the insertion of African values into Cuban culture and influenced the values of the dominant whites. The chapter will conclude with a reminder that the history of modern Cuba revolves around its relationship to the United States just as its relationship to Spain was central during the colonial period. The machismo of its revolutionary culture, particularly that of its leaders, has to be related to Cuba's long struggle to free itself from its domination by the Colossus of the North. Historically, machismo, the Latin American variant of patriarchal sexism, has been more socially punitive toward deviations from traditional male appearance and manners than toward homosexual behavior in itself. In Cuba, it was assumed that males whose comportment appeared effeminate and deviated from stereotypical masculinity would be homosexual. They were called maricones, a word also used to denote cowardice.l Seen as the Copyrighted Material Chapter Two antithesis of masculinity, maricones encountered repugnance and ridicule from most Cubans. Discreet homosexuals who presented themselves in a more conventionally masculine manner were more likely to be tolerated {albeit despised} by the public. They were called entendidos, as in "entendido pero no dicho" {understood but not declared}. By making certain mannerisms unacceptable, machismo ensured that homosexuals who could neither fit traditional male roles nor conceal their erotic attraction to other men would act in a way that confirmed the machista assumption that no homosexual could possibly be "un hombre de verdad" {a real man}. Not only did Cuban maricones often incorporate stereotypical feminine traits, they also tended to idealize machos--ostentatiously masculine men. The belief that homosexuality involves gender inversion even led many to think of themselves as "women" who could only be attracted to their opposites, "real" men. The effeminate personality and the macho personality would then be seen to complement each other, as did heterosexual women and men who behaved in conventional ways. If the effeminate men were not really men, they could then become objects ofdesire...