"El Hombre Metrosexual" in Cuba?

Surprisingly hip to the latest fashion trend of "las sociedades de consumo," the "Sexo Sentido" column of Juventud Rebelde -- a little nervously ("¿Constituye esta una amenaza para la masculinidad?") -- examines "el hombre metrosexual": "¿Un Nuevo Tipo de Varón?" (April 3, 2004). Written by Aracelys Bedevia, the Juventud Rebelde article wryly points out the irony of the media converting what was originally a satire into a marketing instrument: "No se trata de un nuevo término. Apareció en 1994 en un artículo del escritor inglés Mark Simpson, en el que se critica los efectos del consumismo en la identidad masculina. Una década después reaparece con fuerza. Los medios de comunicación social se encargaron de convertir en instrumento lo que, en opinión de Simpson 'empezó como una sátira'" (April 3, 2004). The article concludes that, notwithstanding the manipulation of advertising agencies, only the choice of each man can tie him to the subjectivity that brings together necessary conditions to become metrosexual, so the traditional image of man is not on the way to extinction (April 3, 2004). . . .is it?

Images of masculinity in Cuba today are so diverse that, if the traditional image does not go extinct, it may soon become regarded as just one among many others. Cuba has come a long way from the days of UMAP (Military Units for the Aid of Production) camps (1965-67) in which gay men and others labeled "anti-social" were forced to labor -- the progress to which Bedevia himself made much contributions through his column. By now, Cuba has come to regard homophobia, rather than homosexuality, as a big problem for the nation, and much efforts have been made to change the attitude of macho moralism. CENESEX (Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual), for instance, provides many resources to help counter homophobia: "Proyecto sobre Homosexualidad, Bisexualidad y Diversidad Sexual." One of the featured articles on the CENESEX website is Aracelys Bedevia's "SOS Familia!!!", which discusses the feelings of parents who initially rejected their gay son out of homophobia, the reaction that they now sorely regret:

Cuando Alberto supo que su hijo Fernando es homosexual tuvo deseos de que la tierra le tragara. No supo qué decir ni hacer. Tenía la esperanza de que fuera una broma.

"Mi primera reacción fue negarlo. No podía creerlo. Después me enojé mucho, yo lo había criado para que fuera macho, y siempre rechacé a ese tipo de gente. Me sentí defraudado y avergonzado. ¡Qué iban a pensar de mí!... eso me preocupaba”, confiesa.

"Para mi esposa fue muy duro también. Pasó casi un mes encerrada en el cuarto sin querer hablar con nadie. La casa se volvió un infierno. Mi hijo entraba y salía y nosotros hacíamos como si no existiera. En una ocasión, le dije que hubiera preferido que se muriera. Fue la última vez que durmió en la casa. Se fue, no sé para dónde. Hace casi un año que no lo vemos.

"Sabemos que está bien y que sigue trabajando como ingeniero en la misma empresa. Hemos tratado de buscar un acercamiento pero ahora es él quien no quiere saber de nosotros. Le fallamos cuando más falta le hacíamos...

Alberto se seca el sudor que le corre por la frente y continúa hablando:

"Poco me importa ahora lo que piense la gente, total, la gente siempre va a decir lo que le dé la gana. Cuando voy por la calle y alguien se ríe o habla de un homosexual en tono despectivo siempre pienso en mi hijo y hay que ser padre para comprender lo que uno siente cuando le rechazan a su hijo. Él no eligió ser así para fastidiar a los demás". (Juventud Rebelde, August 2, 2003)

Though a great number of parents react as Alberto did at first, some have no trouble accepting their children's sexual identity, vowing to support and defend them from the prejudiced who would make them suffer:

“Ya es bastante con que parte de la sociedad le condene. ¿Por qué también hacerlo yo que soy su madre? Nadie está preparado para recibir una noticia de ese tipo. Una siempre sueña con ver casados a sus hijos, con que creen una familia bonita, con los nietos que vendrán... pero las cosas no siempre salen como las planificamos. Cada cual elige su camino y si esa es la decisión de mi hijo lo menos que puedo hacer es respetársela”, declara Laura Elisa, una de las personas entrevistadas por esta reportera.

"Si no lo apoyo y defiendo yo ¿quién lo va a hacer?", pregunta. "A nadie le gusta ver a un hijo sufrir porque los demás no lo aceptan. Eso realmente es muy triste", añade. (August 2, 2003)

Alma Mater, the journal of University of Havana, also offers many resources: e.g., "Homosexualidad en Cuba: El Precio de la Diferencia" (May 23, 2003).

The Cuban government, which takes pride in its support of arts, devotes considerable resources to exploration of sexual diversity in artistic expressions as well. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea's Fresa y Chocolate [Strawberry and Chocolate] (1993) is probably the best known example:

Cineaste: I understand that Strawberry and Chocolate has broken box office records. Why has the film had such social resonance in Cuba?

Gutierrez Alea: It opened right after the festival. There were very long lines to see it, and it ran for something like three months in Havana. I think it had that response because it was a well told story with a theme that many people wanted to discuss in public. A theme that up until this time had remained rather marginalized. I'm not referring just to the theme of homosexuality, but rather to the theme of intolerance in general. I think that people really felt a great need to reflect on this, and to reflect on it openly. For these reasons, the film became a sociological phenomenon.

Cineaste: Do you have any idea of the number of Cuban viewers who have seen the film?

Gutierrez Alea: Strawberry and Chocolate may hold the record for the greatest number of Cuban viewers. I don't know. But at any rate, it is the film which has attracted the greatest number of viewers in the shortest period of time. (Dennis West, "'Strawberry and Chocolate,' Ice Cream and Tolerance: Interview with Tomas Gutierrez Alea," Cineaste 21.1-2, 1995)

Another example is Video de Familia (Dir. Humberto Padrón, 2001), the winner of the prize for best short film at the 23rd International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana and many other awards. Video de Familia tells the story of a Cuban family who, in the process of making a home video to send to their beloved Raulito in Miami, discover the secret that he is gay.

The work of a gay writer José Lezama Lima, whose genre-bending novel Paradiso (1966) was once controversial in Cuba due to its explicit portrayal of homosexual eros, inspired a choreographer Rosario Cárdenas to create a sensual dance fantasia:

"Queríamos la carne de los dioses" -- José Lezama Lima, "Primera glorieta de la amistad (fragmento)"

Among non-Cuban productions, the documentary Gay Cuba (Dir. Sonia de Vries, 1995) is a must-see:

Cuba has room for improvement, as some gays still hide their real identities. A union leader says with simple eloquence, "Many of us live our lives in the closet. This works against our human development." On the other hand, we have a young Cuban lesbian who insists on holding hands with and kissing her girlfriend in public, "right in front of the police," daring them to intervene. Gay Cuba shows that a society that encourages its people to think and examine their prejudices can change for the better, and this is exactly what's happening there. (Gary Morris, "Gay Cuba," Bright Lights Film Journal 17, September 1996)

Such dramatic social and cultural changes, of which the above is merely a hint, will no doubt affect straight Cuban men's self-images. If sexual liberalism in a thoroughly capitalist society encourages straight men to reinvent themselves as shopaholic metrosexuals, what sort of man will sexual liberalism in a still socialist society give birth to?