[Marxism] Cuban society is gradually shifting ground on sexual diversity

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

REBELION
December 23, 2007

Society is gradually shifting ground on sexual diversity
Raquel Sierra
SEMlac

http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs1724.html 
A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
Original:
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=60922   

Cuban society?s traditionally chauvinistic and homophobic nature is little
by little opening up to sexual diversity ?a fact largely disavowed until
quite recently? to the point that some strings are being pulled to give its
acceptance a legal character.

Seen for centuries as the ?right? rule of conduct, heterosexuality has lost
ground to other sexual preferences and behaviors which turn-of-the-century
Cuba can no longer deny.

Homosexuals, bisexuals, transsexuals and transvestites are all an
increasingly visible sector, yet to be absorbed by mainstream society but
partly tolerated, if not accepted, in academic, university and cultural
circles, as well as among people sensitized to this issue.

According to psychologist Mayra Rodríguez from the National Center for Sex
Education (CENESEX), ?although society frowns at these non-heterosexual
conducts, identities, leanings and expressions, there?s more acceptance
these days?.

Rodríguez, holder of a master?s degree in Sciences, puts their success down
to CENESEX, a governmental entity established in the seventies under the
name of Sex Education Group and devoted from the very outset to this kind of
work and its promotion among other institutions through the qualification of
activists whose mission has since been to raise consciousness about sexual
diversity in a very ethical and humane way.

?We came to realize that we also needed to make people more aware, so
there?s been a significant social impact which paved the way for better
understanding and tolerance?, she remarks.

?I?m amazed sometimes when a man holds out his hand to help me get off the
bus. I never dreamed it would ever be like that. Maybe they do it by
instinct or because they find me pretty, which I?m not?, points out a
male-to-female transsexual.

?For a long time I stayed in the closet, but since they gave me my new
papers recognizing me as a woman, I said goodbye to trousers, and I?ve worn
nothing but skirts and dresses?, he cheerfully says. As a result of
CENESEX?s work, a group of Cuban transsexuals were able to change their
identity.

According to Rubén de Armas, coordinator of a project involving men who have
sex with other men (MSM) in Havana, for all the openness that exists in the
island, transsexualism is still considered by many a taboo subject and a
cause for fear.

?Some journalists who are aware of this problem try to make programs about
it, but then they come up against lack of understanding and are prevented
from giving more information about and promote the issue?, he added.

Diversity

In Cuba, as in other countries, the absence of public debate on this topic
paves the way for widespread ignorance; hence academia?s advice to provide
all the whys and wherefores for the sake of better understanding.

Rather than a concept, sexual diversity is based on the acceptance of,
respect for, and coexistence with those who are different, assures Dr.
Rodríguez. And although it belongs in contemporary society, it has long been
described by various authors, including Austrian physician and founder of
psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, who talked about the existence of different
sexual behaviors.

Other studies in which both such variety and the struggles of the gay and
lesbian movements were recognized had a considerable bearing on the
disclosure of what we know today as sexual diversity, she says.

What?s new since she started her research on this topic 23 years ago, she
holds, is that in the past they only talked about sexual behaviors other
than heterosexual. ?Nowadays heterosexuality is also a part of sexual
diversity, because it?s practiced by different people who behave
differently. Nevertheless, placing people within frameworks is not to my
liking, as they?re all human beings, and splitting them into groups
translates into a form of discrimination and stigmatization; I only use
these concepts so as to make the difference more understandable.

?Sometimes sexual orientation is linked to sexual preference, namely
depending on the erotic direction of the individual?s desire, of which there
are three: homosexual ?attraction to the same sex?, bisexual ?attraction to
either sex? and heterosexual ?attraction to the opposite sex,? she explains.

Sexual orientation, she assures, is structured like any other behavior in a
person?s sexuality, which is another constructed category. ?We are born as
sexed beings, but we build our sexuality with the passing of time and the
experiences we live and learn from in the process?.

In the case of transsexualism, there?s disorientation and role confusion
among those who identify with a physical sex different from the one that
they were born with.

?A transvestite man with homosexual leanings is different from a
male-to-female transsexual in that he?s biologically and psychologically a
male and was classified as such when he was born, but he prefers to have
same-sex relations, while the latter feels like a woman even if he?s
biologically a male, also classified as a male at birth?, she holds.

This feeling of belonging forces individuals to fit their body to their
mind, and that?s why most apply for sex-reassignment surgery in order to
change their genitalia, since their biological sex remains the same.

Some who are reluctant to make such decision are wrongly seen as
transvestites. ?In the old days, those who wanted surgery were said to be
truly transsexual. That?s not the case today, as some transsexuals are known
to feel the inconsistency but still refuse surgery for a number of reasons,
say, they?re too old, afraid or socially visible?, she comments.

Then came the term transgender in reference to transsexuals unwilling to
have a sex change, but eventually the concept extended to everything that
goes beyond the social standards and now includes any kind of sexual
preference, be it transvestism or transsexualism.

For an individual to be classified as a transsexual beyond any doubt, he/she
must have a series of tests done by the CENESEX-based National Commission
for Transsexuals? Issues, provided the person is above 18 ?no diagnosis is
possible before that age? and receives treatment for at least two years.

?You cannot really tell what someone?s identity or sexual orientation is on
the basis of outward aspect only. There?s more to it than that, and everyone
must be studied from the psychological and biological point of view. It?s
very difficult to make a differential diagnosis,? she says.

In the article Gender disorders and transsexualism: the Cuban experience
??Sexología y Sociedad? No. 13. 2007? Rodríguez and two other experts
describe various difficult situations facing Cuban transsexuals, including
problems to maintain a love relationship, family and social pressure, long
periods of loneliness, limited interaction with society, and renunciation of
erotic-emotional experiences.

Towards a legislation

Ending the legal isolation of these individuals is one of CENESEX?s major
goals.

?If you?re protected neither by law nor by policy, you?re left somehow
ostracized and helpless,? stated CENESEX director Mariela Castro in a 2005
interview with SEMlac. They therefore put forward a strategy ?centered on
the provision of all-embracing attention to whoever requests it, not only
from the standpoint of healthcare but also taking into account society?s
responsibility for facilitating their integration into society and the
respect they deserve?.

This strategy is based on efforts to raise consciousness about
transsexualism among various sectors of Cuban society, projects to foster
their understanding and regard, and measures to give them employment
opportunities, with all due respect to their physical appearance as befits
their gender identity, even if their identity papers are yet to be changed.

In addition to the strategy ?submitted to the Parliament in 2006? an offer
to reform the Family Code was proposed to the Communist Party last June, and
there?s a resolution by the Ministry of Public Health.

If approved, the new code would give recognition to heterosexual and
homosexual couples alike, including their personal, patrimonial, hereditary
and housing rights, and it would make the current laws on adoption more
flexible to favor both types of couples.

According to Dr. Castro, what all levels of authority consulted on the
matter oppose the most, for reasons of ignorance and prejudice, is the idea
of recognizing a homosexual couple?s right to adopt a child.

As to the Ministry of Public Health, its resolution covers a specialized
integral healthcare process for transsexuals, including a medical unit
specifically designed to this effect.

---ooOoo---


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