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An ethnography of the macho /loca relationship

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An ethnography of the macho /loca relationship

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Content INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. U M I films the text directly from the origiriai or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor qualify illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send U M I a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher qualify 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact U M I directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, M l 48106-1346 USA UMI 800-521-0600 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE MACHO/LOCA RELATIONSHIP by Manuel Fernandez A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Social Anthropology) August 1999 Copyright 1999 Manuel Fernandez Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UM I Number 9955078 ___ ® UMI UMI Microform9955078 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. A ll rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, M l 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY PARK LOS ANGELES. CALIFORNIA 9Q00T This dissertation, written by M a n u e l F e r n a n d e z under the direction of fas. Dissertation Committee, and approved by all its m e m b e rs* has been presented to and accepted by T he Graduate School in partial fulfillment of re quirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Date ^..Ift ? .? . DISSERTATION COMMITTEE __ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank the following people (in alphabetical order) for their support during my PhD studies, fieldwork, and dissertation writing process: Gaelyn Aguilar, Dennis Altman, Karen Aragon, Armida Ayala, Peter Biella, James Bigelow, Joseph Carrier, Nina Cobos, Heman Cruz, Wendy DeBoer, Irene Fertik, Edward Finegan, Manolo Flores, Tim Frasca, Miguel Garcia, Elan Glasser, Gillian Goslinga, Judith Grant, James Green, Don Julio Guillen, Jay Hasbrouck, Joseph Hawkins, Gilbert Herdt, Adriana Hernandez, Geovanny Hernandez, Mike Hickey, Peter Jackson, Rita R. Jones, Don Kulick, Roger Lancaster, Esdras Leitao, Peter Levine, Alonso Lopez, Oscar Mejia, Luiz Mott, Inna Palma, George Patton, Guillermo Reyes, Dena Saxer, Andrei Simic, Manolo Rfos Tavarone, John Richards, Barbara Robinson, Grace Rosales, Marco Ruiz, Andres Sciolla, Alissa Simon, Carl Totton, Ferry Heiman Urbach, Miguel Valle, and Todd White. I also want to thank the “Proyecto HON/96/P01-II del Fondo de Poblacion de las Naciones Unidas” (United Nations Population Fund in Honduras), especially Erika Bernhard y Arie Hoekman for providing me with office space, computers and Internet during my fieldwork of 1997. Thanks, too, to Licenciado Juan Ramon Gradelhy R., director of the AIDS institution COMVIDA in San Pedro Sula and to Licenciado Carlos Eduardo Gallegos Figueroa, director at that time of the Centro Universitario Regional del Norte in San Pedro Sula, for supporting my research in its initial stages. Many thanks as well to the Institute for the Study of Human Resources for a Hal Call Mattachine Scholarship award to complete my dissertation; the Dorothy Leonard Fund at the University of Southern California for sponsoring the still photograph project “Stories about masculinity,” which made my fourth and final trip to Honduras in 1998 possible; the USC Lambda Alumni Association Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iii Research Scholarship which partially funded my 1997 trip to Honduras; and the USC Center for Feminist Research for a travel grant to Honduras in 1996. My special and melancholic feelings of gratitude go to Miguel Angel Lemus and Isidro Romero, both now deceased due to complications related to AIDS, who taught me so much about the sexual cultures in San Pedro Sula. My fieldwork would have not been possible without the tremendous help and support of both Jesus Guillen, president of the Asociacion Hondurena de Homosexuales y Lesbianas Contra el Sida, and his mother, Doha Felfcita Salguero, who let me stay in their home and fed me well every time I had a financial crisis (which were many). My infinite thanks to them. Likewise, I would have not completed my fieldwork had not Dereck G. Raickov, director of the NGO Comunidad Gay Sampedrana provided me with his full support, access to computers and Internet, and very importantly, access to several bisexual men who otherwise I would have not been able to interview during my fieldwork of 1998. I am immensely grateful to Dereck and to the men who let me interview them. Their names and ages are listed in the methodology section of Chapter I. Thanks also to my many “models” that let me take pictures of them for my still photograph project “Stories about masculinity.” Special thanks to Tofio Villafranca and Ana Martinez who let me take pictures of machos in their bars. I am also very grateful to the library staff of the Centro Cultural Sampedrano, who patiently assisted me in the search of material and saw me almost everyday coming to work in their library; they took good care of my materials when I left them unattended and even let me in with my water bottle! My very special thanks to Stephen O. Murray, Eric C. Graham, Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez, Gordon Glor, and Ildiko Tenyi for the countless hours spent reading my work and their fantastic and challenging editorial job and influence they have had on my writing throughout my PhT) studies. I feel immensely Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. iv fortunate of having had the unlimited support and mentoring of Dr. Murray throughout my PhD. studies. Many thanks also to the European scholars Gert Hekma and Annick Prieur for their invaluable and sharp comments on previous drafts of this dissertation. Many thanks to Nancy C. Lutkehaus, member of my dissertation committee, hi her seminar on feminist issues in anthropology she recognized the theoretical importance of my research and encouraged me to further advance it. 1 also thank her for the careful editorial work she did on my dissertation. Many, many thanks to Dr. G. Alexander Moore, Chair of the Anthropology Department at USC and member of my dissertation committee for his enormous support throughout my PhD. studies and his always wise advice. I am also very grateful to Michael A. Messner, member of my dissertation committee at USC, for his important feedback and inspiring insights in the study of masculinities. Finally, I am forever grateful to Dr. Walter L. Williams, PhD advisor and Chair of my dissertation committee for his consistent support and mentoring at many different levels and close guidance throughout my studies. I benefited tremendously from his seminar on gay and lesbian studies and politics and his lectures on how to reduce prejudice, heterosexism, and homophobia. I also thank him for his terrific editorial work on my dissertation and previous publications. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS page Preface vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Speaking the unspeakable 38 Chapter 3: Gender ideologies and the macho/loca continuum 73 Chapter 4: The macho/loca relationship 107 Chapter 5: Conclusions 148 Bibliography 160 Appendix: Glossary of terms 178 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES page Figure 1 83 Figure 2 98 Figure 3 98 Figure 4 99 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. vii PREFACE This dissertation is based on sociocultural qualitative anthropological fieldwork and bibliographic research on the homosexual relationships between men of lower socioeconomic status in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In Honduran sexual culture these types of relationships provide for only one of the men to identify as homosexual while the other is simply deemed as an “hombre” (literally, a man). My thesis is that these relationships both are shaped by and shape local sexual cultures. My main research question asks what does it mean for both machos and locas to be involved in same-sex relationships and how does the fact that they are in such a relationship affect their views of themselves and of others about gender and sexuality? My answer to this question, which constitutes the main conclusion of my dissertation, is that the macho/loca relationship is only possible within a gender/sexuality system in which sexuality is part of gender, so gender and not sexuality is the principal determinant of sexual identity. The immediate consequence of this particular gender/sexuality system is that homosexual behavior does not imply homosexual identity in the case of the macho bisexual male or hombre, because he is culturally marked as masculine. This system is maintained by taboos which prevent speaking publicly about sexuality in a serious manner. It also makes possible the existence of pervasive hierarchies of gender/sexuality that impose compulsory passivity in locas and heterosexuality in women and encourage effeminacy in males who desire to be sexually penetrated. However, the categorization of males as hombres and locas is a fluid one and there are multiple alternative categorizations available that challenge these cultural ideals. In their daily interaction, machos and locas have to deal with tremendous stress to cope with contradicting imperatives of cultural prescriptions and personal desires. This causes the commodification of desire and the games of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. viii disinterest played by the macho; toll charge, violence, and territoriality; the complex equation of tease, contempt and desire; and the need of machos and locas to attract each other’s attention by creating a scandal. Intellectual history o f the project An intellectual history of this study involves understanding how I became involved in anthropology. Having been bom and raised in Santiago, Chile, I lived there until 1990, the year that I obtained a BA in music from the Universidad de Chile. I won three scholarships to come to the United States to pursue graduate study. In 1993, after finishing an MA in ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles I was working for the Los Angeles County Music Center through Aman Folk Orchestra as a workshop leader and artist in residence, teaching world music in elementary schools. My interests were gradually moving from music to sociocultural anthropology, and ethnomusicology seemed to be the perfect transition from my earlier studies. That same year I also taught a course on homosexuality and music from a cross-cultural perspective, at the Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education. This was an important experience in making me realize that I wanted to do serious research on the topic and that I also felt more comfortable teaching adults. At that time I ran across Walter Williams’ The Spirit and the Flesh (1992[1986]>, which was an inspiring work for me because it dealt with homosexuality from an anthropological and ethnohistorical, cross-cultural perspective. The same year I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Williams during a dinner at a Brazilian restaurant in West Hollywood. The Institute of Gay and Lesbian Education’s director, Simon LeVay, invited me to the dinner just before a lecture Dr. Williams was Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. going to give at the same institute. I remember during the dinner Dr. LeVay telling Williams that I should further pursue graduate studies. By that time I was coming to realize that my future as a scholar was very limited without a PhD and that I wanted to specialize in the study of homosexuality. After talking to Williams 1 decided to apply to the doctoral program in social anthropology at the University of Southern California, where Williams is a professor. During the summer of 19941 learned that I had been accepted into the program. Although I had grown up in Chile and had traveled extensively in Latin America, I had never been to Honduras before and I was curious about it. I also met a few Hondurans at an AIDS agency in Hollywood where I used to volunteer, who told me how beautiful their country was. I reviewed the literature on homosexuality in Latin America and I found that nothing had been published on homosexuality in Honduras. There were a few publications about Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and other countries, but nothing about Honduras. In the summer of 19941 went to Honduras and spent about a month there. In San Pedro Sula, a city close to the northwest coast of Honduras, I met several people who were part of a homosexual local subculture. I was told that violence against homosexual people was all too frequent. I “felt” an extraordinary degree of violence in the environment, not only against homosexuals but in general. This was not a conclusion based on any study but a feeling reinforced by anecdotal information and perception. I was shocked to see men commonly carrying their machetes and a number of men with no hands. I was told that many of these men had lost their hands during machete fights. I was also told not to walk alone, especially at night, because the degree of street violence was getting out of hand. That year, 1994, there had been a drought that impeded Honduras from drawing enough electrical power from the principal hydroelectric plant. The Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. X country had rationed electric power, so there were only 12 hours of electricity a day. This meant that some times whole areas of the city were completely dark at night. This fostered an increase of criminality. To make things worse, water was rationed as well, so certain days some areas of town did not have potable water. The pressure of water in the pipes was so low that taking showers was impossible at any time during my trip. Lack of electricity also meant that people had to endure the extreme and humid heat of the summer with no fans or air conditioners (for the few who could afford the latter). Some locales and rich households had generators which produced their own electricity, but these also created a loud noise that could be heard around the block. In sum, many factors contributed to tensions, which increased the violence. I met the first homosexually identified person in Honduras through the Damron international gay tourist guide, in which he was listed as a contact person. His name was Miguel Angel Lemus.1 Miguel was very well known in town because he was the owner of the famous bar El Corcel Negro. He was also openly homosexual. Miguel was extremely helpful in showing me the “ambiente” in San Pedro Sula, which at that time seemed to be centered on El Corcel Negro. Indeed, Miguel’s bar was the only locale in town that was identified by many as a quasi-gay place. And I say “quasi” because the clientele was mixed. El Corcel was located in Medina, a lower-middle socio-economic status neighborhood in San Pedro “below the line.” Traditionally (and symbolically), San Pedro has been divided into two halves marked by the railroad line: below the line, where the poor live and above the line, where the rich live. Most of my fieldwork was done “below the line.” Due to an increase in gang activity most Sanpedrans considered the area “below the line” dangerous. Miguel lived just one block away from El Corcel and I spent the last two weeks of my trip living at Miguel’s home and working as a bartender at El Corcel. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. xi Miguel introduced me to several of his lovers, who were young men, usually in their teens, who also lived in the same neighborhood. Miguel invited them to free drinks, treated them well, and usually ended up having sex with them the same night. These men did not think of themselves as homosexuals but simply as men. There was no question about their heterosexuality, even though they were having sex with Miguel. They were “masculine” by Honduran standards and played the insertor’s role during anal intercourse, therefore their sexuality was not questioned and only a gender (and sexuality-inclusive) category applied to them: hombres (literally, men). In addition, these hombres were very young, still unmarried. In Honduran society unmarried men have greater sexual freedom than do married men, not to mention women. For a man to be known for having sex with a homosexual is seen as a peccadillo, probably worse than getting drunk, but about as bad as getting high on marijuana. As with other peccadilloes, young men are allowed to indulge in them as long as they are discrete about it, so as to not offend public decency (cf. Lancaster 1992: 241, and Prieur 1998:196). Miguel, on the other hand, was a homosexual, often referred to as a loca (literally, a crazy girl), which meant that he was not fully a man. As a loca, Miguel could have been criticized by some people as immoral or lewd, but in general he was much liked by his neighbors. More than his sexuality, what seemed to matter to Miguel’s neighbors was Miguel’s friendliness, generosity, and willingness to help people. Sometimes this friendliness with Miguel, especially coming from male neighbors, seemed to mingle with sexual desire, as I remember seeing mature, married men smiling at Miguel from their homes as they grabbed their crotches in a suggestive and inviting manner. Here we should not forget that both these men and Miguel had lived in the neighborhood for decades and many of these men had had sexual intercourse with Miguel in the past, so their relationship was not free of sexual overtones. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Through Miguel I met other homosexually identified men. I interviewed several of them, including Miguel. The more I became involved with the homosexual subculture in San Pedro Sula, the more people around me felt compelled to classify me as either a macho or a loca— I was forced to take a side. There were no in-betweens. I took the side of the loca, which made me uncomfortable dealing with hombres as I was not fully one of them, but also let me quickly into the subculture as a quasi-insider. As a loca, dealing with these machos in my work as a bartender and in other social settings (going out to Discotheque Terrazas, for example) made me feel “the power of the Phallus.” These men as penetrators and possessors of the Phallus were invested in Honduran society with tremendous power. They were irreverent, rude at times, even ruthless. They treated locas as sexual objects (not much better than they treated “easy” women). Indeed, locas were just below or at the same level of the categories of “easy” woman and female prostitute. I remember how powerful the experience was of feeling sexually objectified and subject to discrimination coupled with the attitudes of superiority demonstrated by these hombres. After these extraordinarily strong experiences I returned to Los Angeles to begin my PhD studies at the University of Southern California. I was still not sure about my dissertation topic, but after writing a paper I presented at a gay and lesbian studies conference held at USC in the spring of 1995,1 was positive that I wanted to do my dissertation on the sexual culture I observed in Honduras. The paper was entitled “Las ‘Locas’: Third gender oppression and resistance in Honduras.” My initial research question centered on the issue of violence and heterosexual male supremacy. I used the Marxist/Gramscian paradigm of societal structures of oppression and resistance where heterosexual men oppressed locas and women as a class. I committed to finding answers for this violence situation Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from the standpoint of a gay Latin American scholar using an applied, advocacy like anthropological approach. In the fall of 1995 I made a trip to San Francisco, where I met Stephen O. Murray. He was already my “idol,” as he had written the first and only overarching anthropological study of homosexuality in Latin America, Male Homosexuality in Central and South America (1987). I got his book autographed. His erudition became a model for me. He encouraged me to write about homosexuality in Latin America. I went to Honduras again in 1996. This time I focused on violence against homosexual people, which was and still is rampant in Honduras. I have served as an expert witness for cases of asylum for Hondurans in the United States on the basis of their sexual orientation and have been horrified by their accounts of violence against them because of their sexuality. Most of the violence, especially in the forms of murder and physical assault, was perpetrated against the transgendered sector of the homosexual population, and especially against transgendered sexual workers. Most if not all of the cases of murder against homosexuals reported in Honduras were cases of transgendered prostitutes killed on the streets, late at night. Honduran authorities’ homophobia was obvious because of their indifference and lack of follow up that accompanied these cases. But a vast majority of the gay population did not experience higher degrees of homophobia than those experienced in many other countries of the world, as long as they did not violate an implicit code of public decency regarding sexual matters. In 1996 the first report on the violation of human rights of sexual minorities and people living with HIV/AIDS in Honduras was published (Elliott 1996a). Building on this, I realized that if I wanted to deal with the topic of violence, I should either focus on street transgendered prostitutes or I should Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. x i v approach violence in a broader way. I also realized that I needed to problematize the concept of violence. During my four-month fieldwork in 1997 I decided that although I was still going to explore the concept of violence, this was not going to be the central theme in my dissertation. I also questioned the structuralist claim that there are preontological structures of oppression; that is, I questioned the belief that oppression exists prior to the conscious being. By then I was increasingly interested in studying the sexual culture as a whole and. avoiding a reductionist violence approach. I also questioned the international gay human rights movement from the perspective of cultural relativism, cultural specificity, and personal agency (cf. Hasbrouck MS). How representative and accurate were the accusations of the violations of gay human rights in Honduras? Were these accusations the product of a Euroamerican, First World perspective or of native perspectives? What did the homosexuals of Honduras who did not belong to the elite of gay activism say about this? Following Gilbert Herdt’s advice at the Summer Institute on Sexuality, Culture and Society, which I attended in 1997 at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, I opted for a more ethnographically encompassing approach. I was critical of (but did not fully reject) previous structuralist literature on the topic. I thought of an ethnography of the relationships between macho and locas that fully credited locas’ and machos’ agency. My thesis was that both partners were actively affected by and affected these relationships, which at the same time were shaped by and helped to shape local sexual cultures. Only later I came to the realization that the macho/loca relationship is only possible within a gender/sexuality system that makes sexuality an indivisible part of gender and therefore does not necessarily relate homosexual behavior to homosexual identity in the masculine man. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. XV Dissertation contents Each chapter in this dissertation is composed of more than one topic and deals with one or more hypotheses. Chapter I offers a sociohistorical introduction to the city of San Pedro Sula, the place where I conducted my fieldwork on homosexual cultures. I show how the feelings of danger and violence in which gender and sexual relations are embedded in San Pedro are deeply rooted in the cultural and geographical memory of the region. Disease, natural disasters, and violence have been endemic to San Pedro for centuries. After explaining the methology used for doing fieldwork, I offer a summary of six current debates in the anthropological and cross-cultural study of homosexuality. A literature review is included. Chapter n discusses how sexuality has been traditionally kept out of the public discourse in Latin America, Ending its way to public forms only through joking or picardfa. It is also shown how this impossibility for talking seriously about sex has had a dramatic impact on the development of a homosexual identity among subjects of a masculine gender identification, as sexuality cannot be separated from gender. I also analyze to what extent this is a matter of denial, role playing, or cultural impossibility. In this context, homosexual jargon is brought into consideration as a cultural practice especially meaningful among gender nonconforming homosexual males who intend to downplay their homosexuality in public settings. This chapter also deals with “drama,” a sophisticated speech interaction between locas where dialogue is made outrageous and campy to ease tensions in situations of competitiveness and envy. Chapter IH explores the possibility that the conceptionalization of the loca helps to assert and maintain local sexual cultures of macho/loca binarism by perpetuating circum-Mediterranean concepts of the ideal macho and the ideal Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. xvi woman. Native categorization of sexual coles and characters in the homosexual ambiente are presented as an important part of this sexual culture. This chapter suggests that these categorizations are more fluid than the conceptionalization of the loca. Through time, and depending on differing viewpoints, the same person may move back and forth between and through two or more of these categories. Chapter IV analyzes the relationship between the macho and the loca from multiple angles: the commodification of desire and the games of disinterest played by the macho; toll charge, violence, and territoriality; the complex equation of tease, contempt and desire; and the need of machos and locas to attract each other’s attention by creating a scandal. While locas actively pursue creating a scandal to be acknowledged and desired and many times choose to mark themselves as feminine to attract hombres who may want to penetrate them, there are also culturally ingrained hierarchies of gender and sexuality that place the macho over the loca in the power ladder. The loca many times has no choice but to play by the rules of the macho regarding territoriality and to tease if he does not want to be physically abused by the machos. Paying the macho does not only disguise the macho’s homosexual desires; it is also part of a system of gender inequality that benefits the macho in many other respects because places the macho in a superior status with respect to the loca. The exclusive passivity of many locas may be related to hierarchies of power and gender inequality which impose sexual passivity in locas (and heterosexuality in women) as their only options, making them sexually available for machos, the penetrators. Even though the power implications of compulsory passivity in feminine men are evident, it is unclear if this is the case for all locas; many of them seem to deeply desire to be penetrated and then mark themselves as feminine in order to attract penetrators. Finally, Chapter V are the conclusions to this dissertation. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Endnotes 1 Unfortunately, in 1997 Miguel died due to complications related to AIDS. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. THE LAND OF PESTILENCE Without wanting to exoticize San Pedro Sula as a city of pestilence, in this section I would like to represent a feeling shared by many Sanpedrans that their city has been built on tough lands where natural disasters, disease, and violence have made life difficult for its inhabitants. I was personally affected by “the land of pestilence” as during my fieldwork I lost two important participants of my research due to AIDS, I was attacked twice by robbers (and suffered many other failed attempts), I got sick with an unknown, tropical disease, and survived hurricane Mitch, one of the most devastating hurricanes known to date. It is no coincidence that San Pedro’s population almost disappeared several times throughout history and that the city had to be rebuilt on repeated occasions after natural disasters. Malaria and other tropical diseases have been endemic to San Pedro for centuries. To make things worse, today San Pedro Sula is the heart of the AIDS infection in Central America and constitutes one of the worst world cases, following a pattern similar to the one found in Central Africa. Torture and other violations of human rights by the military were commonplace during the 1980s. Street violence, urban youth gangs, and the use of guns by civilians as self-defense have been out of control since the early 1990s. The violence in San Pedro and Tegucigalpa, the capital city, was becoming so bad that in November of 1998 the Honduran government had to impose a national curfew and send the army into the streets. But before I continue with the list, I present an historical overview of the city. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 Historical background Spaniards first arrived to the Sula Valley, located close to the northern coast of what today is Honduras, in 1523. The Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado founded San Pedro de Sula either in April (Stone 1954:113) or on June 27 (UIES 1993:13; Pastor Fasquelle 1990:73) of 1536. He founded the city in the beautiful and green Sula Valley close to two major tropical rivers, the Chamelecon and the Ulua, and at the foothills of the gorgeous mountain range El Merendon which, with its lush tropical rainforest, still gives a striking look to the city. The Spanish Crown declared San Pedro Sula the capital of the province of Honduras in the Reino de Guatemala. In 1573, however, governor don Diego de Herrera moved the capital to Comayagua without waiting for the Crown’s consent because he could not stand the humid heat of the Sula Valley (Stone 1954:139- 40). This made many people leave San Pedro. At the time of the conquest in 1523 the Sula Valley had about 50,000 Native American inhabitants (Pastor Fasquelle 1990). By 1575, San Pedro had only 50 Spaniards left and about 3,000 natives scattered through 30 hamlets around the city. In only 42 years the indigenous population had decreased from 50,000 to 3,000 due to newly introduced diseases from Europe and Africa. A Spanish official who visited San Pedro in 1575 declared: “‘ Es un pueblo muy enfermo... pero de tierra fertil, de mucho mafz, cacao, miel, cera, muchas vacas y lleguas y todo el agro de Espana’ [it’s a very sick population... but the land is fertile, with much com, cocoa, honey, beeswax, many cows and mares and the complete live stock from Spain] (L6pez de Velasco [1971]: 301-306)” (Pastor Fasquelle 1990:103). Spaniards quickly learned that nothing could be built to last under the Sula Valley’s copious rains and devastating floods: “‘todo cuanto se adobare en un ano Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 se destruina en un solo dfa de aguas’ [everything built throughout a year would be destroyed in one single day of rain]” (unknown chronicler, cited in Pastor Fasquelle 1990:104). The film Mosquito Coast (1986) powerfully captures the violent essence of a one-night’s rain flood when the American scientist’s family’s hut, built in an unknown Honduran valley in the Moskitia (another region in the northern coast of Honduras), is suddenly swept away by fantastic waves of rain water during a storm. The scientist (played by actor Harrison Ford) and his family manage to survive by climbing onto an improvised raft— a situation not much different from what many Hondurans experienced during hurricane Mitch in 1998. In 1589-90 there were only 20 hamlets left with less than 500 people living in the area (Pastor Fasquelle 1990:103-104). By 1629 San Pedro had a total of 10 people remaining (Pastor Fasquelle 1990:103-104) and they almost disappeared by 1630. In addition to the plagues and floods, there was devastation caused by pirate attacks. Almost no Spanish ship could escape the pirates in Honduran waters after 1634, so the Crown suspended trade through the Honduran northern coast and eventually throughout the entire Central American coast (Pastor Fasquelle 1990: 112). British pirates ransacked San Pedro Sula (Stone 1954: 145). In 1660 San Pedro was completely destroyed by the pirate Franqois De Olonais (Francisco el Holandes) (Pastor Fasquelle 1990:112). San Pedro was refounded ca. 1682 in a different part of the Sula Valley. Later, after being destroyed by another flood, the city was finally established where downtown San Pedro is today. Because of San Pedro’s increase in size, however, the three main locations where San Pedro was founded are all encompassed by today’s city (Pastor Fasquelle 1990:119). For two hundred years the population grew very little. The area of the Sula Valley remained isolated and disease-ridden. San Pedro had become a tiny Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 village of smugglers who hid from the law in the rainforest (UIES 1993: 18). Between 1872 and 1894 the city experienced major changes: an increasing immigration activated the area and a railway connected the city to other parts of the country. By 1888, three hundred years after its foundation, San Pedro had only 1,714 inhabitants (UIES 1993: 19). San Pedro’s ethnic makeup was mestizo (mixed) with cultural and genetic background from Africa, Europe, Meso- America and the Caribbean. Between 1895 and 1919 banana plantations developed and this made the city grow and sped its integration into the world market (Pastor Fasquelle 1990). By 1900 the city had grown to 5,000 inhabitants and by 1920 it already had more than 10,000 people (UIES 1993: 19). Although a flourishing cash crop market, the banana business created a dependency between Honduras and major transnational US-based corporations, a dependency that was particularly clear during the Cold War years when the US established military bases in Honduras, like the Pomarola base in Comayagua, and trained people to fight the Sandinista in Nicaragua. Many of the violations against human rights perpetrated in Honduras during the 1980s were backed up by the CIA (Bowman 1999: 11). Between 1914 and 1974 the Sula Valley and northern coast of Honduras was hit by four hurricanes, the last three of them coming exactly after a 20 year lapse (1914, 1934, 1954, and 1974). When hurricane Fiff hit the Honduran coast on September 14, 1974 nobody seemed prepared (Grupo Editorial 1989:127). The consequences were disastrous: about 20 villages disappeared to the last house. 10,000 people died, especially in Choloma, only a 20 minutes drive from San Pedro Sula (Grupo Editorial 1989:125-126). When the still more devastating hurricane Mitch came over Honduras in 1998, although hundreds of thousands were evacuated from the higher-risk areas, like Choloma, there were close to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 5 6,000 deaths. Had people not evacauted and prepared this time, the deaths might have surpassed the hundreds of thousands. In 198S the first case of AIDS was reported in the city, and the number of cases quickly multiplied. San Pedro became sadly known as “la capital del SIDA” (the capital city of AIDS). By March 1998, with only 17% of Central America’s population, Honduras claimed 50% of the total of AIDS cases reported for Central America (Garcia Trujillo, Paredes, and Sierra 1998:12). Most of these cases came from the Sula Valley region. In the prostitution area of Suncery sanitary authorities shut down “El Gay,” the only gay bar in San Pedro, along with many brothels. After El Gay was shut El Corcel Negro in Barrio Medina became the hangout for people who wanted to meet other people of alternative sexualities. The reasons why San Pedro Sula became the capital of AIDS remain a mystery. Was this the inevitable outcome for a cursed land, the land of pestilence? Several hypotheses have been offered. The most important form of transmission of HIV in Honduras is via sexual intercourse (Garcia Trujillo, Paredes, and Sierra 1998). Massive vaccination with unclean needles and infected blood banks cannot be discounted as other possible infection routes. The most plausible hypothesis claims that AIDS spread so quickly in the Sula Valley due to the great numbers of foreign military and the prostitution that grew around their bases. The HTV virus then spread out to the rest of the population due to promiscuity, bisexuality, and unprotected sex practices common in Sanpedran sexual culture. Garcia Trujillo, Paredes, and Sierra (1998) write: With the victory of Sandinism in Nicaragua, Central America, especially Honduras, became the core of the Cold War in the Americas. It has been claimed that the heavy presence of foreign troops in Honduras was associated with an increase in prostitution and STDs precisely in the towns where the military bases were located and in the leisure areas visited by the military. According to official Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 6 reports, gonorrhea cases increased from 143 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1979 to 196 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1984. A similar increase was observed in syphilis: 69 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1979; 111 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 1984.1 (p. 12) It is common knowledge that STDs that create open ulcers in the genital area, like syphilis, make it easier for the HIV virus to enter the blood stream and infect the person. Street violence has dramatically increased since the early 1990s. From about 1993 on, and especially after California's Proposition 185 in 1994, the US government has been massively deporting Hondurans from cities like Los Angeles back to Honduras. Many of these deportees were young men and women, children of illegal, underpaid workers. As their parents had to work double shifts to make ends meet and be able to save some money to send back to Honduras, these children grew up underattended and spent much of their time on the streets (Vigil and Yun 1996: 150-151, 155). Many of these children joined one of the two major Latino youth gangs in Los Angeles as a form of resistance against racial discrimination, mainly by Mexican-Americans (Ward, lecture of January 28, 1999 at USC): M.S., or “Mara Salvatrucha” (originally a Salvadoran- American gang) and “La 18,” or “IS1 1 * Street.” Thus, San Pedro rapidly became a gang-infested city. A new “disease” had been added to a long list of calamities, this time imported directly from the US. Other US-imported youth gangs made their appearance, too, like “Los Vatos Locos,” and the mara (gang) “Mao-Mao.”2 San Pedro’s more affected area was the southeast, also called area # 4 (UIES 1993, map). Two important neighborhoods in this area of town are Barrio Medina and Barrio Cabanas [Ibid.]. These were the two barrios where I conducted most of my fieldwork. Southeast San Pedro is the area were AIDS hit with the most virulence. This is also the area were the brothel sector of Suncery is located and the macho/loca relationship is more prevalent. Cabanas and Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7 Suncery are areas of lower socio-economic status (SES). Medina, a little bit higher up in the social “scale,” is predominantly middle-low SES. Medina is where most automobile mechanic shops are, where El Corcel Negro was located, and where I stayed in my visits of 1994 and 1996. The main street market of San Pedro is also in Medina. For eight months during 1997 and 1998 I lived in Barrio Cabanas. On the comer across from where I stayed is the “headquarters” of mara Mao-Mao, the dominant youth gang in Cabanas. Shooting could be heard almost every night. One night a stray bullet perforated the roof of our house with a smash and violently lodged in my host’s hammock right after he stepped out of it to go to the bathroom. Street violence, robbery, and rape were becoming so prevalent that civilians began arming themselves. By the end of my fieldwork in 1998 it was a common sight to see men carrying guns, which were not concealed at all, but displayed with bravado. Men usually stuck the pistol in the front of their pants, pointing towards their crotch. For example, my host’s brother, just back in Honduras after working illegally in Miami for years, “had” to carry a revolver above his crotch to protect his car from being stolen (the car was stolen anyway a few months later). I saw men who exchanged dollars for Lempiras (Honduras’ currency) at San Pedro’s International Airport while they were carelessly playing with their pistols in front of the tourists. I also saw my host’s nephew of only 18 playing on the street with his uncle’s gun. On several occasions I scolded one of the people who collaborated on the research project with me, because he would let his teenaged and emotionally immature lover play with his loaded gun right in front of me. The tradition of men to carrying weapons, however, is not new (men armed with machetes have long been commonplace in San Pedro). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8 Beginning in the 1990s San Pedro also experienced an economic boom due to the business of maquiladoras— commonly known as “m a q u ila s, which are clothing factories. Most of the jobs were assigned to women, which made Sanpedran women unusually independent economically by Honduran standards. This seemed to have facilitated women’s social emancipation from traditional machismo. Women’s sexuality apparently has become less regulated than in the past, according to what I was told both by women and men. On several occasions I heard younger married and unmarried women say how they would have sex with a man they like, to the shock of older women present. If these interviews are accurate, heterosexual sex out of wedlock, although still regulated and difficult to practice amidst the crowded living conditions in which most people of lower SES live, is quite common. Whether this is a recent phenomenon I do not know, but I suspect if it is, there is a connection to the increase in women’s independence. San Pedro’s relatively blooming economy gave it the reputation for being the “industrial capital of Honduras.” This attracted and still attracts people from all over the country, especially rural Honduras, who come to San Pedro in search of better horizons. It was calculated after projections based on the 1988 Honduran national census, that by 1992 San Pedro had an urban population of 361,938. The numbers working in the city and living in the surrounding areas of the Sula Valley raised the total metropolitan population to approximately 407,000 people (UIES 1993:27). By 1996 this had increased to 442,472 (DIEM/FNTJAP 1996). For 1999 the projection is of 553,024 for the city only (Ciudad, DIEM/FNUAP, communication of December 1998), with higher, undetermined numbers of people living in the now densely populated surrounding areas. The most recent catastrophe to hit San Pedro, and Honduras in general, was hurricane and tropical storm Mitch. Hurricane Mitch itself did not enter continental Honduras, thanks to the coastal mountain range Nombre de Dios Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9 (“Name of God”) that miraculously stopped the strong, category 5, winds. The problem was that hurricane Mitch became stationary over the Honduras Bay Islands and for almost an entire week Honduras was under constant tropical rain. This created a tropical storm which devastated continental Honduras. Between October 26 and 31, 1998, it rained almost non-stop. This flooded a great part of the country, where the rivers went over their course and most bridges and roads were destroyed. About 80 to 90% of Honduras’ national crop production was ruined (Honduras president Carlos Flores’ communication via TV, November 1998). The local newspaper La Prensa of December 3, 1998 published official statistics a little more than a month after the catastrophe: 5,877 deaths and 1.4 million people were directly affected (usually left homeless). These huge numbers are also huge percentages if we consider that the total estimated population of Honduras as of March 1998 was 5.7 million (Garcia Trujillo, Paredes, and Sierra 1998:12). Mitch also brought disease: 66 cases of leptospirosis (a strange and dangerous disease transmitted by rat and other animal urine), outbreaks of regular and hemorrhagic dengue, malaria, cholera, and diarrhea. 2. METHODOLOGY USED IN FIELDWORK My fieldwork involved a total of 9 months unevenly distributed into four visits to Honduras: three weeks in 1994; one week in 1996; four months in 1997, and four months in 1998.3 The study was based on interviews and participant observation. The interviews were formal and semi-structured and informal and non-structured. I conducted participant observation during social interactions, such as parties and Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 10 social meetings to which I had access during my stay in San Pedro through my contacts and through the Comunidad Gay Sampedrana. The formal or semi structured interviews lasted between one and two hours each and were recorded. 1 used a small tape recorder to record interviews. Transcription of tapes followed. It took me about one week to transcribe and analyze two hours of recorded interviews. During the analysis I mainly aimed to relate the information elicited during the interviews to the main themes of my dissertation. I also aimed to find similarities and differences between different interviews, especially between the interviews of machos and locas who have been involved in relationships with each other. How do stories about relationships differ between machos and locas? I especially strove to find connections between machos’ and locas' perceptions of sexuality and gender. How were their cultural conceptions of sexuality and gender impacted by the way they lived? And/or, how was the way they lived or the way they perceived and portrayed their lives directly affected by the way they thought about gender and sexuality? Questions in general were open-ended, although I followed some standard techniques of in-depth interviewing (Eyre 1997, Femandez-Alemany forthcoming). I took photographs of the interviewees and of people in social settings as well. I interviewed 34 men who have sex with men. Informally I interviewed 20 (8 homosexually identified and 12 heterosexually identified). Formally I interviewed 14 men (7 homosexually identified and 7 heterosexually identified) but did 15 interviews (one person, Osvaldo, I interviewed twice). In total I interviewed 19 heterosexually identified and 15 homosexually identified men who have sex with men.4 The age range for the 19 interviewees of heterosexual identity was between 15 and 26, with an average age of 21. They were (pseudonyms, ordered by age), Jose Pantrn, 15; Alexander David, 17; Jaime Enrique, 18; Gerson Donali, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 11 19; Freddie, 19; Enrique, 21; and Allan Geovanny, 22 (formal interviews); and Dimitri, 15; Marlon, ca.18; Rivereno, 20; Julio, 21; El Turco, 22; Rigo, 22; Eduardo, 23; Joel A., 23; Hector C., ca.24; Alfredo J., ca.24; Marvin, 25; and Hector M., 26 (informal interviews). The age range for the 15 interviewees of homosexual identity was between 18 and 72, with an average age of 35.14. They were (pseudonyms, ordered by age), Saskia, 24; Osvaldo, 30; Fausto, 33; Horacio, 38; Miguel, 44; Mango, 55; and Don Pedro, 72 (formal interviews); and Wilson, 18; Antonio, c. 22; Charlie, c.22; Luigi, c.25, Elmer, 29; Carioca, 30; Cindy, c.35; and Helvecio, c. 50 (informal interviews). The age range of the interviewees reflects the cultural belief, my personal observation, and other social scientists’ findings that the young bisexual man of heterosexual identity usually marries a woman and abandons homosexual behavior when he is about 25, while the man of homosexual identity maintains his identity, behavior and desire throughout his life (cf. Whitam 1992, Carrier 1995, Prieur 1998: 214, 234, Femandez-Alemany and Sciolla forthcoming). Persuading the bisexual male to speak about his homosexual behavior is not an easy task. This is due to the fact that these behaviors belong to the realm of the private, of things that may be done but not spoken about.3 Is a “happy limbo of a non-identity" (Butler 1990:100) taking place in Latin America when people who practice homosexuality resist embracing a gay identity or any kind of homosexually related identity at all? As Butler effectively points out, even non-identity or pre-identity behaviors may be socially determined. In this cultural context, trying to make machos “confess” their homosexual acts in an interview is not only an alien imposition on them, but also a cultural oxymoron (if they can't speak or think about it, then it culturally does not exist for them). This is the first great methodological obstacle one is faced Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 12 with in this type of interview, especially with machos. Locas, on the other hand, sometimes are more than willing to speak about their homosexual acts. Their very existence as social beings depends, in part, on their homosexual identity and their narratives of their homosexual experiences. Researchers such as Carrier (1995: 198, 205) and Kulick (1996: footnote 5) met great obstacles trying to interview these males and to get them to tell even a fraction of their homosexual experiences. Prieur (1998) was able to interview some bisexuals. Most of them, however, denied having had homosexual experiences, although Prieur knew they were not being accurate (p. 190,190, note I, 191, 192, 199). Likewise, Gutmann (1996) was only able to gather extremely limited data on the homosexual experiences of the men he interviewed in Mexico City. Prieur (1998) and Kulick and Willson (1995) pose an interesting question: what can the researcher learn from what is not said? How can erasures in representation tell us valuable information about the sexual culture studied? How can we read between lines? These were some of the questions I had in mind when I interviewed the bisexual men.6 Fortunately, and to my surprise, I found that most of the bisexual men I interviewed were willing to tell me about their homosexual experiences. How was I able to break the silence of the bisexual? In my 9 months of fieldwork I learned that the best way to “enroll” people resistant to being interviewed and make them speak about what is difficult to speak about was by contacting them through the social networks in which they were involved with people of alternative masculinities. Therefore my access to the private world of the bisexual male was through the one who precisely knows the bisexual male’s private and homosexual life: the homosexual partner of the bisexual male. In addition, unlike previous researchers who have failed in interviewing the bisexual male, besides being a native Spanish speaker, I had the advantage of sharing triple Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 13 insider status with my interviewees: I was a male, Latin American, and lived an alternative masculinity.7 2. SOME THEORETICAL DEBATES IN THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL AND CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY OF HOMOSEXUALITY I have identified six current debates in the anthropological and cross-cultural study of homosexuality: 1. Positionality and objective science After the writing-culture or postmodern text critique in anthropology (Clifford and Marcus 1986), anthropology cannot pretend to be 100 percent objective and detached from politics. That gay and lesbian scholars are doing research on homosexuality (see Kulick and Willson 1995, Lewin and Leap 1996) does not disqualify or make less “scientific” their work but, as Lancaster (1997a) claims, it simply makes the tension between politics and analysis clearer and more straightforward: “there can be no nonideological conception of a problem. Partisan scholarship, like gay and lesbian studies, simply makes the relationship between politics and research explicit and takes this relationship as its point of departure” (p. 194). In the same vein, an interesting development of postmodernism in anthropology that questions positivism in science has been based on the notion of epistemological partiality or situated knowledge and positionality (Haraway 1991, Strathem 1991). I see this development coming from early debates about insider/outsider status and emic/etic narratives, which later in feminism became enriched by the deployment of standpoint theory (Hartsock 1983) and eventually Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 14 by postmodernist theories of epistemology and embodiment. According to Marilyn Strathem (1991): ...when ‘ T’ think of myself as an anthropologist, feminist scholarship becomes an aid or tool; it introduces thoughts I would not otherwise entertain. Hence an anthropologist can make feminist discourse exist as a distinct exterior presence, “outside” the body, as it were, because it is an extension of it, an instrument made of different materials, and able to do things that the original body alone cannot. At the same time, a tool only works for as long as it remains attached— it is an instrument for one person’s interactions with others, but not something to be encompassed or possessed independently of that person’s use of it. Does this extend our way of thinking about the partial connections of a conversation? I return to my example. Feminist discourse creates connections between the participants— but they remain partial insofar as they create no single entity between them. What each creates is an extension of a position, which could not be done without the instrument of conversation but in the end is done from the position each occupies fo r herself or himself. “Partial” captures the nature of the interlocution well, for not only there is no totality, each part also defines a partisan position. Ethnographic truths are similarly partial in being at once incomplete and committed. (p. 39, reference omitted) Both Haraway and Strathem more or less argue that “partial knowledge, positioned knowledge, can be epistemologically productive because of the connections and unexpected openings that such knowledges make possible” (Kulick 1995:20). From a standpoint, situated epistemological perspective as a young Latin American gay scholar I will work on counterpointing— sometimes harmonically, sometimes cacophonously— sexually and gender alternative, gay, lesbian, transgendered, and AIDS activists’ voices from Latin America. What do Latin Americans have to say about the study of homosexuality and gender variance in Latin America and how what we have to say may differ from what other theoreticians have written about the topic? Positionality and the right for self representation and self-figuration leads to the next debate I have found in the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 15 anthropological and transcultural study of homosexuality: the identity politics debate. 2. Identity politics and cultural relativism fessentialism and social constructionism) The identity politics vs. cultural relativism debate is what Lancaster (1997a) calls a “tension” between notions of similitude and difference cross-culturally: ... An early and enduring style of gay/lesbian scholarship looks for and documents the existence of homosexuals, lesbians, and their practices in other cultures and historical periods. In works of this genre, writer and reader project themselves into other cultures and periods exploring the possibilities of another life there— a leap of identification that seems to be the implicit starting point for all ethnography and social history. This impulse sets in motion especially powerful trains of thought for feminist, black, and gay studies. Identification is the operative term here. Parallel to a stream of feminist writing, which understands “Woman” as a universal sisterhood, and like one current of African-American studies that looks for enduring principles in black cultures, this tendency in gay studies is broadly “recuperative”: its task is to discover hidden lives and to reclaim forgotten voices. It both assumes and projects a unitary “identity” for diverse subjects. These practices of “reclamation” and “uncloseting” are useful, even necessary steps in community-building: what better way of imagining community than to posit its conditions everywhere, at all times, always-already present? But this approach raises questions when applied to histories very remote, or cultures very different, from the contemporary Western setting that gave rise to this imperative. Ironically, the very historical and ethnographic studies first motivated by impulses of homosimilitude soon encountered an enormous range of historical difference and cross-cultural diversity. On close inspection even relatively short periods of history, even relatively proximate cultures, display dramatically different configurations of gender and sexuality. Such diversity posed serious problems for universalist conceptions of sexual identity. For if sexualities, with their prescriptions and proscriptions, are conceived, practiced, and instanced differently, in different cultures, it follows that sexuality, as a part of culture, is contingent, relational, and in some sense “constructed.” What sophisticated scholarship came to embellish thus did not consist of cultural and historical variations on a theme but rather of deep thematic variation. In this way, a field that began by assuming that “a rose is a rose is a rose” came increasingly to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 16 enunciate principles of difference and differentiation as its most active interests. (pp. 194-195) The search for universal or common characteristics for gay and gender variant people transculturally (see Williams 1992[1986], Conner 1993) and transhistorically (see Boswell 1980; Duberman, Vicinus, and Chauncey 1989; Blasius and Phelan 1997) has been called “the creation myth” (Blasius 1997) or “nativist” (Connell and Dowsett 1993) approach because it assumes “that sexuality is fundamentally pre-social” (Ibid.: 50). This was the first and still is the politically most radical and important approach that has ever appeared in gay and lesbian politics, because it claims that gays are essentially different from non-gays and therefore deserve the rights of a minority group. The origins of this approach can be found in nineteenth-century German homosexual groups, which later was disseminated in the US through the Mattachine society and other early gay groups during the 1950s and 1960s. This approach is construed from the perspective of identity politics, which was the philosophical core of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Critical and queer theorists have recently questioned the validity of identity politics, as it essentializes, fixes, and presents in monolithic terms what is otherwise a myriad of identities or non-identities, ignoring class difference and historical and cultural change. As Lancaster and di Leonardo (1997) write, identity politics is: ...that modem Western tendency to assume that politics derives from the unanimous interests of certain fixed “identities”~gender, race/ethnicity, sexual preference. Identity politics, very obviously, elides the operations of history and political economy, most particularly the workings of class. Not quite so obviously, it asserts the transhistorical and cross-cultural existence of only certain global identities. This one-sidedness denies the history and historicity, for example, of the widely varying ways sexualities have been understood and practiced, as well as the creation and transmogrification of particular racial, ethnic, or national identities over time. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 17 On the other hand, the notion of cultural difference supported by social constructionists has been used and abused to draw comparisons that may be sound from an etic, ethnocentric perspective but may mean very little from an emic, native or world perspective. For example Taylor (1985), Lancaster (1992), Lumsden (1996), Leiner (1994), and Murray (1995) contrast homosexuality in Latin America to homosexuality in Anglophone North America. From a class/race, political economic-subaltern and positionality-based perspective, Bustos-Aguilar (1995) was particularly critical of white, Anglophone researchers writing about homosexuality in Latin America. Bustos-Aguilar accuses them of being “explanatory” in a positivist, as opposed to interpretive, fashion.8 He also accuses these white researchers of patronizing, neocolonializing, misrepresenting, romanticizing, and exoticizing the people and cultures studied. His criticisms, however, are extremely harsh and most of the time unfounded or inaccurate, which puts him in the vulnerable position of a tolerated-angry-minority who was perhaps only able to publish such a bitter and mistaken article because of a condescending, guilty-conscious First-World white editor. To this debate between identity politics and cultural relativism, I would only like to add that throughout the chapters I will resist the temptation of showing bewilderment toward the exoticism of the sexual culture studied: “American” gay culture is a very recent phenomenon in history, beginning in Europe and the US with noticeable strength only in this century, to spread out to the rest of the world as recendy as the past three decades. Even in New York before the World Wars, homosexual behavior followed many patterns other than the contemporary gay ones (Chauncey 1993). Anywhere else in the world, patterns of homosexual Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1 8 behavior more similar to the ones studied in my fieldwork than to the American gay models, and other ones, blossomed throughout the centuries. If any of these cultures might be singled out as exotic, it would be contemporary American gay culture. Not recognizing this is an extreme act of ethnocentrism that for one and at all should finally be eradicated from scholarly works on the topic. One step beyond the debate between identity politics and cultural relativism is Parker’s political economic placing of local meanings in the context of global processes (1999: 1-4). According to Parker, although difference between sexual cultures around the world is unquestionable, comparing and contrasting them should not miss the point that these sexual cultures and emerging gay communities, especially in the last decades, are interconnected as parts of larger interacting systems and therefore somehow interdependent in today’s modem/postmodem world.9 The deployment of political economy and world systems theory takes us to the next debate: structuralism and poststructualism. 3. Structuralism and poststructuralism Lancaster (1997a) recognized this debate as a “tension” between political economy and cultural analysis, or between Marxist structuralism and postmodern feminism. Poststructuralism, however, is much broader than the feminist postmodern critique of Marxism. Poststructuralism is a critique of every structuralist claim— Marxist or not, as it is concerned with processes of discourse creation and the power related to it, and not with causal, preontological structures, like structuralism does. Structuralism has had an important presence in the transcultural taxonomy of homosexuality. Authors such as Murray (1984, 1992), Adam (1985), and Greenberg (1988) have categorized homosexuality into four or five different types Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 19 following the expectation that these structures exist universally, regardless of the specificities of each culture: (1) age-graded, age-stratified, or transgenerational homosexuality; (2) gender-defined ortransgenderal homosexuality; (3) egalitarian homosexuality; (4) class-stratified homosexuality; and/or (5) profession-defined homosexuality. Can these typologies help us to better understand homosexuality cross-culturally? Is the study of homosexuality from a transcultural perspective still a valid pursuit for anthropological research? Are these categories part of a structuralist-based, positivist trend that wants to control and put in clear-cut, taxonomically neat structures what otherwise seems difficult to grasp? Was at least in this point Bustos-Aguilar’s intuitive critique correct? Is, on the other hand, the notion of world systems also reifying structures by allocating power in global, systemic structures where the agency of individuals and the politics of discourse seem to disguise as the effect of these systems? A poststructuralist perspective deconstructs the neo-Marxist/Gramscian idea that there are structures of vertical power through which the relationship oppressor/oppressed is established. This perspective sees power as immanent and in constant negotiation due to the individual and collective agency of the people exercising it (Foucault 1978[1976]). Poststructuralism focuses on the processes of discourse formation and the power that these processes involve, rather than on causes a priori (Butler 1990,1993). Poststructuralism problematizes the thesis of Schifter Sikora (1989), Leiner (1994), and Lumsden (1996:28) about gender/sexual inequality in Latin America. Using a neo-Marxist analysis based on 1960s’ radical feminism (Firestone 1970), these authors have argued that it is possible to establish a parallel between the oppression of women and the oppression of “non-men” (homosexual males). The parallel would be that women (regardless of their sexual orientation) as much as Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 20 homosexual males are oppressed as a class by heterosexual men; the latter being the ones who enforce an “hegemonic” masculinity (the culture of machismo). This approach has had an enormous ideological impact on the Latin American gay liberation movements of the 1980s and 1990s. The approach, however, suffers from the same problem as other studies of masculinity framed within the structuralist paradigm: by seeing the relations between males of “hegemonic” and “subordinate” masculinities as part of systems and structures of vertical power and oppression, these authors have failed to recognize the power and agency that the members of “subordinate” masculinities possess in the re-creation and maintenance of the “hegemonic” masculinities. Power appears in forms which are fluidly interactive rather than rigid and vertical. Thus, it is necessary to question a current paradigm in the study of masculinities, which is based on structural ideas of oppression— “hegemonic” masculinities vs. “subordinate” masculinities— in authors such as Donaldson (1993), Ramirez (1993), Connell (1995), Mosse (1996), and Vale de Almeida (1996). Within the structuralist paradigm, the debate between circum-Mediterranean and Protestant ethics has brought important issues of discourse and disclosure of information into consideration. 4. Circum-Mediterranean and Protestant ethics Can certain sexual cultures around the world be roughly divided between the “don’t ask, don’t tell” and the “you are what you do” social paradigms? The first paradigm, which has also been called “the will not to know” by Murray (1997), seems to have developed with particular strength in the circum-Mediterranean area,1 0 while the second one has been prominent in the Northern European Protestant world. The latter is what Weber, in his influential work The Protestant Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 21 Ethic and the Spirit o f Capitalism has called “Protestant ethic” (1930). In the Protestant ethic people’s lives should be virtuous and transparent and there should be no contradiction between the inside and the outside. People’s virtue requires that even their more intimate acts should follow similar rules as their public behavior, because “you are what you do.” In the circum-Mediterranean ethic, on the other hand, there exists a marked distinction between the public and the private. People are allowed to do many things in private that they should not mention, still less publicize. Sexuality is one of these things. Doing so shows that the person is someone with extremely poor manners, at best, or antisocial, at worst. Public decency becomes an imperative feature of civility. People’s “sins” are condoned as long as the perpetrators do not talk about them. To make things easier, people will simulate not having perceived improper acts and they will not ask or press either. Perhaps a circum-Mediterranean ethic disseminated throughout the world along with the spread of Islam to the East and the spread of Catholicism to the West. Circum-Mediterranean ethic of sexual double standards, where a man can penetrate another in the private and still be a “full” man in the public (implying an intact heterosexuality) are rampant in Muslim India as well as in Catholic Latin America and Catholic/Muslim Philippines. Is it a coincidence that in transgendered hijras’ oral history their origins are placed with the arrival of the Muslim Mughals to India (16lh -I8I h centuries)? How did Moorish culture in Spain and previously Roman culture in northern Africa influence and reinforce circum- Mediterranean conceptions of sexuality? Although exploring differences between circum-Mediterranean and Protestant ethics may help us at times, especially when comparing cultures in Latin and Anglophone America, the deployment of rigid categorization established by imaginary borders risks reifying structures and overlooking the complex historical Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 22 interconnectedness that made it possible for these differences to develop in the first place (cf. Parker 1999). In addition, Latin and Anglophone American cultural roots are very diverse and cannot be delimited to and neatly framed in a circum-Mediterranean or Protestant ethic paradigm. Cultural influences in Latin and Anglophone America have often taken a mosaic rather than a perfect blending form— unlike the American “melting-pot” utopia. Moreover, recent changes in Latin American cultures due to the globalization of the economy and culture as part of neoliberalist trends and telecommunications have initiated in Latin American cultures a trip of no return from circum-Mediterranean traditions to newer Euroamerican and Panamerican forms (Femandez-Alemany 1999, Femandez-Alemany and Sciolla forthcoming). The main point of this debate that I want to highlight is the need to be cautious about the emphasis and insistence of Anglophone academia in verbalizing private acts, which resembles Protestant public confession. This emphasis has created much tension in studies of sexuality in Catholic/circum- Mediterranean Latin America, where confession (and sexuality) have traditionally belonged to the realm of the private.1 1 I will develop this idea in the next chapter, “Speaking the unspeakable.” 5. Distinction between behavior, desire, and identity According to Bolton (1994), scholarly research on homosexuality can be divided into studies of sexual behavior, identity, and desire. If behavior and identity have been dealt with to a certain extent in the past, Bolton argues that very little has been written about same-sex desire in the social sciences (p. 162). Supporting this point, we find Carrier’s research on homosexuality in Mexico (1972, 1985, and 1995), in which he mainly focused on behavior. His interests have centered Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 23 on the issues of frequency, geography, and processes of sexual activity among men and their coping strategies in a homonegative society. Carrier also considered identity to a certain extent, as he divided his sample into activos (anal and oral insertors), pasivos (anal and oral insertees), and intemacionales (both insertors and insertees during anal and oral sex) (Carrier 1995: 203). The fact that Carrier classified men into one of these categories mainly on the basis of their behavior and not uniquely on the basis of the interviewees’ self-definition, shows us that his approach was mainly based on an etic perception of behavior. Only secondarily did he consider emic self-representations of identity. In recent scholarship, however, the concept of desire has been overly used. The word “desire” can be found in many recent titles and series on sexual cultures. During my fieldwork in Honduras, however, I realized that sexual/erotic desire plays a secondary role in homosexual relationships and homosocial male bonding. There are many other factors that play more predominant roles in the creation and maintenance of homosexual male relationships than mere erotic desire; for example, economic and emotional needs. Prieur (1998) reached a similar conclusion after her own fieldwork, where she concluded that the main reason for gender nonconforming homosexuals to focus on sex was that sex gives them a sense of identity and membership in a subculture (p. 103). If Prieur’s observations in Mexico and my observations in Honduras apply to other sexual cultures in Latin America, which I think they do, it follows that the abuse of the concept of desire has misleadingly displaced the focus of attention on to something that has more to do with the exoticizing imagination of the researcher than to any emic representation of it, let alone the tremendous pressures that publishers may overtly or tacitly exert over writers to make their works more sellable in the global market of sexual commodities. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 4 6. Distinction between the politics of gender and the politics of sexuality Since de Beauvoir’s pioneering, second-wave-feminism work The Second Sex (1978[1949]>, Western philosophy has problematized the conflation of gender and sexuality and has analytically studied them separately (Lancaster and di Leonardo 1997:2; also see Rubin 1975, 1984; Butler 1990). Yet in many cultures gender and sexuality cannot be easily separated. This is the case of traditional, circum- Mediterranean-derived cultures in Latin America. Roughly from the 1990s on, however, with the increase in visibility of gay movements in Latin America, it has gradually become more evident that the politics of gender and the politics of sexuality have incompatible agendas. Homosexual groups that initially harbored gays, lesbians and transvestites now are dividing due to insurmountable tensions between these different sectors of the Latin American homosexual population. Lesbians do not feel that their issues as women are being properly addressed; gays do not like to be identified as transgendered by their association with transvestites; transvestites do not feel accepted as such, as they feel alienated from the masculinist appearance upheld as the American gay model (Lemebel 1996, cf. Hekma 1994). With the emergence of middle-class, assimilationist gay urban networks and gay activism, the first supported by an emerging neoliberal market, the latter supported by AIDS funding, it has become increasingly evident that lesbians, transvestites, and gays belong to different subcultures and fight for different rights. This has greatly affected the sexual politics of Latin America and the struggle against the AIDS epidemic (Klein 1998). AIDS money has been particularly aimed at men’s issues and the decisions about the type of men to whom AIDS money should reach have been conservative, to say the least. New “gay” business has catered to masculine gay men, because these are the ones who Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 25 can afford the commodities offered. Women and transgendered people have felt completely underrepresented in today’s market of sex u ality where AIDS-Inc. and neoliberalism play a prominent role. Class cannot be ignored. In Latin America most full-time transvestites are commercial sex workers who belong to the lower SES (Prieur 1998:150). Those identifying as “gays” tend to be middle and upper- middle class, hold more conservative jobs and are closeted (Ibid.: 151). It has been paradoxical that precisely the sector of the homosexual population that has been more marginalized in today’s “gay world” is precisely the sector that in the first public gay parades and protests showed their face: from Stonewall to the earlier public homosexual demonstrations in Latin America the transvestites stood out among the few who dared to show their faces. I will deal again with this topic in Chapter V. Literature review: Homosexuality in Latin America Callender and Kochems (1985), Williams (1992[1986]), Roscoe (1991), and Trexler (1995), among others, have studied the Two-Spirit berdache, or Native American gender variant. There is also the research on the Isthmus Zapotec muxe done by Chinas (1985). All these works to a greater or lesser degrees address issues of native gender nonconformities in cultures where the tendency has been to perceive gender as including and preceding the sexuality of individuals; hence the imposition of an insertee status to persons who are perceived as belonging to a non-manly gender. Most of these authors sustain a third-gender hypothesis, that is, that gender-variant subjects are placed in an intermediate or third-gender continuum between men and women. Murray (1995) questions third-gender hypotheses as emic representations. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 26 Trexler’s historical analysis of male sodomization in the Americas at the time of the European invasion also represents berdaches in a frame of binary opposition (1995). Trexler attempts to study indigenous sexuality and gender through the lens of the Spaniards. He bases his study on Spaniards’ descriptions of indigenous sexuality and gender. Spaniards depicted Indians as more or less homosexual (and feminine) depending on their agenda. Through this we can see how homophobic concepts brought by the Spaniards were historically introduced into Latin American minds. Trexler also points out cases where native warriors used sodomization as a way to exert power and control, and in contrast to Williams (1986) and other studies on Native American homosexuality, Trexler sees berdachism as mainly the product of violence and child abuse. Berdachism is far more complex than unique gendered violence, and is more accurately seen as fluidity in the societal conceptions of gender, as an alternative conceptualization of self no more politicized and involved in power relations than any other expression of those cultures (Femandez-Alemany 1998c). Presenting an alternative version to the perspective of gender variance or gender continuum, is Kulick’s thesis that transgenderism (at least in Brazil) perfects societal gender stereotypes (1998). Kulick reacts to nineteenth century ideas of inversion, still present in Latin American popular narratives on transgenderism, by claiming that, ...travestis are concentrations of general ideas, representations, and practices of male and female. Thus, rather than simply inverting diem, turning them upside down in classic Camivalesque fashion, the argument here is that travestis elaborate the particular configurations of sexuality, gender, and sex that undergird and give meaning to Brazilian notions of “man” and “woman.” They crystallize them. They perfect them, to use a word that travestis themselves use when talking about their bodily practices. (Kulick 1998: 9) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 27 The precedence of gender over sexuality and the imposition of insertee status to males of a non-man status are commonplace in today's Latin American sexual cultures. The loca is perceived to be the insertee in the relationship and his status as loca has to do more with gender markers than with his sexuality per se. To what extent should gender-variant people like locas be placed in a continuum between men and women, or should they be considered as distinct categories on their own? I will discuss in more detail this and other points related to gender nonconformism and locas in Chapters HI and IV. Groundbreaking works (indeed the first area encompassing works on homosexuality for the region) are Murray’s two edited volumes on homosexuality in Latin America (1987,1995), in which he authored and co-authored more than half of the chapters. Most of the issues he deals with in Latin American Male Homosexualities (1995), an expanded revision of his early work of 1987, are considered in the chapters of this dissertation; to mention just a few: the conceptualization and fantasy of the loca; the deconstruction of the Latin lover and macho-stud stereotypes and the neat sex-role dichotomy of active/passive; the importation and relexification of gay identities; and the relationships between family, social insecurity, and the underdevelopement of the gay movement. Several other authors, such as Manuel Arboleda G., Peter Fry, Paul Kutsche, Luiz Mott, and Richard G. Parker contributed articles to Murray’s volume. Kutsche depicts male homosexuality in Costa Rica as divided into layers. There is a private layer that has to do with an unequal contract between “real men” (“ hombres de verdad’ ) and gays (Kutsche 1995). Parker sees a severe stigmatization of viados (faggots) and sapataos (dykes) due to their “social inadequacy” in Brazil (Parker 1995: 244). Fry also observes the weight of heteronormativity on Affo-Brazilian homoeroticism in that even the already Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 8 marginalized bichas (gender nonconforming, sexually passive males) themselves condemn other bichas who do not conform to their bicha-subculture norms (Fry 1995: 205). Bichas find a social niche and familial respect in Afro-Brazilian cults (Fry 1995: 210). Arboleda G. shows that not only sexual role preference, but also class and race are important in the selection of (homosexual) partners in Lima (Arboleda G. 1995: 100), stressing the reproduction of societal inequalities in everyday Peruvian gay life (Arboleda G. 1995: 106-107). Class segregation creates formidable obstacles for collective consciousness and actions, slowing down the political movement for a “gay” emancipation in Latin America (Arboleda G. 1995: 108). And Mott denounces the Brazilian reality of the thousands of homosexual people who have been killed systematically in recent years with no or little punishment for killers (Mott 1995:225). From a Marxist-structural-functional perspective Lancaster studied the relations of power and the binarism between the cochon (an equivalent of the Honduran loca) and the macho in Nicaragua (1992). He sees machismo, a “system of manliness,” not only as a gender or family-related issue, but also as an approach to life that pervades every aspect of Nicaraguan society and therefore also has to do with Nicaraguan politics and the revolution. For example, he sees implications of machismo in alcoholism, domestic violence, the abuse and discrimination against women and homosexual-identified men (cochones), modes of production, political economy, and family structure. In a later work (1995), Lancaster introduced the Nicaraguan “culture of machismo” belief that gender equality promoted by the Sandinista revolution may lead to the queerization of male citizens and provided an excellent and synthetic review of the political economy of the body. Most recently, he wrote about performativity and crossing-over in a transvestic performance he witnessed in Managua (1997). Like other fine theoretical work in literary theory, cultural Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 29 studies, and queer theory, Lancaster’s work could be blamed for not being solidly grounded in ethnographic data on sexuality. This has been part of a long and tedious debate between Lancaster and Murray (see Arboleda G. 1997). Interestingly, Murray’s work could also be blamed for being ethnographically “thin” (cf. Murray 1995: 49, note “*”). Rather, the merit of both authors lies in being among the first who theorized on the subject of homosexuality in Latin America. (In the case of Murray, his merit also lies in his encyclopedic compilation and erudite synthesis of literature on the topic.) Parker (1991) writes about the connections of machismo to sexuality and gender as something that he calls the “ideology of gender.” In the “ideology of gender,” if someone is a man, he is considered to be active, dominant, aggressive, in control, and the one who penetrates, not only in the realm of sexual interaction but also in daily life, including power relations and politics. Leiner (1994) claims that some of the reasons why the implementation of an HIV prevention and sex education plan in Cuba has failed include the culture of machismo, with its negative views of sex education, prejudice against male homosexuality (female homosexuality seems to be invisible to Cuban authorities and public opinion), and the belief that AIDS is a gay disease. Due to the double standard of public versus private, in which sexuality is only discussed in private, people (and the government) do not want to talk publicly about sex in a way that would be necessary to carry out public education. Quarantine in Cuba, therefore, has been a way to avoid speaking publicly about sex, according to Leiner. Leiner thinks that a cultural revolution that will counter machismo and promote condom usage will have to “confront the myth that men's sexual urge is uncontrollable and unable to change” (p. 148). On the other hand, Carrier (1995) seems to buy into circum-Mediterranean myths of male sexual urgency that leads to homosexuality in homosocial contexts Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 30 when as an explanation for the high incidence of same-sex behavior among Mexican males he offers as a cause the lack of available women (because most females' virginity is carefully guarded before marriage) (p. 46), gender segregation in the public, outside world (p. 31), and the fact that most Mexican males do not marry until their late twenties. This restricted access to females, Carrier argues, leads many males to choose other males as a sexual outlet (p. 46). This is reinforced by the circum-Mediterranean-derived tradition that as long as a man plays the sexual role of the penetrator, he is still a “normal” man. Young males learn from an early age that gender nonconforming males are appropriate objects to satisfy their sexual urges, and that this is acceptable, as long as it is not acknowledged publicly (pp. 16, 46,188). As I will show in Chapter IV, Carrier’s argument misses the point that in many cases homosocial male homosexuality is also rooted on power dynamics that supercede biological urgencies. Lumsden (1996) synthesizes some of the most important issues of Cuban male homosexuality, like the situation of homosexual males in Cuba yesterday and today; homophobia and sexual identity; coming out and the emergence of a gay movement; and the impact of AIDS. Unlike most previous analyses of homosexuality in Latin America that overlooked differences in age and social class as determinant factors in the shaping and differentiation of sexual cultures, Lumsden stresses these differences [see Arboleda and Whitam chapters in Murray 1995]. For example, a homosexual male who is young and lives in Havana is more likely to have developed a gay identity and rejected traditional sexual role playing than one who is older and lives in a peasant community (p. 149). Lumsden sheds new light on the understanding of sex/gender systems in Latin America by drawing differences and similarities between constructions of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 31 gender and sexuality in US mainstream culture and Cuba, however stereotyping this comparison may be: In Cuba, sexual orientation is inferred from gender identity rather than vice versa, as tends to be the case in North America. If you behave “normally,” other Cubans will assume that you are basically heterosexual even if you have been known to have sex with another man. In North America those who are perceived as failing to live up to expectations about what constitutes appropriate masculinity, particularly teenagers, are also frequently the target of ridicule that is implicitly or overtly homophobic. But the real litmus test that establishes your sexual identity is based on sex. You will be homophobically labeled gay or queer if you have been known to deviate to the slightest degree from the narrow path of conventional heterosexuality. The Cuban equivalent to coming out as a gay person in North America is to refuse to conform to traditional male mannerisms in public, knowing that such behavior will be perceived as "effeminate," as unbecoming to a “real man.” This could apply, for example, to crossing a leg over one's knee, effusive hand gestures, or in the past to wearing sandals. (pp.132-133) Before the appearance of the fiestas de diez pesos (underground parties) there were no places in Cuba where homosexuals could freely gather and socialize in a relaxed environment that was not a private party (pp. 156-157). Fiestas de diez pesos, however positive they may be in the socialization process of being gay, do not solve the problem of lack of privacy when it comes to having sex. Lack of privacy in Cuba, as in many other parts of the world, is one of the main obstacles for homosexuals to have sex and develop relationships. In the same vein as Leiner (1994), Lumsden accuses the Cuban government of being homophobic, a fact that brings obvious obstacles to the development of a positive gay identity in Cuba (p. 181). He suggestively writes, “How is it that the Cuban public is more prepared to deal with the erosion of age- old taboos regarding women's premarital virginity and not with the increasing visibility of gay males? Surely there can be only one explanation for this lacuna in awareness: the Communist Party leadership, which is responsible for the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 32 ideological content of all media, would prefer not to acknowledge or legitimize the presence of homosexuals in Cuba” (pp. 109-110). Lumsden gives an explanation for why totalitarian systems do not allow feminist or gay groups to blossom: [The] Cuban state's bureaucratic character does not make it any easier to change gender values. Instead it inhibits the autonomous, self directed struggles that are needed to complement exhortations from the top. Gender relations cannot be transformed without such politics at the personal level. But this kind of politicization, whether it involves gender, race, or sexual orientation, is problematic for the regime since it may increase militancy at the grassroots level and threaten the state's ability to contain social struggles within a framework defined at the top. (P-117) Bolton (1994) has criticized the methodology used in the anthropological study of homosexuality. He claims that when conducting such research, anthropologists need to be more aware of three issues: “concepts and definitions of homosexuality, coding problems, and the ethnographer’s bias” (p.163). He also criticizes the repeated attention given to sexual behavior and identity and the little attention given to the study of desire— same-sex desire (p. 164), as mentioned above in theoretical debate #5. Nunez Noriega (1994) did a study of the hegemonic representations of male homosexuality in Hermosillo, Mexico. His work is extremely influenced by Bourdieu’s practice theory (1992), Butler’s queer theory (1990) and Foucault’s historicist approach to sexuality (1978[1976]). The actual connections between northem-European trends toward the medicalization and creation of public discourses of sexuality and Latin American private discourses concerning sexuality, however, are not apparent in this work and the theoretical approaches invoked here do not help the reader in understanding machos’ and locas’ sexualities. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 33 In order to identify hegemonic representations of sexual existence in Hermosillo and to recognize how sexual practices among males are represented, Nunez Noriega analyzed local newspaper articles on the topic. He also tried to understand the impact of these hegemonic representations on the individuals involved (for example, in the generation of identities); to comprehend shared group feelings; and to identify the cultural practices of males who get erotically involved with other males and to see how these practices work as forms of resistance to an adverse cultural environment (pp. 26-27). Instead of normalizing nonconforming behaviors, hegemonic discourses in Hermosillo intensify the feeling of difference that homosexually identified men experience there. As with the Foucaultian Panopticon, these men “feel observed and surveilled in their experiences, feelings and desires and this is a source of great anxiety” (p. 157). Nunez Noriega presents himself as highly critical of traditional conceptions of sexuality (as framed in the binary opposition heterosexual/homosexual) and opposes the formation of groups that label themselves as exclusively “homosexual” or “gay,” because these labels would actually (a) vindicate marginality, stigma, and reinforce a previously assigned social classification; (b) alienate many individuals who practice same-sex sex but do not accept such an identity; (c) alienate many individuals who accept same-sex sex (in others) but are not willing to participate in an organization that does not include them or that stigmatizes them; (d) alienate many individuals who self- identify as “homosexuals” but are not willing to lose the benefits of being closeted— something that may happen if they join a labeled organization; and (e) “will waste the possibility of creating a broader force of action that could include individuals who believe in less repressive and more humane versions of sexuality” (p. 324). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 4 He then proposes that instead people should organize themselves in coalitions that “propagate information, make communication possible, [and] participate in the defense of the human rights of the people who suffer violence against themselves because of their sexual existence” (p. 325). According to Nunez Noriega, these coalitions should be “something festive, that take advantage of the artists’ vocations, writers, researchers, sexual educators, curious people, dilettanti, postmodernists, etc.” (Ibid.). 3. SUMMARY In this chapter I gave a sociohistorical introduction to the city of San Pedro Sula, the place where I conducted my fieldwork on sexual cultures. I showed how the feelings of danger and violence in which gender and sexual relations are embedded in San Pedro are deeply rooted in the cultural and geographical memory of the region. Disease, natural disasters, and violence have been endemic to San Pedro for centuries. After explaining the methology used for doing fieldwork, I offered a summary of six current debates in the anthropological and cross-cultural study of homosexuality and a literature review. My main research question during fieldwork was: what does it mean for both machos and locas to be involved in same-sex relationships and how does the fact that they are in such a relationship affect their views of themselves and of others about gender and sexuality? By answering this question I intended to better understand local sexual cultures that in part may exist precisely because of these types of relationships. In the next chapter I will explore an important theme in my research which puzzled me (and has become a real obstacle of sexual fieldwork in Latin America): the hardships of talking about sex. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 35 Endnotes 1 Con la victoria del Sandmismo en Nicaragua. Ia regidn centra americana, y especialmente Honduras, se convirtid en el centra de la guerra fria del condnente americano. Se ha postulado que Ia fuerte presencia de tropas extranjeras en el pais se asocid con un incremento en la prosdtucidn y en la incidencia de ETS en las ciudades donde se ubicaban las bases militares y en los lugares de diversidn frecuentados por esta poblacidn. Esto tuvo como consecuencia la facilitacidn de las diseminacidn del VIH en la poblacidn. De acuerdo a los reportes oficiales, la tasa de incidencia anual de gonorrea aumentd de 143 casos por 100.000 habitantes para 1979, a 196 casos por 100.000 habitantes en 1984. Un incremento similar se observd en la tasa de incidencia anual de stfilis, que en 1979 era de 69 casos por 100.000 habitantes, llegando a 111 casos por 100.000 habitantes en 1984. (Garcia Trujillo, Paredes, and Sierra 1998:12) 2 Similar reports of an alarming increase of gang violence following the massive deportadon of illegal youth in Los Angeles and other US cides has been reported for Honduras' neighboring country El Salvador (DeCesare 1998). 3 The reason why my 9-month fieldwork was not done all at once had to do with lack of funding. I was only able to conduct my fieldwork thanks to small grants received at different dmes. The rest of the rime I had to return to the US and work as a teaching assistant to be able to balance my debts, since these small grants did not fully cover all of my travel, living, and research expenses at once. On the other hand, having done my 9-month fieldwork through four shorter rime periods proved very convenient as I had time in between field visits to think and rethink what I had observed while I lived in Honduras and to get feedback from colleagues in the United States and elsewhere. This situation also helped me to keep the focus and not lose momentum as may have easily happened in a longer stay. As Prieur, who also completed her fieldwork after several short visits, righdy puts it: “when the researcher becomes ...[too] native... it can be wise to take a break from the fieldwork, to gain some distance and a fresh view. After some time in the field, impressions get weaker, notes shorter, with participation replacing observation” (1998:20). This certainly seemed to be the case for my fieldwork, where 1 always found it to be refreshing to leave and then later go back to the fieidsite. 4 Besides the 34 men who have sex with men interviewed, I interviewed six gay-identified representatives of four different gay organizations in Honduras, one who was a lesbian-identified woman (Nina Cobos). These interviews did not deal with “personal” issues, like the other interviews did, but focused on general themes related to sexuality, gender and gay human rights in Honduras. In addition, due to class, residence or gender status, some of the people interviewed here did not participate in the fieldwork setting in which my research took place. The interviews of the gay activists were published (Femdndez-AIemany and Larson 1996) and I will use the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 36 interviewees’ real nam es as they are openly gay activists. The six interviewees were: Jesus Guillen, from the Asociaci6n Hondurefia de Homosexuales y Lesbianas Contra el Sida, in San Pedro Sula; Alfredo Ididquez and Juan Jos6 Zambrano, from Colectivo Violeta, in Tegucigalpa; Nina Cobos, from Prisma, in Tegucigalpa; and Evelio Pineda and Dereck Raickov, from Comunidad Gay Sampedrana, in San Pedro Sula. I am also going to consider, only as comparative data, three other formal interviews. I conducted two of the interviews in Chile in 1997. The interviewees were homosexually identified men who are or have been in relationships with bisexual men of heterosexual identity. Their pseudonyms are Gastdn and Patricio. The third is an interview with a gay-identified, Mexican- American street male prostitute or "hustler.” I conducted this interview in Los Angeles, California in January of 1996. His pseudonym is Joe. s For more information on the double standards from circum-Mediterranean origin, see Gilmore 1990; Murray 1987, 1995; Enguix Grau 1996; Vale de Almeida 1996; Murray and Roscoe 1997. I will extensively deal with the topic of double standards in Chapter U. 6 When Prieur’s interviewees did not want to cooperate or were contradictory in what they were saying, instead of pressing them to disclose accurate information she focused on these limits and contradictions in themselves: “I made these limits my object of research: they are far more interesting than what I possibly could have made my subjects admit by pressuring. The discrepancies between what I saw and what I heard are very indicative, and have helped me to understand the sensitive nature of several topics...they may have many reasons for not telling, maybe for not even admitting to themselves” (1998:23). 7 Sharing some type of insider’s status and contacting the participants of the research through a commonly shared social network helps to ease the tension created by the apparent, real or imagined power inequality existing between researcher and the people invited to participate in the study. As Prieur (1998) writes. When the asymmetry between researcher and informants regarding cultural and economic capital is as strong as it was indeed in this case [her research in Mexico City], there is always a danger that the research relationship becomes a sort of symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1996): the informants may feel objectified and judged by a person who represents the dominant categories of their society... Bourdieu (Ibid.) recommends that the researcher should already know the informant or have common acquaintances,and they preferably also should have some traits in common that makes it possibe somehow to change the objectifying you to we, to create a situation where the two may try to reach an understanding together. (p.16, emphasis in original) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 37 Prieur (1998:19) acknowledges that being a woman studying male (homo) sexuality and gender nonconformism she could not have access to information in the direct way a male researcher could if he gets personally involved in the homosexual male games of the culture studied (see also Prieur 1998: 192, 193). I should get back to this in Chapter VI when I deal with the ethics of “having sex with informants.” 8 As Bustos-Aguilar himself declares in a self-indulgent, pseudo-postmodernist fashion: Thus I have refused to engage in explication the way it is common practice among the subjects of my critique: I chose the more difficult, cryptic style of bastardization of theories in a semi-broken English, which is tedious and hard to follow at times, and which constantly refuses clarity or illumination. If as readers we react to this text with impatience or anxiety over what goes unsaid, unexplained and so forth, part of the task of the article will have been achieved: to make the ground of intelligibility of Latin America as an object of Western knowledges unstable and non-navigable. (p. 166, endnote #3) If Bustos-Aguilar is so radical to go to the extreme of choosing cryptic language as a form of resistance to First World researchers' attempts to figure (and then navigate) Third World realities and peoples, why is he publishing in English and in a First World journal? And how is it he is living in the US and studying in a US institution? A more self-conscious and reflexive attitude would have been necessary for him to make his critique more effective and convincing. 9 See Altman (1996) for a critical treatment of the internationalization of gay identities. 1 0 By circum-Mediterranean it is meant the area of Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and Southwest Asia (Middle East). See Gilmore (1990:30-55), chapter 2, for an explanation on masculinity and gender in circum-Mediterranean cultures. In his works on homosexuality in Latin America (1987, 1995) and in Muslim cultures (1997), Murray embraces to a point this distinction. Whitam and Mathy (1986) do as well. 1 1 Even though the confessional is a dyadic social act in Roman Catholic culture— the priest and the penitent— it is still a private act in the sense that the information disclosed during the confession is secret. This starkly-contrasts to Protestant confession, which is public; where the confessional is a collective social act between the community and the penitent or an individual “testimony” in front of the community (cf. Foucault 1978[1976]). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 38 CHAPTER H: SPEAKING THE UNSPEAKABLE This chapter analyzes how sexuality is kept within private discourses, finding its way to the public only through joking or picardfa. The cultural impossibility of talking about sex has impeded the development of a homosexual identity among subjects whose gender identification is masculine, as sexuality and gender cannot be separated in traditional Latin American sexual cultures. The chapter also analyzes homosexual jargon as a cultural practice especially meaningful among gender nonconforming homosexual males who intend to downplay their homosexuality in public settings. Finally, the chapter introduces “drama,” a sophisticated speech interaction between locas where dialogue is made outrageous and campy to ease tensions in situations of competitiveness and envy. iP or que todos mis pinches actos deben tener un corolario de palabras, tan inutiles como gastadas? [Why must there be a corollary of useless, tired words for every little single act of mine?] — Luis Zapata, El vampiro de la Colonia Roma1 1. THE UNMENTIONABLE SIN Since at least the seventeenth century and coinciding with the rise of Capitalism, Protestant Northern/Central European and Anglophone American intelligentsia have been obsessed with regularizing sexuality by the deployment of medical terminology. As part of this regularization, sexuality has been repressed from other discourses and practice (Foucault 1978[1976]>. However, thinking that fieldwork in non-Protestant sexual cultures is going to elicit clear and straightforward verbal information on sexuality is an act of intellectual naivete. Conceding that it is scientists’ right to have access to information, be this in their own or other’s cultures, and that information about humankind should be Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 39 accessible to every single human being, such “information” may actually be an extremely Altered and biased version at best, or a mere reflection of the investigator’s own knowledge and inner questions at worst. Given this, it is necessary to offer the following caveat in the study of sexual cultures in Latin America: narratives on sexuality have traditionally remained part of a private discourse and they are usually disguised when becoming public. The Spaniards who came to the Americas referred to aboriginal homosexuality as the nefando sin. “Nefando” (from the Latin nefcmdus), means unmentionable or unspeakable and not nefarious as it has been wrongly translated into English. Homosexuality was so atrocious to Spaniards that the word could not be mentioned. It was the ultimate, unspeakable sin— the love that does not dare to speak its name. But why did Spaniards have such an extremely negative conception of homosexuality? A possible explanation has been offered by Williams (1992[1986]>: By the time European explorers landed in America, Europe was more firmly committed than any other culture in the world to persecuting sodomy. While homophobia was typical of Christian Europe generally, the Spanish seemed to be at the forefront of this persecution. In Spain the Inquisition reached sadistic extremes in its suppression of sexual diversity. Sodomy was defined loosely as any nonreproductive sexual act (usually a same-sex act but sometimes anal sex between a male and a female). Sodomy was a serious crime in Spain, being considered second only to crimes against the person of the king and to heresy. It was treated as a much more serious offense than murder. Circumstantial evidence or uncollaborated testimony was easily accepted as proof of the crime. Without any concept of religious freedom, or separation of church and state, sodomy was also considered a mortal sin. Those convicted by the inquisitorial courts were burned at the stake. Why were the Spanish so morbidly incensed over a sexual act? In what way did it threaten their society so severely as to be classified as more serious than murder? In many ways the Spanish were not much different from other Europeans in their homophobic reactions. Yet they had additional reasons to be upset over sodomy, quite largely growing out of their struggle against the Moors. These North African Muslims had occupied the Iberian peninsula for over seven hundred years, and for just that long the European natives had been resisting. Since warfare depleted the population, Spanish culture encouraged Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 0 propagation. As in some other societies that emphasize population growth, the Spanish tried to suppress birth control, abortion, and nonreproductive forms of sexuality. In an attempt to regain their homeland-similar to the struggles of the ancient Hebrews— the Spanish emphasized the same pro-population values that they had absorbed from the Jews via Christianity. Moreover, since all Europe had been devastated in the fourteenth century by the bubonic plague, with an estimated loss of half its population, even more pressures were added for maximizing reproduction. The Spanish had an additional reason for opposing homosexuality. In technology and intellectual thought, the Islamic civilization of the Moors was clearly more advanced than that of the Castilians. If the Spanish were going to challenge their culturally superior Muslim enemy, they were going to have to overcome their sense of inferiority by overcompensating— they had to see themselves as superior. They obviously could not do this in regard to technological or intellectual matters, so they had to turn to ideological values. In short, the Spanish had to create a culture that emphasized its difference from the Moors. Christianity, with its intolerance for other religions, served that function, supplying a unifying theme around which the non-Muslim Spanish could rally and proclaim their superiority. Their religious fanaticism sustained them in their struggles to drive out the Moors, and it left a heritage of intolerance and persecution of nonconformists. One aspect of Moorish society that clearly stood out as different from the Christians was its relaxed attitude toward same-sex relations. After centuries of continuous warfare, Spanish men displayed contempt for behavior that they associated with their Islamic enemy. When the Spanish regained control of the peninsula by the late fifteenth century, this offered the Church an unprecedented opportunity to impose its rules on the newly conquered lands. By confiscating the property of condemned individuals, the Church could gain a vast base of wealth in Spain as well as eliminate possible competitors for control of the population. This, along with die need for maximizing population growth and differentiation from the Moors, makes it clear why the Spanish treated sodomy as such a serious breach of civil and religious standards. Behind their fanatical condemnation was a striving for economic and political power, and uncertainty about being able to keep their Christian culture free from any taint of Moorish influence. They might not be able to challenge the Moors on technological or intellectual grounds, but they could do so by emphasizing “morals”— social taboos that the Muslims did not share. (pp. 132-134, references omitted)2 Even though this is a hard-to-prove thesis, Boswell’s (1980) and Williams’ (1992[1986]) sexual cultural ecology of a depleting population due to warfare and plague does make historical sense, in particular when it is presented along with the historically well known fact that Europeans used the warfare “tactic” of Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 41 labeling the enemy as sodomite. As Trexler (199S) points out, sodomy was perhaps not as prevalent in pre-Columbian America (nor was it necessarily more prevalent among the Moors than among the Spanish) as it has been depicted by the Spanish chroniclers. It is quite possible that the Spanish exaggerated and purposely (although not necessarily consciously) used the old technique of labeling the enemy as queer in order to add further justification to their brutal conquest of natives in the Americas. While homosexuals are labeled “locas”3 by other homosexuals or maricones, maricas, culeros and other derogatory terms in general,4 hombres or machos are usually unlabeled (Lancaster 1992).5 This has made terminology that describes hombres and their homosexual practices scarce in non-homosexual circles, unlike the abundant popular terminology that exist for the homosexual. Prieur (1998) wrote, “When it comes to jotas’ masculine-looking partners, the use of the words is even more difficult, since one of the characteristics of these men is that they do not designate themselves as anything else than men” (p.31).6 While the sexuality of the locas is questioned because of their visible gender nonconformity, masculine men’s sexuality is taken for granted: gender and sexuality are part of a single structure that cannot be separated. A matter of denial? How much does the taboo of speaking about sex in general and speaking about the homosexuality of the machos in particular account for the invisibility and even for the believed absence or nonexistence of homosexuality in the lives of these machos who have sex with locas? In other words, are machos who have sex with effeminate men and later completely deny having done so, knowingly lying about this or do they really believe in their untouched heterosexuality? Apparently, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 42 both things happen. One can see why a macho would like to lie about not having had sex with other men, especially if he is living in a heterosexist and homonegative society. What I find more interesting, however, is when a macho “lies” to himself, and therefore to others, about his homosexual behavior because the absence of macho homosexuality in the public discourse impedes him to put it into words or thoughts, so eventually he enters a state of denial. Or is it perhaps that because he never thinks about this, the realization that he has sex with other men never enters his consciousness? Positioning herself a step beyond the Cartesian cogito, ergo sum, radical deconstructionist and queer writer Wittig argues that “language ... is a set of acts, repeated over time, that produce reality-effects that are eventually misperceived as ‘facts’” (in Butler 1990:115). This repetition and performativity of language is what Derrida has called “citationality” because in order for an utterance to effectively signify a referent, the listener has to have become already acquainted with the referent and the signifying connection between it and the utterance. And this acquaintance is built through a performative repetition or re-iteration of the utterance. Thus, each time an utterance is fulfilling its signifying role it is because of a citationality effect— the word has “cited” what was already inscribed in the mind of the receiver. As Derrida (1988[1977]> writes, Could a performative utterance succeed if its formulation did not repeat a “coded” or iterable utterance, or in other words, if the formula I pronounce in order to open a meeting, launch a ship or a marriage were not identifiable as conforming with an iterable model, if it were not then identifiable in some way as a “citation”? (p. 18) If there is not a word or signifier in the Lacanian Symbolic whose meaning or signifying connection to a referent was learned over repetition and imitation, then there is no perceived referent. At least in the realm of the Father or the Symbolic, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 43 a referent that has not been signified does not exist (Lacan 1977(1966], 1978[1973]; Butler 1990, 1993). As Derrida (1988[1977]> ) claims: “the performative does not have its referent...outside of itself or, in any event, before and in front of itself. It does not describe something that exists outside of language and prior to it. It produces or transforms a situation, it effects...” (p. 13, emphasis added). In other words, the referent, according to Derrida, is created by the performative act of signification: it can only exist in language. A concrete instance that shows the power of the signifier and the act of signifying in language is found in Prieur (1998): The vestidas7 enjoy cheating their partners, being taken to be women. Once, when I arrived in Mexico, Mema and Lupita came to fetch me at the airport, together with Lupita’s new boyfriend, Jorge, who was driving the car. Lupita whispered in my ear, “He doesn’t know I’m homosexual, so be careful.” They had been dating each other only for some weeks. The next day I asked her how she managed to cheat him when they had sex, but she told me she had told him she was a virgin, and wanted to wait before they had sex. I shook my head. A virgin in the city’s shortest miniskirt... this could not last. A few days later she took Jorge with her to Dandy’s, the disco where I had been myself that first night in Mexico City. They stopped to pick up Patricio (who told me this story afterward), then Marta and Cristina. Jorge looked surprised when he saw Marta, but said nothing. Then they stopped at Gata’s place, where Patricio went in. He came back as Patricia, all dressed up with a garish dress, heavy makeup, and a huge wig, and told Jorge to drive off. Jorge asked where Patricio was, and Patricia answered: “I’m his big sister.” Jorge looked very surprised, but said nothing. At Dandy’s he had been very nice— still according to Patricia- -and had paid all die entrance fees and for all the drinks, had held open doors and lit the cigarettes: quite unusual chivalry among my Mends. But he was perhaps too generous with the drinks. In the car on the way home Marta started to strip off her clothes, showing her tits through the windowpane, before she threw out a nearly full bottle of rum when she was not allowed to have it first. Then she started to yell, “We’re all putos, we’ve all got horse cocks!” (This is the very same Marta who claims it is a misunderstanding that she was bom with a penis.) Jorge slammed on the brakes, but still said nothing. He drove everybody home, kissed Lupita on the cheek— and never showed up again. But Patricia claimed afterward that Jorge had not been fooled by anybody else but by himself, because he had been with Marta before, also sexually, believing she was a woman. Patricia thought he was just playing stupid, as long as it suited him, as long as the fraud was not too visible. I expected Lupita to be mad at Marta, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 4 4 but no, she showed no regrets— such things happen all the time, affairs rarely last long. (pp. 162-163) This incident clearly shows that the bisexual man was playing a game of avoiding signification— whether he was in denial or not. As long as the narratives about sexuality were kept at the strictest level of privacy, as long as the issue was not put in public exposure by speaking out about it, as long as his homosexuality was not signified, everything was fine— there was no homosexual referent in language. But when Marta made a public statement about them being transvestites, the spell vanished. Jorge was put in the difficult situation of either having to publicly acknowledge that he was having sex with another man, which implied a drastic change in his own identity and perception of self, or having to flee in order to keep his identity intact. Jorge chose to flee. Are these men in denial or are they conscious actors in this complicity of silence? Mema, Prieur’s principal fieldwork collaborator, believes in the denial hypothesis. After a man called Daniel flirted with Prieur, she asked Mema whether Daniel was homosexual (Prieur had met him in relation to other homosexuals). “’It is not that simple’”— Mema responded. And then continued, “‘He is what we call a mayate,8 but he doesn’t want to accept [that] he likes men’” (Prieur 1998:xiii, brackets added). Another example that supports the denial hypothesis is brought by Murray’s tale of an experience he had in Guatemala in 1978 with a man named “Raul.” Raul told Murray that he was activo9 They had sex, but Murray penetrated Raul. After sex, in an act of complete denial and to Murray’s shock, Raul told Murray that “he didn’t get fucked and never would” (Murray 1996: 239). Likewise, a narrative of a pasivo (insertee) macho in denial was immortalized by homosexual Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas (1993[1992]): Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 45 I remember once, getting off the bus, I approached a muscular adolescent. We didn’t waste words. One of the advantages of a pickup in Cuba was that not much talk was needed. Things were settled with a look, asking for a cigarette or saying you lived nearby and would he like to come with you. If he accepted, everything else was understood. The young man accepted, and once inside my home, [he] surprisingly asked me to play the role of the man. Actually that gave me pleasure too, and the man went down on me. I fucked him and he enjoyed it like a convict. Then, still naked, he asked me, “And if anybody catches us here, who is the man?” He meant who fucked whom. I replied, perhaps a little cruelly, “Obviously, I am the man, since I struck it into you.” This enraged the young man, who was a judo expert, and he started to throw me against the low ceiling; thank God, he would catch me in his arms on the way down, but I was getting an awful beating. “Who? Who is the man here?” he repeated. And I, afraid to die on this one, replied, “You, because you are a judo expert.” (p. 102-103, emphasis added)1 0 I as well witnessed a situation of blatant denial in San Pedro Sula during the fall of 1998. My friend Fausto, Fausto’s friend Charlie, and I were having a drink in a centrally located shopping center, the Pasaje Valle. I noticed that a man, about 24 years old, was “cruising”1 1 us. I told Fausto, who then invited the man to join us at the table. The man’s name was Johnny. Fausto was not very subtle about his sexual intentions and offered to pay for a hotel room where all of us— included Johnny— could go and “relax.” Johnny accepted. In the hotel Fausto fucked Johnny in a rather mechanical way and then got more passionately involved with Charlie, leaving Johnny aside. I observed everything from close up, including the sexual act. I noticed that Johnny was quietly weeping. I assumed that the reason why he was sobbing was because he felt used and objectified like a masturbatory hole by Fausto, who was now more interested in Charlie. I approached Johnny and we talked. Between tears he told me that this was his first homosexual experience. He confided to me that he has been in love with his best male friend for years, and he wished his first homosexual experience had been with his best friend instead of with Fausto. I then asked him if it hurt to be anally penetrated Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 46 for the first time. He looked at me in a combination of astonishment and dismay. What?!— he said. I have never been penetrated!— he almost screamed. I quickly changed the subject as I was afraid his astonishment would escalate into a nervous breakdown. None of the machos I interviewed ever confessed having been penetrated. Prieur (1998) was faced to a similar situation: All of the mayates I interviewed answered that they were never penetrated. Yet again, on the basis of what their partners told me, I am inclined to believe that some of them were not telling the truth. The jotas had warned me that no may ate would ever admit to having been penetrated— because that is something that cannot be said. This is of course a methodological problem, but I believe it is also a finding, since I came to realize why they cannot admit it: to be passive means to be homosexual, and this in turn means not to be a man. It is therefore something that should not happen, and if it has happened, it should not become known. (P-199) I disagree with Prieur in that I do not see that machos cannot admit being penetrated because that would make them homosexual. To me they cannot admit having been penetrated because they are machos, they are masculine, which then makes them culturally (and linguistically) impenetrable. On the other hand, someone effeminate will be assumed to be potentially penetrable. Therefore it is the gendered definition of self which makes the act speakable or not. According to Murray (1995), the actual anal penetration of a macho is “ignored ‘by the culture,’ or, rather, by Latino males who don’t want1 2 to know, talk about, or think that masculine appearances do not necessarily validate untainted masculine essence” (p. 63). More than a matter of personal denial, it is a matter of cultural feasibility: a “man” is always the one who penetrates. A man who is penetrated is a cultural impossibility, an oxymoron. The “I never get fucked” then becomes Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 47 more a statement about identity than about behavior (see Murray 1996: 255, endnote #23). Apparently, some machos are able to admit that they enjoy being penetrated. This occurs only during the liminal and extraordinary moment of sexual intercourse. Right after the intercourse the denial takes over again. Fausto told me of a situation of a macho admitting that he was enjoying being “possessed”: MANUEL: Was he always the one who penetrated you? FAUSTO: Yes. At the beginning, always at the beginning. MANUEL: How many times? FAUSTO: I don’t know how many times. Perhaps three or four times. Something like that. MANUEL: And then you “turned over.” FAUSTO: (laughter) Afterwards it was me who took the active role. MANUEL: ...Was this his first experience of being penetrated? FAUSTO: He was a virgin. That’s why it hurt him. It hurt him and it hurt me. It was a difficult penetration, not as other men I’ve penetrated, where to put it is so easy... I get lost in them, I sunk in them... MANUEL: Wasn’t it the same here? FAUSTO: Well, it’s been hard [with him]... Only recently I’ve been able to penetrate him. More or less... And only one time each time, because the second time he can’t take it, it is sore... MANUEL: Have you ever been able to talk about this with him? FAUSTO: It’s something that’s not discussed. It’s not dealt with, really. I can joke about it, though. You know that I’m a big joker... Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 48 it’s only possible through jokes. And through jokes to say a few things, nothing seriously. The only time we talk about this is precisely when we are making love. Then he speaks and say: “I surrender to you, my love,” I’m yours,” ‘T haven’t belonged to anyone else,” “only to you I can...” And he gives himself up and all that. Now, I don’t believe him. MANUEL: No? You don’t believe him? FAUSTO: No, because he’s a big whore.1 3 (Interview #12) Whether Fausto’s macho lover was being truthful or not is not the point. What is important here is that the macho was able to verbally admit that he was enjoying being “possessed” by Fausto (although he did not technically admit that he was being penetrated). Fausto added later that he was positive that the macho would kill him if he learns that Fausto has talked about this. This shows that regardless if the macho admitted to being possessed or fucked, he admitted to something extremely secretive and delicate to be discussed afterwards; something that may even justify the murder of the traitor. The conspiracy of silence and homosexual jargon Privacy in the lower SES of most Latin American cities is practically impossible. Extensive consanguinal and affinal family members and sometimes friends and other visitors inhabit the Latin American home at any time. It is not uncommon that several people would share the same bed at nighttime. Sexuality then becomes a daily aspect of life but people will act as if they “do not know.” For Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 49 example, Carrier observed a situation of lack of privacy in Guadalajara, Mexico where the family acted as if nothing had happened: At its peak the party numbered about eighteen. There were no females present. Only Arturo and the other contestant were in drag. The party consisted of dancing, drinking, joking, a little conversation, and a lot of petting. The dancing took place both in the courtyard and in Fernando’s room. Since the relatives had a full view of the little courtyard, the petting took place only in the room. Several couples were lying on Fernando’s large bed embracing and kissing. Several couples were kissing as they danced. At one point in the evening I noticed Fernando’s youngest brother standing at the foot of the bed watching the couples and fondling his genitals. Another time I saw his elder sister pass through the room to use the toilet in back. (Carrier 1995: 109) A conspiracy of silence is required for bisexuals and their homosexually identified partners if they want to meet and socialize in public spaces without offending public morals and trespassing established codes of morality. Both Prieur (1998:187) and Taylor (1985) noticed that when bisexually identified men socialized with homosexually identified men in public settings in Mexico City, this was done with discretion, so only people who participated in the subculture would notice. In Lima, Arboleda G. (1995) also found that masculine bisexual men or activos seemed to mingle well and were not labeled as deviant, homosexual or Other, like pasivos were (pp. 102,103). There are several ways in which people in the “ambiente”1 4 interact with each other to avoid being noticed or labeled as homosexuals. Some of these are: using specific “body idiom, sequence of positions, and verbal ‘protective disclosure routines’” (Taylor 1985:128).1 5 Verbal “protective disclosure routines” include specific jargon only known by the people in the ambiente. If someone who does not belong to the ambiente is addressed with these words, he or she will simply not understand what the interlocutor is referring to and, ideally for the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 50 people in the ambiente, the situation will not escalate beyond an apparently innocuous misunderstanding. Taylor (1985), Parker (1991), Carrier (1995), Murray (1987, 1995), Prieur (1998), Kulick (1998) and others have collected some of the local homosexual slang in the sexual cultures they studied. I was also exposed to the homosexual slang of the Honduran ambiente, but I noticed that it was more frequently used among locas than among machos. Honduran machos played a marginal role in the Honduran homosexual ambiente. When they entered the ambiente, they tended to socialize only one on one, usually with whomever was their homosexual partner at that moment. Honduran locas, on the other hand, tended to socialize among locas and used homosexual slang in those situations. Machos, of course, also socialized among machos, but not as part of the ambiente. When machos found each other in a situation where they were the partners of the locas, this is, when machos found each other in the ambiente, they remained distant, even hostile, to each other. The first time I formally interviewed Osvaldo in 1994 he shared with me some of his homosexual slang, which I had already come to know through participant observation and informal conversation: MANUEL: Now, speaking about homosexual jargon, what would be the purpose of using it? OSVALDO: [homosexual jargon] is mainly used when two homosexual males find themselves surrounded by heterosexual people and they don’t want their conversation to be understood because many times it might be personal stuff. This is when the jargon is used. This is one of the reasons why this jargon has been created in the homosexual ambiente. Another reason would be to avoid scandalizing Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 51 the heterosexual population with words that if are said like heterosexuals say them, they [the heterosexual population] would become alarmed. For example, relations of the “anal/oral kind.” If people hear these words, not like I just said them, but like they are vulgarly used in our country (“ mdmame el culo” [rim my ass]) people would get very scandalized. For example, one can refer to male genitalia that most people call “paloma: ” or “ pija” [equivalent to saying “dick” or “cock”] without mentioning those words. MANUEL: How can you refer to male genitalia without saying “paloma” or “pija”? OSVALDO: For example, when I'm going with another gay friend on the bus, or when we are walking in downtown San Pedro and we see a man with a fairly big crotch [we say]: “mira el vos de vos de mi tfo como lo tiene” [literally, “look at the you o f you of my uncle how he has it”]. MANUEL: And what words do you use for the different sizes of penises? OSVALDO: cutis, the smallest ones; abicutis, a little bit bigger; omba- omba, medium size; cafit, large; extra-cafu, extra-large. MANUEL: And to have sex, [what words do you use]? OSVALDO: “Parchfs” [fucking]. For example, when you are in a meeting of homosexuals, and you leave accompanied by a man, and later you come back, they will ask you “^ya parchaste?” [did you fuck?] or they will say “ese hombre te quiere para parchar” [that man wants you for a fuck]; “andate a parchfs con el” [go and fuck with him]. MANUEL: Are there other words? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 52 OSVALDO: Homosexuals that use drugs use the word “cotfs” instead of marijuana. MANUEL: And heterosexuals don’t recognize it...? OSVALDO: No, even drug addicts who use marijuana don’t recognize the word; only the people who use the homosexual slang do...1 6 (Interview # 3) So according to Osvaldo homosexuaL jargon is used to not offend public decency, to remain invisible, since this jargon specifically deals with sex or illicit activity, like drug consumption. In the case of masculine men, they look to escape being labeled as homosexual by preferring dates who are not too visibly “homosexual.” Contrary to what the stereotype1 7 indicates, in my fieldwork in Honduras I found that masculine bisexuals prefer to date masculine homosexuals. An excerpt from an interview of masculine and heterosexually identified Gerson Donali exemplifies this: MANUEL: What about if he [Gerson’s homosexual partner] were very macho, very masculine, do you think he will [still] look attractive to you? GERSON: Yes, because I don’t feel ashamed of being with him the way he is now. In downtown [San Pedro] I don’t feel embarrassed. But if there is another homosexual who is too flashy, that does bother me, because perhaps there are people around who look at you, friends of my sisters— whatever— who say: oh, your brother was hanging out with a homosexual. And maybe they don’t say homosexual. They say culero [faggot], okay? And I don’t like to use words like that— culero. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 53 So it doesn’t bother me at all to go out with him, even if he were more macho, even if he were like that. I mean, if he were like a transvestite, yes, that would bother me. But since he right now is macho, like that...1 8 MANUEL: If he passes by, nobody thinks that he is homosexual? GERSON: Nobody thinks that. MANUEL: And you like that about him? GERSON: That’s what I like about him the most, that he doesn’t dress like a transvestite.1 9 (Interview # 16, emphasis added) Gender nonconformism is a public statement about homosexuality. Far from an innocuous homosexual act occurring in private, someone flaunting his homosexuality by being gender nonconforming is what really seems to amuse, shock or bother (depending on the context) people witnessing this. Public demonstration of gender nonconformism is poor manners, a violation of public order and decency codes. It is almost like taking the privacy of what one does in bed to daylight street life— something indeed unbearable for many people, who then react with aggression, mockery or shame against what they see as an antisocial, aggressive act in itself. Machos might get extremely aggressive if their honor is tainted or questioned because of accusations of homosexuality. Although it did not happen in Latin America, an incident that occurred in Caribbean America is a clear example of this. In August 1997 two Jamaican prisons entered into a turmoil that caused 16 deaths. The riot occurred when inmates learned of a new plan of condom distribution in the prisons for both inmates and guards. After the insurrection, in which several men thought to be homosexual were murdered as Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 54 scapegoats, inmates and guards alike claimed that they became angry beyond limits because their heterosexuality was questioned by being offered condoms. Accepting the condoms would have been a public acknowledgement that homosexual intercourse was taking place in the prison, something that they could not tolerate. While sex among inmates is a widely known fact, what made them riot were the attempts of making public what should remain secretive2 0 (Newsclip #18). Even for machos who have been in long term relationships with locas, it is difficult, if not impossible, to publicly acknowledge their homosexual relationship. Prieur wrote (1998): Generally the m ayates treat their relationships with jotas with discretion, and rarely speak about them. Pablo told me why he had not told anyone about his experiences, and why no one had ever told him about theirs: ‘ They may grab you and tell you things that might hurt you a lot. And the truth is that I haven’t got the strength to say that I have made love to a man. If you make love to a person of the feminine sex, you can comment upon it, because people will not take it badly. But to make love with a man and comment upon it...perhaps they will take it badly even look on you with...with repulsion. Or as if it made them sick.’ These are pretty strong words. Certainly they show that to state that male bisexuality is socially acceptable in Mexico would be a gross oversimplification. (pp. 195-196) Effeminate homosexuals or locas also have a hard time speaking about the unspeakable, in their case, admitting playing the penetrator’s role. As one of Prieur’s transgendered collaborators told hen “‘Men who let us fuck them, oh no.’ But then some said it was a nice feeling, that it felt good. And if a man was with you and sucked you, and then you did it to him [penetrated him], then it was good. So I wanted to try, and I did. And the truth is that I liked it. But I did it discreetly, because my friends here, they would be shocked. But I started to tell them, and they started to try, too, and liked it. Now most do. But there are many who say they feel they are too much women to do it. And when you are together with other girls or guys who don’t Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 55 do it, you don’t do it in front of them. Just in our group, with the ones who know...So we’re not shocked anymore, as long as nobody else C A A C I I C ” (Prieur 1998:203-204) There is no such thing as complete sexual authenticity in a culture of double standards where sexual ideal norms are unrealistic at best. This is particularly true for people who live alternative sexualities. For example, Prieur (1998) found that locas or jotas do not have a consistent self: The self is created in an interplay between the image one gives of oneself and the image one perceives that others have of oneself. If the two do not correspond, the others’ response to the image cannot sustain the self. As the family members are significant others, in the Meadian sense, it is important that they know about the son’s homosexuality, since a life in complete inauthenticity would be a very painful alternative. But the jotas tone down their femininity at home, out of respect for their parents. By contrast, among strangers they tone down their masculinity, concealing it underneath wigs, foam-rubber padding, and makeup. The strangers may then respond positively to their femininity, but this only partly corresponds to their own self perception. In such a situation, a consistent self would be difficult to maintain— were it not for the ffiends, these people who know “who they really are,” who respond to all aspects of them. (p. 102) “Who they really are” and “tonftng] down their femininity” are problematic statements, though, since they imply an essential feminine nature in locas. At least from what I perceived in San Pedro Sula, locas in general claim to consciously manipulate their femininity and masculinity depending on the context. Therefore it is not a matter of toning down or concealing what they “really are,” but a matter of acting according to what is more convenient for the situation— a matter of agency. Of course, one may wonder if there is something of truth in the statement of manipulating or molding an already established nature. If not, why are they locas in the first place and not machos? But the origins of the actual differentiation of locas and machos are too obscure to be determined here Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 56 (for a good attempt to do so, see Prieur 1998: 104-139) and they do not necessarily have to do with innate features, but they could be related as well to interactionist, sociocultural factors— or a combination of all of the above. Two excerpts from an interview with Horacio illustrate the agency of the loca when it comes to his public presentation of femininity: MANUEL: You said that you tried to behave as masculine as possible in certain situations. How is that? HORACIO: In certain situations. This is, according to me, right? But xxx I look quite feminine and everyone knows it. But people love the seriousness with which I present myself. This let them see xxx between a man and a woman. Because of my nature— male--they think they are talking to a man, right? Although visually they get confused sometimes. Do you understand? MANUEL: Are you saying the opposite of what you told me before? You are saying now that you have a feminine appearance but the way you carry yourself is masculine? HORACIO: I have to do it because of the society in which I live. MANUEL: Before you said that your nature was masculine but your thinking was feminine. HORACIO: Feminine, exactly, but with my partners. [With them] I act like a woman. MANUEL: This is, you do a xxx HORACIO: Exactly, but [in] my social life...I try to project myself as a male, this is, leaving on one side every trace of femininity; I mean, mannerisms, expressions, ahm, gestures, all those things. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 57 MANUEL: Also everything that may make a reference to homosexuality? HORACIO: That too. Everything that may make a reference to homosexuality. MANUEL: Does this include the life with your family? HORACIO: Mmm-mmm [yes]. MANUEL: So you establish a difference between your life with your partner and your public life... HORACIO: My public life, exactly. Not completely public, though. When it’s time to perform as an entrepreneur, as a businessman, yes. I have to project myself with strength. Because business people like to deal with strong people. Because if you go with weaknesses, like for example, if you are too feminine...you are not going to do anything. But if you have, let’s say, if you have a feminine projection, but you behave with strength, like you are man-to-man, they respect you more. They take you more into consideration and they make good business with you. But if not they say, “I can take advantage of this one.” Do you understand?2 1 MANUEL: I’m interested in the distinction between public and private. You say that in the public world one finds the business world, your work, where you present yourself masculine to be taken seriously, you said. But your family... is it also part of this world? How so? HORACIO: Ahm, yes, that’s a part of my family life, because there [in my family] I also act the same, this is, I try to be strong, to not show Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 58 my weaknesses. To make them see that they are not with a brother [sic] but with a sister [sic], do you understand? It is very contradictory all what I’m saying, but it’s the truth.2 2 MANUEL: Then, besides the dating arena, are there other areas where you would show your femininity or homosexuality? HORACIO: No, no, no. About my femininity, only 100% when I am with my partner. MANUEL: What about with your friends, with your homosexual friends? HORACIO: No. With my homosexual friends I believe I am “normal.” I think I am always “normal” and only like that [homosexual] with my partner or with men I deal with to whom I have to show that image. MANUEL: You have to show that image? HORACIO: Ahm, yes, because I think that if I am with a sex that I like, I have to show what I really feel, how I feel, because I have to make them feel attracted to me at any rate, right? So I have to use my femininity, because if I use my masculinity I will go nowhere...2 3 (Interview #15, emphasis added) So what he “really” feels is homosexual attraction. Femininity is then purposely used as a form of seduction. Following what Horacio had said, if there is anything essential about him, it is his homosexuality and not his femininity. How, then, locas choose to conceal or display their homosexuality by being more or less feminine is what is of concern to the culture of public and private, the conspiracy of silence, and speaking the unspeakable. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 59 The will not to know Murray has called the taboo of speaking publicly about sex and other issues considered to be private, “the will not to know.” Although predominant in circum-Mediterranean-derived cultures, Murray rightly points out that the reticence about talking about sex has been common in other cultures as well, even mainstream cultures in the US during the 1920s (Murray1997: 44, footnote 5). Particularly interesting is Murray’s demythification of what today has become a reified dogma— the belief that homosexual-related identities were only born in the West in the past 150 years or so with the appearance of the “homosexual” in the medical discourse. Murray has called this a “special creationism” as he shows how homosexually related identities have existed throughout history and cultures. Murray calls the denial of the existence of previous homosexual identities and labels by Western intellectuals, “a northern European and American will not to know” (Murray 1997:29-30). La picardfa The claim that sexuality in Latin America is something that cannot be brought out in the public is only partially true. While I agree with the fact that only recently, primarily because of the AIDS crisis, sexuality has been perforce put in the public discourse to the embarrassment of pious and puritanical eyes and ears, I must add here that the only (and great) difference between now and then has been that now the talk about sexuality is being done in a serious way. For a long time in Latin America sexuality has been brought up in public discourse. But this has mostly been done in a joking fashion rather than as part of serious discussion or debate. The way that sexuality was publicly dealt with in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 60 the past was in the form of picardfa— jokes, double entendres in songs and mass media and in joking relationships between people.2 4 I will go back to joking relationships in greater detail in Chapter IV. To talk with picardfa means to make what one says less blunt, bold or direct. Picardfa is an indirect and humorous way to refer to sex as it uses double entendre and funny metaphors in its narrative. In picardfa knowledge is nuanced and made more subtle by “spicing” or “seasoning” it with mischievous humor: picardfa is like hot sauce, una salsa que pica, or itches in the mouth. Picardfa itches in a nice way, making the soul delight when the listener enters into complicity with the speaker, for this esoteric news has been disclosed in double entendre that only initiates can fully share. Hence, in order for an outsider to understand narratives on sexuality in Latin America a “thick description” is imperative.2 5 Picardfa is commonly found in popular songs and in broadcasters’ speech- -a safe way to talk about sex in public. For example, a popular computo song in Honduras during the fall of 1998 had as it main lyrics the words “jalando cometas” [pulling the kite], which makes an allusion to penile masturbation, because of the similarity in the hand movement between pulling a kite and pulling the prepuce. While using picardfa to describe masturbation makes the song funny and appealing for the people who could capture the metaphor, having described masturbation in the song in an open way would have been considered extremely poor manners. Yet this situation is quickly changing in Latin America nowadays as it is becoming more and more common to see serious, direct, and controversial debates on sexuality and reproductive rights in the media, such as premarital sex, teen pregnancy, abortion, contraception, and homosexuality. A clear example of this is Peruvian-born Jaime Bayly’s work. His book, appropriately titled No se lo Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 61 digas a nadie (1994) [Don't tell it to anyone], openly deals with homosexuality and has become a best seller in the Spanish speaking world. Bayly also conducts the interview show “En directo” that is broadcast to most of the Spanish speaking world on CBS-TV cable. In his interviews, Bayly deals with the topic of sexuality in a rather direct way by Latin American public standards (although far less openly than many television talk show hosts in the US). Representations of homosexuality in Latin American literature, however, have not been uncommon in the past, as literature seemed to have been a good compromise between what is considered public and what is considered private (see Leyland 1979,1983; Foster 1991; Balderston and Guy 1997).2 6 2 .DRAMA OR THE ART OF LYING De mil cosas que dice una loca, solo puedes creer una [out of a thousand things a loca says, you should believe only one]. — Helvecio.2 7 In Honduras, as well as in other regions of Latin America, locas have developed a particular art, which in Honduras locas call “drama.” The “art” consists of lying when describing sexual encounters, conquests, etc. This situation poses yet another obstacle to the researcher of homosexual cultures in Latin America because if the researcher is not well trained in recognizing drama, he or she will surely miss the message and accept a mistaken version of it. This section explores drama as part of boasting and camp. It also sees drama as a technique to elicit information among locas. Why do locas practice the art of lying or what they call “drama”? My thesis is that they do so as a form of socializing and eliciting information. Most importantly, through drama locas construct the ideal macho, therefore keeping alive a fantasy which is one of the pillars of their sexual culture. I discuss the ideology of the loca in Chapter m. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 62 Why do locas use the term “drama”? While lying has a negative connotation, drama, on the other hand, is a playful act. Drama is a theatrical way to convey a message. It requires some acting skills, otherwise the lie will be discovered. Drama can be outrageous, as in camp, or serious, as in envious competition. In any case, there is always something funny about such drama: stories are just a bit too good (or too bad) to be real. Lying to elicit information On Friday, October 3, 1997,1 went on an excursion to a river close to San Pedro along with three other men— two of whom were homosexually identified and one who was not. Rivers close to San Pedro are usually surrounded by dense tropical rainforest and few people go there, giving the necessary privacy for a sexual encounter that is not possible at home due to overcrowded conditions (see Murray 1987a: 123-24; 1995:38-43). As we approached the river an unspoken tension grew that something “sexual” might occur. Rivers are also known to be dangerous spots because the same isolation that makes them ideal places for sexual encounters also makes them ideal places for robbers as well. Thus, our tacit tension was not only due to sexual anticipations but also to well-founded fears of attack. Besides me, the people in our group were Osvaldo, a 26 year-old, gender nonconforming, homosexually identified man; Fausto, a 33 year-old masculine, homosexually identified man; and Freddie, an 18 year-old heterosexually identified man. Once on the riverbank, Freddie, an “hombre,” started sexually harassing Osvaldo, a “loca,” by trying to pinch Osvaldo's buttocks and insisting that Osvaldo should give oral sex to him. Osvaldo resisted and Freddie, semi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 63 annoyed, semi-playful, chased Osvaldo away, down the riverbank, by throwing little stones at Osvaldo. Unfortunately, one of the stones hit Osvaldo on the hand, opening a small but painful bleeding wound on it. Osvaldo was very upset and remained down the river by himself. Fausto, Freddie, and I stayed up-river, in the bushes. The next day, Osvaldo told me that Helvecio (another gender nonconforming, homosexually identified man who happens to know every one of us who had gone to the river the day before) claimed to know “everything” that had happened at the river the day before. Among all the things Osvaldo said Helvecio claimed had happened was that I fellated Freddie while we were in the bushes. I told Osvaldo that this did not happen. Osvaldo insisted that someone told Helvecio that / gave oral sex to Freddie. Who could have told such a lie to Helvecio? Only Fausto, Freddie, and I were in the bushes at that time. Did Fausto or Freddie tell this lie to Helvecio? Since Osvaldo was not present when I was with Freddie in the bushes, Osvaldo was not sure whether I gave oral sex to Freddie or not. Although the night before I did tell Osvaldo that “nothing” had happened when we were in the bushes, Osvaldo might have thought that perhaps I was not telling him the truth. Later, Osvaldo told me that many times locas get truth out of a lie. By lying they get truthful information. I then realized that Osvaldo was doing that with me earlier on. Nobody told Helvecio that I had fellated Freddie. Osvaldo invented that part of the story to see my reaction. Had I reacted with shock, like I was caught red handed, Osvaldo would have known that the night before I lied to him and that I really did give oral sex to Freddie. But because I firmly denied that that was true, and showed myself rather skeptical of the whole story, Osvaldo confirmed that I really did not give oral sex to Freddie. Had I been an accomplished liar, I would have anticipated Osvaldo's lies to elicit some truth Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 64 from me and I would have reacted exactly the way I reacted, regardless if it were true or not. I would have always denied it, shown myself skeptical about the issue, and made up some drama about it, or perhaps I would have "confirmed" his suspicions (even though it did not happen) by lying about how fantastic the oral sex was that I gave to Freddie in order to make Osvaldo jealous. When I realized this, I confronted Osvaldo, who confessed he had wanted to double check whether I had told him the truth about not having fellated Freddie at the river the day before. Lying as camp It is interesting to witness a conversation between Helvecio and Osvaldo, two accomplished performers in the art of lying. Nobody knows what is truth and what is drama. Therefore, everything is drama! It is not a mere lie anymore. It is the art of performing a reality whatever it is. It is campy.2 8 It seems that both parties, in this case Osvaldo and Helvecio, are enjoying the game enormously. The stories get more and more outrageous as both parties prove their mastery in the art of drama. Someone not trained or unaware of the game will “fall” as soon as he tells the truth. I can imagine that it is more fun to keep on with the drama, although at some point the need to know some truth may appear. Each time Osvaldo talks to someone who is a master of drama, I later ask him what was truth and what was drama. Osvaldo is never completely positive about what was true. He is left in doubt. For revenge, the next time he talks to the person Osvaldo will tell him fantastic stories to make him jealous. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 65 Lying as boasting Part of drama is based on envy and competition. It is always the handsomest men and the largest penis. Unlike Murray’s (1979) finding on gay ritual insults in the US, where to “beat” the other the rule seemed to be “if you can’t deny something, devalue it” (p. 216), in drama the listener will dismiss the story by telling another one that is even more fantastic, hyperbolic, and outrageous. Both parties draw pleasure from this drama contest. It does not matter what is true and what is not. What matters is who creates the most outrageous story. Drama becomes pure entertainment. Does this emerge from a necessity to connect with the other while coping with feelings of envy? Is it a harmless way to tease each other while spending time together? Here is where drama as camp and drama as boasting come together. Prieur (1998) has also reported observing competitive bragging among locas or jotas: In the span of a couple of hours I witnessed the following confrontations: first Pancha and Angela competed about who had the nicest home. Pancha won, since her home was bigger, less crowded, and materially better equipped. But Angela took her revenge, by stating that she could walk about as she pleased at home, wearing miniskirt and makeup and be treated like a woman. Pancha knew this was a weak point, but said she wore her foam-rubber paddings at home. This was an obvious loss and everybody laughed. (p. 169) Locas like to boast about their conquests. This has also been reported as occurring in the Philippines where Hart (1992) sees this as “an excellent validation of his sex-role inversion” (pp. 215-216). Instead of resorting to negative psychological explanations one may, instead, see the boasting drama as friendly competition, which strengthens social bonding while helping players cope with feelings of envy or inferiority. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 66 Lying as campy boasting might be related to the commonly seen desire of locas to be seen as upper-class, beautiful, and distinguished— what in Chile is called “regia.” This has also to do with the “theatrical” tendencies of the loca (female impersonation) and love for beauty pageants, both of which can be seen as rituals of inversion, or, according to Kulick (1998), as rituals of intensification, because locas attempt to personify and crystalize in themselves societal conceptions of gender and sexuality. Identifying drama I asked Osvaldo how he could tell when Helvecio is making up drama and when he is not. Osvaldo told me that he could tell because of the sarcastic tone of the conversation. Drama is sarcastic. There is another difference that I noticed and that Osvaldo confirmed: drama speech is slower and more pronounced; each word is carefully highlighted, unlike in regular speech. Yet it is too subtle to be detected by the untrained ear. If someone is not familiar with it, he will surely not tune into the “drama frequency” or will tune into it too late, invariably making himself the fool by revealing information that otherwise he would not have wanted made public and by believing as true what everyone else trained in the art recognizes as “drama.” In the next chapter I will show how what I call the fantasy of the loca plays a major role in the recreation and maintainance of this sexual culture, where “drama” is only a part of it. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 67 3. SUMMARY This chapter discussed how sexuality has been traditionally kept out of the public discourse in Latin America, finding its way to public forms only through joking or picardfa. It also showed that the impossibility of talking about sex has had a dramatic impact on the development of a homosexual identity among subjects whose gender identification is masculine, as sexuality and gender cannot be separated in traditional Latin American sexual cultures. The chapter also analyzed the extent this was a matter of denial, role playing, or cultural impossibility. In this context, homosexual jargon is brought into consideration as a cultural practice especially meaningful among gender nonconforming homosexual males who intend to downplay their homosexuality in public settings. Finally, the chapter dealt with “drama,” a sophisticated speech interaction between locas where dialogue is made outrageous and campy to ease tensions in situations of competitiveness and envy. Endnotes 1 Zapata 1985[1979]:47, quoted in Murray 1996:249-250. Translation is mine. 2 (cf. Murray and Dynes 1995:181-183). 3 “Loca” is a Spanish word that literally means “crazy girl” and across Latin America many times is used to refer to gender nonconforming males (effeminate men). In Latin America being gender nonconforming is equaled to the role of the insertee in homosexual anal intercourse, so locas are also considered “passive” homosexuals, which indeed is the only type of “homosexual" existing in traditional circum-Mediterranean-derived sexual narratives. 4 Other derogatory terms in Latin America to designate homosexuals are cochdn (Nicaragua), hueco (Guatemala), and joto or puto (Mexico) for men, and marimacha and manflora for women. For a more complete homosexual lexicon in Spanish, see Murray and Dynes 1995. 5 I do not see machos as totally unlabeled but only as less labeled than locas. Although for masculine men heterosexuality is indeed taken for granted and therefore unlabeied, masculinity is Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 68 not. Men have to constantly “perform” masculinity in order to keep their macho status. So long as their masculinity is maintained, their heterosexuality will be taken for granted. 6 In Honduras, however, I found several different categories to designate hombres (see next chapter). 7 Tranvestites. 3 Masculine, bisexual man in Mexico. 9 Category commonly used in Latin American homosexual subcultures, meaning “active,” or the one who plays the role of the penetrator in anal and oral sexual intercourse. 1 0 Una vez al bajarme de la guagua. recuerdo haber interceptado a un adolescente fomido. No hubo que hablar mucho; esa era una de las ventajas del flete en Cuba, que se hablaba poco; las cosas se hacfan con la mirada. se pedfa un cigarro, se decfa que uno vivfa por allf, que si queria llegar a la casa. Si la persona aceptaba. ya todo lo demds se daba por entendido. El joven aceptd. Al llegar a la casa me sorprendio porque, en vez de 6 1 hacer el papel de hombre. me pidid a mi que lo hiciera. Yo, en realidad, tambien disfrutaba haciendo esos papeles y aquel hombre se lanzo a mamarmela; yo me lo templd y disfruto como un condenado. Despuds, aun desnudo. me preguntd: ‘Y si nos cogen aquf, ^quien es el hombre?'. Se referia a que quien era el que se habfa templado a quien. Yo, quiza conun poco de crueldad. le dije: ‘Naturalmente, que soy yo porque te la metf. Eso enfurecio a a aquel hombre. que tambien practicaba judo. y empezd a drarme contra el techo; me draba y, por suerte, me recibfa otra vez en sus brazos, pero me estaba dando unos goipes horribles. '£,Quien es el hombre? £,Quien es el hombre? ^Quien es el hombre?’, me repeda. Y yo, que temfa perder la vida en aquello, Ie respondf: Tu, porque sabes judo. (Arenas 1992: 128-129) 1 1 I have used the English slang verb “to cruise” as a translation for the Mexican/Central American Spanish slang verb “%ar,” which means to go out to public spaces, such as streets and parks and exchange glances, gazes, and stares with other men or women with the purpose of initiating a sexual/romantic adventure. Ligar also implies to meet someone after the initial exchange of gazes. In mainstream Spanish, “ligar” means to tie up, to unite, even to glue things together. Taylor (1985) gives a different meaning and attributes a different origin to the word ligar: “Mexican homosexuals distinguish between anonymous encounters (fichas) and romantic encounters (ligas). These terms reflect social values, for a ficha is a poker chip given by a client to a prostitute for sexual services in a very cheap brothel, while liga comes from the verb ligar, meaning *to alloy precious metals’” (p. 122). I do not know where Taylor got the meanings for those words, which in any case only make sense within the symbolic anthropology model he was trying to develop (more than the preciousness of metals, ligar as a metaphor would take its meaning from fusing the metals together). At least in Honduras, only ligar is used for cruising and it denotes both a romantic and a quick sexual encounter. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 69 Is it really a matter of personal decision? Yes and no. At any rate, using “cannot” instead of “don’t want” seems more appropriate if what is seen as the determinant factor of the denial is culture and not a personal decision. 1 3 MANUEL: Y siempre era 6 1 el que te penetraba. / FAUSTO: Sf. Al principio si, siempre al principio. / MANUEL: ^Cuantas veces? / FAUSTO: No sd cuantas veces. Quiza tres o cuatro veces. Algo asi. / MANUEL: Y despuds “se dieron vuelta”. / FAUSTO: (risas) jCdmo usas el termino: "darse vuelta”! Despuds fui yo, quien asumid el rol activo. / MANUEL: ...era su primera experiencia en que era penetrado / FAUSTO: Estaba virgen. Este... era virgen, por eso le dolid. Le dolid a dl y me dolid a mi. Fue una penetracidn diffcil, no como otros que meterlo se hace con tal facilidad... Me pierdo, me hundo / MANUEL: £...no fue lo mismo? / FAUSTO: Igual, si eso ha costado— con penetrarlo sdlo hasta ahora que puedo penetrarlo. Mas o menos... Y sdlo una vez, porque ya la segunda vez no aguanta, queda todo adolorido... f MANUEL: ^Has podido alguna vez bablar verbalmente de estas cuestiones? / FAUSTO: No se habla. Realmente no se trata. Todavfa se puede bromear. Tu sabes que a mi me gusta mucho bromear... sdlo puede haber bromas. Y en bromas decir algunas cuantas cosas, nada serio. Cuando hablamos es fustamente cuando estamos haciendo el acto. Entonces habla y dice: "yo me entrego a ti, mi amor", "yo soy tuyo", "solamente a ti le he pertenecido", "no le he pertenecido a nadie mas", "solamente a ti puedo..." Y se entrega y toda aquella cuestidn. Ahora, yo no le creo. / MANUEL: ^No, no le crees? f FAUSTO: No, porque es tan puta... tan putisimo. (Interview #12) “Ambiente” “is an ambiguous term with various meanings such as ‘environment,’ ‘atmosphere,’ ‘ambiance,’ and ‘gaity,’ but in the homosexual subculture it means ‘having to do with homosexuality’” (Taylor 1985: 128). 1 5 Taylor was using Goffman’s (1959) terminology. 1 6 MANUEL: Y ahora yendo al lenguaje, jerga de los homosexuales, ^cual seria el modvo de la jerga especial homosexual? / OSVALDO: M£s que todo se utiliza cuando dos personas homosexuales varones se encuentran en medio de una reunidn de personas heterosexuales y entonces no quieren que se les endenda su conversacidn porque muchas veces hablan de cosas fndmas. Entonces se udliza la jerga. Sena uno de los objedvos por los cuales se ha creado esta jerga dentro del ambiente homosexual. Y otro [objedvo] seria para no "escandalizar” a la poblacidn heterosexual con unas palabras que si las dijeran como las dicen los heterosexuales se alarmarian. Por ejemplo, las relaciones de dpo anal/oral. Las personas escucharan estas palabras no como las estoy diciendo si no com se diria en terminos vulgares en nuestro pais ["mdmame el culo”] se escandalizarian bastante. Por ejemplo uno puede referirse al drgano masculino que el comun de la poblacidn llama "paloma" o "pija” sin mencionarlo. / MANUEL: ^Cdmo te puedes referir al drgano masculino sin decir "paloma” o "pija” entre los homosexuales? / OSVALDO: Por ejemplo cuando vamos con otro amigo nuestro gay en un autobus, o vamos en el centra y vemos que un hombre dene bastante brotado [abultado] su pene [crotch] [decimos] "mirti el vos de vos de mi do como lo dene”. / MANUEL: ^Y cdmo se dicen los tamanos del pene? / OSVALDO: cuds, lo mds pequeno; abicuds, poquito mds grande; omba-omba, intermedio, mediano; cafu, grande; extra-cafu, mas grande. (Por ejemplo, decimos, "Esteban es cafii" lo que significa "este dene una pija grande). MANUEL: £Y para tener sexo, [qud palabra usan]? / OSVALDO: "Parchfs". Por ejemplo, cuando te vas de una reunidn de homosexuales con un hombre y despuds regresas te preguntan "^ya parchaste?" o "ese hombre te quiere para parchar", "andate a parchfs con dl" (andd a tener relaciones sexuales o a "pisar”). I MANUEL: ^Qud otra palabra hay? / OSVALDO: Entre los homosexuales que usan drogas se usa la palabra "cods" en vez de marihuana. / MANUEL: < ,Y los Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 70 heterosexuales no la reconocen...? / OSVALDO: No, ni aun los drogadictos que usan marihuana la reconocen. Sdlo en el argot homosexual. (Interview #3) The stereotype that machos like effeminate homosexuals has been cultivated by the fantasy of the loca (see next chapter). 1 8 I must add here that I did not find Gerson’s partner— a loca— macho at all. While his partner was not as overtly gender nonconforming as other locas I have seen in San Pedro, nor was he a transvestite, to me he did not meet the minimum standards of masculinity attributed to a macho in Honduras. I will go back to this in Chapters IH and IV of this dissertation. 1 9 MANUEL: si el fuera bien macho, bien masculino, tu crees que te atraeria? / GERSON: St. Porque a ml no me da pena andar con dl, asf como es ahorita, £no? En el centra a mi no me da pena. Pero incluso que otro homosexual que vaya tirando, digamos, las plumas, si me molesta porque tal vez hay gente que a uno lo mira, amigos, no sd, de las hermanas de uno, que le dicen: ah, tu hermano andaba con un homosexual, y tal vez no dicen homosexual sino que dicen culero, <,no? Y esas palabras a ml no me gusta decirlas. Culero. Entonces a mi con dl [no] me molesta salir para nada. Ni aunque fuera mas macho, ni aunque fuera asi. O sea, si fuera como travesti, si, me molestara. Pero como dl es macho asi ahorita. / MANUEL: Si dl pasa, naidie piensa que dl es homosexual. / GERSON: Nadie piensa. / MANUEL: Y eso te gusta de dl. / GERSON: Es lo que mas me gusta de dl -que [no] se viste como travesti. (Interview # 16) 2 0 Diecisdis personas fueron asesinadas durante los amotinamientos de finales de agosto en la Penitenciaria de Kingston en Jamaica y en la Prision Distrital de St. Catherine, despuds de que los guardias salieran a protestar ante el Comisionado de Correccionales, John Prescod, por el plan de distribuir condones entre los guardias y los reclusos. Tanto los guardias como los reclusos atribuyeron sus acciones a la ira provocada por la implicacidn de que ellos tenian relaciones sexuales con otros hombres. Muchos de los muertos fueron asesinados porque se presumia que eran homosexuales. (Newsclip # 18) 2 1 MANUEL: 0.k. Y tu, ahora, tu tambidn, ahora recuerdo, tu decias que tu tratabas de comportarte lo mas masculino posible en ciertas situaciones, <,c6mo es eso? / HORACIO: En ciertas situaciones. O sea, segun yo, verdad. Pero xxx me miro bien femenina y todo el mundo lo sabe. Pero lo que le encanta a la gente es la seriedad con que me proyecto. Entonces eso los hace ver a ellos entre una xxx entre hombre y mujer. Por mi naturaleza, o sea, es vardn, entonces piensan que estan hablando en ese momento, con un hombre, verdad, aunque visualmente a veces se confunden. ^Comprendes? / MANUEL: O sea ahora me estas diciendo como lo contrario de lo que me decias antes. Dices que tendrias una apariencia femenina pero tu manera de conducirte es masculina. / HORACIO: Porque tengo que hacerlo por la sociedad en que me desenvuelvo. / MANUEL: Pero antes dijiste que tu naturaleza era masculina pero tenias pensamientos femeninos. I HORACIO: Femeninos, exacto, pero con mis parejas. Actuo como mujer. / MANUEL: O sea tu haces una xxx. / HORACIO: Exacto, pero mi vida social, o sea, trato de proyectarme como un vardn, o sea, dejando de lado toda la feminidad, pues; o sea, te quiero decir ademanes, expresiones, eh, gesticulaciones, todas esas cosas. I MANUEL: Tambidn todo lo que haga referencia a homosexualidad. / HORACIO: Tambidn. Todo lo que haga referenda a homosexualidad. / MANUEL: Y ahi estd incluido la vida con tu familia. / HORACIO: Mmm-mmm. / MANUEL: O sea hi haces una diferencia entre la vida con tu pareja y tu vida publica. / HORACIO: Mi vida publica, exacto. No publica del todo. Cuando me toca desenvolverme como empresario, como hombre de negocios, si. Tengo que proyectarme con fortaleza, pues. Porque a la gente de Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 71 negocios lo que le gusta es encontrarse con alguien fuerte. Porque si vas con debilidades, como por ejemplo, sos muy femenino, muy femenina, y vas con muchas feminidades no vas a hacer nada. Pero si tends digamos, si tends una proyeccion femenina, pero tends una conducta que es fuerte, como que estds de hombre a hombre, te respetan mas. Te toman mis en cuenta y hacen buenos tratos. Pero si no dicen, “a este me lo envuelvo.” ^Comprendes? (Interview # 15) In Spanish, hermano (brother) and hermana (sister) are only differentiated by the last vowel. I think Horacio had a lapsus linguae, and he meant actually to say the opposite: ‘ To make them to see that they are not with a sister but with a brother.” Then when he adds that this looks contradictory, I think he means that for many the family environment is considered private, unlikely to be compared to the working world, like Horacio does. 2 3 MANUEL: Me interesa esa distincidn entre lo publico y lo privado. Tu dices que en el mundo publico estaria el mundo de los negocios. de tu trabajo, cuando tu te proyectas masculino para que te tomen en serio. dijiste. Pero tu familia ^tambien parecen'a ser parte de ese mundo, en que sentido? I HORACIO: Eh. si. en mi vida familiar entra esa parte, porque alia tambien acnio igual, o sea. trato de ser fuerte, de no mostrar mis debilidades. Para hacerles ver. pues. que no que estan con un hermano, si no con una hermana, me entiendes. Es bien contradictorio todo lo que estoy diciendo, pero es la verdad. / MANUEL: Entonces aparte del ambito con tu pareja, ^habrfa otro ambito donde expresarfas tu feminidad u homosexualidad? / HORACIO: No, no, no. De mi feminidad solamente 100% solamente cuando estoy con mi pareja. / MANUEL: ^Con tus amigos, con tus amigos homosexuales? / HORACIO: No. Con mis amigos homosexuales creo que soy “normal”. Creo que siempre soy “normal” y solamente asi, con mi pareja o con los hombres que trato que les tengo que proyectar esa imagen. / MANUEL: <rLes tienes que proyectar? I HORACIO: Eh, si, porque creo que si estoy con un sexo que me gusta, tengo que proyectarle realmente lo que siento, como me siento, porque tengo que hacerlos que se sientan atraidos por de mi de cualquier manera, ^no? O sea, tengo que echar a mano de mi feminidad, porque si hecho a mano de masculinidad no voy a hacer nada. (Interview # 15) I owe this insight to three gay Latinos/as at present living in the US: the Chilean Andres Sciolla, the Puerto Rican Manolo Flores, and the Mexican-American Grace Rosales. 2 3 By “thick description” I mean Clifford Geertz’s well known concept of using description that, being solidly grounded in ethnography and informed by emic representations, goes beyond the surface and grasps more subtle cultural aspects that otherwise would be invisible to an outsider. 2 6 I owe this insight to Stephen O. Murray and Judith Halberstam. Important Latin American authors who have openly dealt with homosexuality in their works are Donoso (1981[1966]), Puig (1976), Zapata (1985[1979J), and Arenas (1993[1992]), among many others. 2 7 Fieldwork notes, 1997. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 72 According to Esther Newton (1972), in the mid-1960s US “camp” “denoted specifically homosexual humor (p. xx). Yet generally speaking, “any very incongruous contrast can be campy. For instance juxtapositions of high and low status, of youth and old age, profane and sacred functions or symbols, cheap and expensive articles are frequently used for camp purposes (p. 107).” Nunez Noriega (1994) sees camp as part of an identity as it reflects a sense of difference (from the heterosexual and heterosexist world) and similarity (within homosexual social networks): "Camp is a synthesis of gazes: an external and an internal one; and the product of this double vision characterizes the sensitivity of a gay man" (p. 310). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 73 CHAPTER HI: GENDER IDEOLOGIES AND THE MACHO/LOCA CONTINUUM In this chapter I show how locas and machos cultivate gender ideologies which help to maintain the system of gender oppression in which locas are immersed. I then challenge machos’ and locas’ cultural ideals of gender and sexuality by bringing to the reader’s attention a multiplicity of native gender/sexuality categories currently existing in the sexual culture I studied in Honduras. These alternative categories create a continuum between the macho and the loca identities and offer the possibility of variance from predominant ideologies, thus destabilizing the rigid dichotomy macho/loca. 1. GENDER IDEOLOGIES To what extent are locas staunch defenders of a tradition which perpetuates their oppression? Would the ideology of machismo exist if it were not actively maintained by precisely the same persons whom the macho “subordinate” and “oppress”? Is oppression really about subordinating the “weak” or is it about making the weak believe that they do not have a say in the livelihood of oppression? Is oppression about blinding the oppressed so they cannot see their own capacity for power but only dwell in the shadow of their oppressor’s overpowering presence? Here I argue that locas actively maintain their status as “oppressed,” woman-like creatures as part of an ideology in which they emulate women’s attributes and attract “real” men into their sexual and romantic lives.1 Of course one may wonder why a biological male would willingly place himself in the powerless position of “subordinate woman” in Latin America. Perhaps locas are Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 74 children of their culture and cannot fare otherwise. Perhaps their position is only subordinate on the surface. Perhaps they do not want to change. Is the loca identity possible at all outside an economy of machismo? Will the loca survive the end of machismo? Will the loca opt for an alternative model to live his homosexuality in a way that liberates him from the oppressor/oppressed framework of traditional machismo? As it will be shown later in chapter V, gay models, which could have provided the loca an opportunity to escape his cultural trap, in fact have contributed, to further marginalize the loca by introducing ideals of a gay lifestyle available only to middle class, masculine men. “I’m the only one...” Locas want to think that their hombres really like women. Due only to special circumstances that favor the loca, such as their extreme charm, successful seduction, and careful attention toward their lovers, locas think hombres fall in love with them (as some of them do). To what degree may locas be fulfilling needs that “good” women traditionally have not fulfilled in the life of an hombre? Or to what degree do locas want to think that they perform a unique and irreplaceable role in the life of their hombre? I asked Helvecio: “What do you have for a man that a woman doesn't?” Helvecio replied, “I make them [the men] feel special. I treat them great. I pay attention to every little detail in a way that a woman wouldn't.”2 Prieur’s informant Gata also explained that his macho lover stayed with him for years because, “‘I did things to him that his wife never would, nor any other woman would have done. I caress him, I kiss him. I cut his toenails. I kiss his testicles, his penis, I do it to him orally. I scratch him, I take care of him and show him that I like it, too’” (1998:195). Some machos, such as Gerson Donali (Interview #16) and Allan Geovanny (Interview #17), seem to confirm what locas think about why hombres Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 75 are in relationships with them and not with women. According to Allan Geovanny, the friendship of the locas is much more reliable than women's friendship and for that reason he prefers to date locas. Gerson, on the other hand, told me that although he feels sexually attracted to all or most women, he has fallen in love and been in a relationship with only one male— his loca partner. Machos may like many women, but only one loca. Gaston, a homosexually- ldentified man who has been in a two-year relationship with a “heterosexual” man close to Santiago, Chile, told me about his hombre: ‘Torque a el no le gustan los hombres. No le gustan. Soy yo no mas.” (“Because he doesn’t like men. He doesn’t like them. It is only me [he likes]”) (Interview #10). According to locas, machos’ preference for locas is also due to anatomical differences between the rectum and the vagina. As Osvaldo told me, “men are fascinated with homosexual intercourse. They say that the homosexual is ‘mas socado’ [tighter] than the woman. That is, the homosexual's rectum isn't as elastic as the vagina... [it] is tighter. Therefore, when the hombre penetrates [a loca] he feels more pleasure...” (Interview #3). Prieur was told a similar narrative: Several jotas thought men had more sexual pleasure with them than with women. As Fifi said, “Then it is not the problem that she will get pregnant and all that. And then it’s that if you date a joto [passive homosexual], you have more fun. You have one more experience in your life. And for instance the men who are married tell they prefer a jo to ” Also for the sex? ‘Tor the sex, because many say that a joto is tighter than a woman. Who knows, I cannot tell, of course. And that they Qotos] do it better. They suck his dick; there are many who don’t get that from their wives. Or they don’t have sex in an open way. But with a joto they do.” (1998: 211) Both in Mexico and Honduras these narratives seem to be quite similar, at times almost identical. To what extent are the claims of anal vs. vaginal pleasure embellished by the loca? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 76 Locas don’t like tortiUas Helvecio does not like “to make tortillas.” This does not mean that he does not like to cook or eat delicious tortillas, a com or wheat based dietary staple in Latin America. The metaphor in homosexual slang “to make tortillas” means the sex that takes place between two non-penetrative (with a natural penis) partners, as sex between two women or between two sexually passive locas. Since there is no penile penetration, it is (wrongly) assumed that the only other possible sex for two passive men is to mb each other, as when kneading, handling, and massaging the dough together to make tortillas; hence the aphorism, “to make tortillas” for this type of sex.3 Helvecio swore that in his 50 years on earth he had never “make a tortilla” with another loca. Sex between two locas is taboo.4 In the dichotomous gender economy of machismo, this taboo is applicable to two masculine men together as well. In Mexico Prieur has heard “ jotas comment with disgust at the sight of two moustache-wearing men kissing each other, seeing it as something ‘abnormal’” (1998:149). In Honduras I have been told of stories of how two gay masculine men together have caused a scandal among locas. U.S.-trained sociologist L. Carcamo told me during my first visit to Honduras in 1994 how he fruitlessly tried to create a support group for homosexuals to better their self-esteem where they could develop what Carcamo thought should be a gay identity. He recalls the event, which proved to be the last and definitive failure of this project: a party for homosexuals only. At this party, to Carcamo’s dismay, homosexuals who both looked too masculine or too feminine refused to dance together. Two homosexuals could dance together only if one of them looked masculine or was dressing as a man and the other looked feminine or was dressing as a woman. Sociologist Carcamo, who both looks masculine and dresses as a man, danced at that infamous party with his younger Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 77 boyfriend, who also looked masculine and was dressed as a man. The scandal was such that Carcamo lost face and never managed to get the group together again after that5 A loca has no penis and an hombre has no anus In the ideology of the loca, an hombre must only be a penetrator and he must never show any desire toward the maleness of the loca (Prieur 247-249,252, 253). That is, he must never kiss, fellate or touch the genitalia of the loca while having sex.6 This will immediately destroy the loca's fantasy. For the loca, he will no longer be a real man and therefore the hombre is not suitable for a relationship with the loca. As Prieur indicates (1998), there is a tacit agreement between machos and locas to keep the fantasy, which in part is based on visual signs and complicity. These signs are part of a fantasy where locas act as if they have no penis and men act as if they have no anus. Specifically referring to transgenderism, Prieur writes: The jotas very consciously treat their bodies as carriers of signs. The makeup, the breasts, the big buttocks, and the penis well hidden between the Iegs— all these signs together form a message sent to possible sexual partners. The first part of the message is: “I’m sexually available, come and get it!” The second part is: “You may forget I’m a man; you don’t have to worry, I’ll be like a woman for you.” There is a tacit agreement on acting as if their own and their partners’ bodies were different— the jota's penis is not touched, neither are the mayate’ s [hombre’s] buttocks, they act as if the former had no penis and the latter had no anus, the first has no front and the other has no back (just like the bourgeois Victorian woman who had no legs). (p.222) A passage from the interview with Horacio shows this: MANUEL: Do they [the hombres] play with your male genitalia when ... they have sex with you? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 78 HORACIO: No. No one has tried to do that. At least the persons with whom I have wanted to be emotionally involved with. They’ve never attempted to play these types of games, because if that were the case, I wouldn’t have it and I’d dismiss them. MANUEL: Has that happened to you? HORACIO: Yes, it has happened to me, but not with the persons with whom I really wanted to stay, but with people with whom I have just wanted to have a moment of distraction. MANUEL: Even if you didn’t know they were going to react like that... when they did so, didyou not want to see them anymore? HORACIO: Yeah, si. That’s it.7 (Interview #15) In another part of the interview, Horacio confesses that part of what turns him off with men touching his penis is that he is reminded that he has a penis; something he does not want to admit: HORACIO:... And he doesn’t touch my penis because I wouldn’t let him. Right? MANUEL: But some have wanted to touch it? HORACIO: No, no, no, n o ...if they want to, they are not my partners any longer.8 (Interview #15) “Proper” sexual behavior for the hombre is to grab the buttocks of the loca, to suck the nipples of the loca, and oral and anal penetration of the loca. An hombre Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 79 should not kiss the loca in the mouth, at least during the first months of the relationship. The hombre must be “masculine” by the local cultural standards and expectations, and he is usually younger than the loca. In most cases, the hombre is still a young, unmarried man, between the ages of IS and 25. Due to the difference of age between the loca and the hombre (the loca is usually older), the loca has more money than the hombre, although both the loca and the hombre tend to belong to the lower SES. The loca financially supports the hombre and sometimes provides financially for the family of the hombre as well. The hombre’s family may accept his relationship with the loca but the issue is rarely or never discussed. The hombre may be at times violent— physically and emotionally— with the loca, especially when he is drunk. The hombre may maintain parallel relationships with women. He usually does not hide his heterosexual relationships as he does his homosexual relationship. He may, indeed, brag about his female conquests, especially in front of his male friends, and even in front of his loca partner. In spite of all this, the loca usually pays for the hombre’s expenses and gives him money. Why so? To keep their ideology alive? To believe that they are with “real” men? Within the culture of machismo in which they live, locas choose to give up their male “privileges” and imitate hierarchical structures of male domination where locas play the role of subordinated and oppressed women and yet they are economically dominant. Machos who live with locas know this and cooperate in maintaining the ideology alive. As shown in Prieur (1998): They [locas or jotas] pay for themselves and often quite a bit for the other (the macho), but while money in many contexts provides the right to demand something from the one who is paid for— such as services, or housework— the jotas have to (and want to) treat their lovers as men who are not given orders, and who do not do the dishes. Actually, out of their desire to be regarded as feminine, they prefer to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8 0 do such work themselves. They get sex and they give sex, but while they may make a considerable effort to give the other pleasure, they cannot expect him to do the same. They probably do not want it to be otherwise, as they often do not want to remind their lover (or themselves) about their male sexual organs; they do not want them to be touched. (p. 242) Once the hombre has become a fully grown man with some sort of skill or profession, whose studies often have been financed by the loca, the hombre will leave the loca, marry a female, and form a new household. Maybe after a few years the loca will find another lover to live with. Most likely, however, the loca will spend many years out of any relationship having, instead, casual sex. But the loca might also be too busy taking care of his ill mother or raising the orphan child of his deceased, single-mother sister to be thinking of romance. The loca may spend long hours as well supervising the family's business or the beauty salon that he owns in a central area of town. Of course this is a stereotype of what many of these relationships actually are. The variations are as many as the number of couples involved in these types of relationships. A central point of this chapter is that the ideal model of what a relationship between an hombre and a loca ought to be is fed, many times, by the participants' fantasy. What actually happens with these relationships is much more diverse and complex than fantasy itself. According to Murray (1995), “Those who have dropped out of the machismo competition generally have the sense not to rattle the fragile masculinity of the macho, who is all too likely to lash out at anyone who questions his (sacred) masculinity. Just as it takes a slave to be a master, the pasivo invests, persuades, polishes, and maintains his fantasy of the “real man” (hombre-hombre)” (p. 56). While I agree with Murray about how the fragile masculinity of the macho needs to be kept up by people’s fantasy (not just the locas’ fantasy), I do not see locas’ ideology only rooted on resistance to a macho Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 81 hegemony where the locas are the slaves. Locas’ resistance is also a way of self empowerment within a machistic economy in which the locas choose to self represent themselves as the queens of their domestic unit. Thus, it may not be rare that things that are proscribed do occur in bed: the macho being penetrated by the loca, for example. Homosexually identified Fausto fucks most “hombres.” However, it takes him a while to get to do this, he claims. Payment is necessary only at the beginning. Being fucked by hombres also is necessary at the beginning, according to Fausto. And he adds: “if you get to kiss or touch [an hombre] on the back that means that [he] will let you penetrate him.”9 In this context, it appears that being kissed on the back is a marker of anal receptivity.1 0 Why then, this necessity of the loca to construct the ideal macho? Here it is important to make a distinction, again, between public and private discourses. For the loca (and for the macho) it is extremely important that at the public level, at the level of public opinion, the macho is the one who penetrates the loca. In the circum-Mediterranean culture of machismo, being an hombre implies being masculine and a penetrator. It is part of the essence of being an hombre. And, vis-a-vis, the loca is the impersonation of circum-Mediterranean female cultural attributes, such as sexual passivity and femininity. A masculine male who is penetrated is by definition not an hombre. The masculine gay, sexually versatile or being able to be an exclusive penetrator— a “top” in gay mainstream Anglophone slang— is an oxymoron in the Latin conception of masculinity. Can the loca/macho system survive if the fantasy of the ideal macho is destroyed? A closer look at native sexual categories shows that the ideal macho and the ideal loca diffuse in a complex and dynamic continuum. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 8 2 2. ON NATIVE SEXUAL CATEGORIES1 1 In this section I intend to show how native categorizations of sexuality in Honduras are far more complex than the binary division heterosexual/homosexual or macho/loca. As queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick argues, there is a space between “gay” and “straight,” which is broader and more complex than heterosexist regimes have made us believe. There is a whole gamut of queer possibilities that exists beyond a dichotomous and binary opposition of sexualities (Sedgwick 1990). For Latin America, Murray (1987, 1995) has long argued that the rigid dichotomous division between pasivo and activo seems to be part of a fantasy that exists at the level of representation rather than the reflection of actual behavior. In Honduras I found a wide variety of sexual roles and sexual characters, even at the level of representation, which present themselves more as a part of a continuum rather than as a dichotomous binarism, although the division passive/active or penetrated/penetrator seems to remain an important marker of gender/sexuality within this continuum. In Figure 1 (below) I schematize these roles, as misleading as it might be. The thicker lines show stronger divisions in the cosmology of this sexual culture. Rows 1-3 are native categorizations. Rows 4-6 are my own interpretations of these categorizations. Only the first column (left to right), “cuadrado,” is out of the ambiente homosexual. All the other columns are in the ambiente (see graphics on Figures 2 and 3 for more information on the categorizations of the ambiente). The first four columns (left to right) are occupied by categories for hombres. Buitres and maridos are part of parchis, so they share similar characteristics. The last three columns are devoted to different types of locas. Traca (column 5) is ambiguous and occupies an intermediate, often switching position between the categories of hombre and loca. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 83 Only the last two columns correspond to categories that have been traditionally marginalized from society at large (see Figure 4 for the dichotomy private/public regarding these categories and marginalization). Figure 1 1- C (plapla) (de closet) O b vto-» T r x f i l i . hombres bom bm hombres Hotnbre'.V Loca? Loca. (cuadrada) loca loca _ ambiente ambience ambiente ambiente ambiente ambiente Jipenetnior penetrator pcnctraior penecrator versatile penetrated penetrated penetrated a * . n o n - marginalized non-marginal tzed non- marginalized cxm-marginalized non-marginalized non- ■ marginalized marginalized heterosexual, any age Bisexual, young < 15-25 y.o.) BisexuaL young (15-25 y.o.) Bisexual, young (15-25 yuk) BisexuaL ■ Homosexual older I a n y a g e . (30-up) 1 usually young? Homosexual any age Homosexual any age Hombres In the cosmology of the loca, there are several different characters that need to be distinguished within the category “hombre.” The incident below, described in my fieldwork notes, illustrates this: I was looking at a handsome young man from my bedroom window in the beachtown of Tela. The man was dressing and undressing in the balcony of the next house. Osvaldo looked at him and dismissed him in a second. “He is ‘cuadrado '-Osvaldo said with a touch of disdain. I asked Osvaldo what does that mean, and he responded that cuadrado (literally, squared) are hombres who are not in the ambiente, i.e., hombres who do not want to “play” with other men.1 2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 84 One year later, I asked again the same question to Osvaldo. This time, however, I inquired further about different categories for hombres. MANUEL: How would you define a cuadrado? OSVALDO: Well, a cuadrado is a heterosexual person who is supposed to not have ... sexual contact with [people of] his same sex. MANUEL: How would you define a buitre? OSVALDO: A buitre [literally, vulture] is a person who is like a male prostitute, who commercializes his sex for money or goods, food, clothes, or any other object that might serve as a gift MANUEL: Does the buitre have sexual relations with people of his same sex? OSVALDO: Yes, he has sexual relations with people of his same sex. MANUEL: Are all hombres in ambiente buitres? OSVALDO: No, there are some who are not buitres. This is, people call them “parchfs”, who are the persons who have sexual relations with homosexuals. They are called parchfs or maridos [literally, husbands], because the homosexual takes the woman’s role... MANUEL: And are there maridos who are buitres? OSVALDO: No, because this is something permanent. It’s a constant and stable relationship between the homosexual and that hombre. MANUEL: But if the marido takes economic advantage of the homosexual, is he still not a buitre? OSVALDO: No, he isn’t a buitre anymore because they live together on a daily basis; they might even rent an apartment together. Sometimes they share expenses, sometimes they don’t. And the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 85 homosexual ends up [paying for everything]. It depends on the circumstances. MANUEL: Can it be a parchfs that is also a buitre of the person who considers him a parchfs? OSVALDO: Yes, it can happen... MANUEL: How so? OSVALDO: Not everything is rigid. There are combinations of things.1 3 (Interview #19) Tracas The traca is a really complicated category. The traca finds its place in the continuum right where the division between macho and loca becomes more urgent. Traca seems to be the most fluid category of all; a category of confusion and contradiction. In 1994 I heard about the traca for the first time, during an interview with Miguel Angel Lemus, from el Corcel Negro. Miguel was explaining to me what things his sexual partner would do and what things his sexual partner would never do with him: MANUEL: And may he touch your genitals? MIGUEL: Absolutely not. From the very moment he wants to touch me there, I would immediately leave him. MANUEL: Is there a name for the man who touches your genitals? MIGUEL: The man who touches my front area? We call him “traca.” Because they want to turn over. They want us to make love to them too...They are tracas, because they like to give and be given... MANUEL: Do the tracas have women as well? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 86 MIGUEL: Yes, they have women and they like to be homosexual. MANUEL: Where does the word “traca” come from? MIGUEL: The man who turns over... also called “plapla.”1 4 (Interview #4) In 1998 I asked Osvaldo about the traca: MANUEL: How would you define a traca? OSVALDO: A traca is what [“]biologically[”] would be defined as a bisexual; he can have sex with women as well as with men. MANUEL: Oh, but cuadrados, buitres, parchfs,and maridos; they all have sex with women, don’t they? OSVALDO: No, they almost never do; there is an exclusivity, not to the 100%, but maybe to the 80%, [to be] only with the homosexual; because some homosexuals are very possessive, so then there is some exclusivity.1 5 OSVALDO: ... traca means to be penetrated, either by a homosexual or by a buitre; and he also can penetrate a woman. MANUEL: Like a bisexual. OSVALDO: Exactly. This is what it is. The only thing is that in our culture we call him traca so people out of the ambiente will not understand if they hear the word. MANUEL: What is the difference between a traca and another hombre who is not a traca but who does have sex with other men? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 87 OSVALDO: Well, that the other hombre does not have receptive sex; this is, he is not penetrated. And the traca is... [penetrated] MANUEL: Then... the difference between a traca and a buitre is that the traca has [sex with] more women, he is more bisexual than the buitre and the buitre is more exclusively involved with men. But later you told me that a difference was that the traca is penetrated by hombres and the buitre is not. OSVALDO: Look, the buitre is not penetrated. The traca is. MANUEL: So that’s the difference. OSVALDO: That would be one difference. Another one is that the traca, because of societal pressures, has to get married to a woman. MANUEL: And what about the buitre, marido, and the like? OSVALDO: Those no. MANUEL: They don’t get married? OSVALDO: They do get married eventually, later on, but the traca does it because of societal pressures, although he is aware of his homosexuality, unlike the buitre, who doesn’t think of himself as homosexual. MANUEL: [Why] is the traca considered homosexual [by society]? OSVALDO: Because he is receptive. Because he is penetrated. Had he not been penetrated, he wouldn’t be considered homosexual. MANUEL: Don’t you think they [tracas] might be bisexuals who get married because they really want to, or do you [still] think they are closeted homosexuals and that’s the reason why they get married? OSVALDO: Well... MANUEL: Or maybe both cases? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 88 OSVALDO: There are both cases, but the cases I have seen are mostly those ones... MANUEL: Which ones? OSVALDO: Where the homosexual gets married due to family, work, or societal pressures.1 6 (Interview #19) The origin of the term traca probably comes from trueque, which means to barter or exchange items for an equivalent value, in this case, the exchange of anuses for penetration or bodily fluids. Even in Brazilian Portuguese there exists a similar term for sexual versatility, or exchange of roles in bed, “troca-troca,” as reported by Parker (1999): “The space of sexual exploration is almost institutionalized through the culturally recognized game of troca-troca (literally, exchange- exchange), in which two (or more) boys take turns, each inserting the penis in their partner’s anus” (p. 33). Locas Loca is a complicated category and criteria for defining a loca vary from person to person. Some say that locas are only the overtly effeminate homosexuals, like obvios and travestis. This is usually the definition of loca used by people who are out of the ambiente. Other people, especially in the ambiente, say that everyone who likes to be penetrated is a loca. Loca is a close translation for “homosexual” both in Honduran culture as in most of Iberoamerica, along with maricon and marica. Marica and mariquita also denote a weak and soft male— a sissy. A more interesting and profound conception of loca that makes sense if we consider the literal meaning of the word loca,“crazy,” is that a loca is a man who is not serious. A man becomes a loca when he is is not serious enough to be a Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 89 macho. While a macho is that one who is in command and can take responsibility of (and control and penetrate) others, the loca can’t. The loca is subject of mockery and contempt, a socially unfit and inferior being— the penetrated male.1 7 Locas are also equated to “easy” women who are not taken seriously by machos as potential wives and mothers of their legitimate children but as sexual oudets during leisure time. Because obvios and travestis are the most visible and recognizable sector within the locas, obvios and travestis are also the most marginalized group in society. They are the ones who suffer most street scorn and violence. Tracas and solapas, on the other hand, are only noticed as locas by people in the ambiente. Tracas and solapas are very little marginalized or not marginalized at all, although many suffer to a great extent due to their exhausting and paranoid efforts to maintain a perfectly secretive double life. Apparently, some solapas “outgrow” (or devolve from?) an earlier stage of sexual freedom to a stage where they get married to women and become sexually more constrained (and perverse): they become tracas. Some solapas later in life become obvios and viceversa. Some obvios become travestis and some travestis become obvios. Tracas might turn out to be more locas than obvios themselves and some tracas might even cross dress. And gossip is around that some buitres want to be (or have been) penetrated! I have personally met three locas who began their “careers” in the ambiente as buitres. One is Fausto, a participant in my study, who when he was an adolescent was the buitre of several older locas in San Pedro. Another one is Charlie, also a participant in my study, who at the time of research considered himself a “gay activo.” The third one lives in New York and considers himself “gay.” Lumsden (1991) reports the existence of a specific term used in one of Mexico’s homosexual subcultures to refer to this changing of roles from macho to loca: “there is even a term, hechizos, for former mayates who have become complete homosexuals over time” (p. 45).1 8 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 90 How is the terrifying shadow of marginalization affecting these people’s decisions on what direction to move within this continuum of culturally available sexual/gender identities and roles? Asking Osvaldo about solapas the conversation inevitably moves back and forth from tracas, buitres, locas, travestis. This is an example of how these categories can hardly be put in a linear continuum of increasing or decreasing degrees of masculinity or femininity, and at times seem to overlap and confuse: MANUEL: What is a solapa? OSVALDO: A solapa is a homosexual, but as its name implies,1 9 a homosexual who is not obvious, that you can’t tell just by seeing him. OSVALDO: The solapa is a homosexual who is aware of his homosexuality and who also is single, then he is not as pressured as the traca. The traca is an adult, unlike the solapa, who is a young man who feels less impeded to carry on a free lifestyle, who is not as.. .perverted as the traca... MANUEL: How? OSVALDO: Like there are tracas who are sadomasochists and others who are voyeurs, fetishists, while the solapa is none of those, perhaps because he can live his sexuality more freely. MANUEL: And how do you know that tracas do these things and solapas don’t? OSVALDO: Because of my own experience and because of what some friends of mine in the ambiente have told me. MANUEL: In what environments do the traca and solapa have sex? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 91 OSVALDO: Well, the traca usually has sex with transvestites, with street commercial sex workers, unlike solapas who do it in a healthier environment. MANUEL: Among solapas? OSVALDO: Among solapas and among gay obvios. MANUEL: So that would be a difference between traca and solapa, but... is there anything else? Is every solapa going to marry women? Are there some who don’t get married? OSVALDO: Ahm, most don’t get married. This is, because they are aware of their homosexuality, some of them have even told their families. Their families don’t accept but tolerate them. MANUEL: So both tracas and buitres are bisexuals but the solapa isn’t. OSVALDO: The solapa isn’t considered a bisexual, because he has only had sex with people of his same sex. MANUEL: Therefore from the solapa and on [to the right, in Figure 1] the categories are for 100% homosexual... or is it traca homosexual as well? OSVALDO: Sometimes the solapa has to have a relationship with a woman. Especially if he is very solapa, he does it to continue maintaining a discreet silence around his homosexuality, because he’s still not very aware of it. MANUEL: What is then the difference between a solapa and a traca? Is it the same or are there differences to you? OSVALDO: Yes, I think there are differences. To begin with, the solapa is younger, more immature and at the same time he’s more Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 92 aware about his homosexuality; he can live his sexuality in a freer way, not under pressures, as the traca does. MANUEL: And who is the obvio? OSVALDO: (laughter) [I think Osvaldo laughs here, because this is his own category]. The obvio2 0 is the person, the homosexual who has mannerisms or is effeminate. Regardless if he wants to or not, his femininity— rather his effeminacy— is noticeable. MANUEL: Is there another difference between obvio and solapa? OSVALDO: Yes, the obvio tends to use clothes that are considered more feminine, women’s outfits, pants, blouse, even come shoes that are unisex. MANUEL: And the travesti?2 1 OSVALDO: Well, the travesti (transvestite), as his name indicates, spends most of his time dressed as a woman. In our country, most travestis crossdress because he’s a commercial sex worker; he lives of this, of his image, and dresses as a woman most of the night and sleeps during the day. MANUEL: And what does the obvio do for work? OSVALDO: Well, an obvio may work cleaning offices. If he has the privilege to study, he may work in a profession, although it will be very unlikely that he will be hired. MANUEL: What type of jobs do the obvios that you know of? OSVALDO: Most of them do women’s jobs. They are fashion designers, hairdressers, maids, babysitters. MANUEL: What about travestis. Is there anything else they do besides prostitution? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 93 OSVALDO: No. Most of them are prostitutes. No, there isn’t other possibilities for them. Maybe in other countries there are other possibilities for tranvestites, but in Honduras they can only be whores.2 2 MANUEL: What is a “ homosexual de closet’ [closeted homosexual]? OSVALDO: Oh, the homosexual de closet is the solapa. MANUEL: Is it the same? OSVALDO: Yes, it’s the same. MANUEL: And the traca? OSVALDO: No, the traca isn’t de closet, although somewhat he is. Because even though they are not aware of their homosexuality, I would consider them de closet. MANUEL: But it’s more fuzzy. Less clear. OSVALDO: A-ha. MANUEL: Who are the locas? OSVALDO: Well, the locas are the travestis and obvios. MANUEL: And the solapas? OSVALDO: No, solapas are not considered locas, because they are not doing crazy, flamy things around Qoqueando). MANUEL: i And the tracas? OSVALDO: Even less, even though some tracas are quite locas (laughter). MANUEL: More than solapas? OSVALDO: Yes. MANUEL:....! (surprised) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 94 OSVALDO: I know some who are engineers and go out at night dressed as women and hang out with tranvestites, ask to them for sex, ask the transvestites to penetrate them, things like that. MANUEL: And wouldn’t the solapa do that? OSVALDO: No. MANUEL: So in a scale that goes from “cuadrado” to “travesti,” traca and solapa are in the right order, or should they go in a different order? [Looking at Figure 1.] OSVALDO: I think they are in the right order the way it is. MANUEL: Even though there are tracas who are more of a loca than solapas? OSVALDO: Ahm, yes. But as tracas [they] always try to maintain their position... MANUEL: Who are “hombres”? OSVALDO: Well, we are all hombres [men]. But for most people in ambiente hombres are the ones who have sex only with women. MANUEL: So then is the traca an hombre or not? OSVALDO: Tracas are not considered hombres in the ambiente... MANUEL: This is, they are considered traca. OSVALDO: Yes, traca. MANUEL: And loca? OSVALDO: If the solapa isn’t considered an hombre, even less the obvio is. Because they have a greater tendency to the feminine they aren’t considered hombres. MANUEL: So the traca isn’t an hombre. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 95 OSVALDO: No. He isn’t. [so far, tracas and obvios are neither locas nor hombres] MANUEL: So then, loca reaches to what part.... [looking at Figure 1]. Does it include solapa or not? OSVALDO: Loca would include traca. MANUEL: Really?!! (surprised) OSVALDO: To traca, yes. In a general way, loca reaches to traca. But buitre isn’t a loca. Then, loca is synonymous with homosexual. Traca is also a homosexual. This is the way I see it within Honduran homosexual slang. [so now, tracas and obvios are locas or homosexuals] MANUEL: And what is a loca cuadrada? OSVALDO: A loca cuadrada would be like a solapa. He’s very masculine. MANUEL: De closet. OSVALDO: Yes. He’s de closet. He’s masculine... MANUEL: Here [figure 1] there should be a thick line between buitre and traca that would divide hombres to one side and locas to the other. Tracas are bisexuals as hombres, buitres, but there is a radical diference based on... OSVALDO: Based on the fact of being penetrated. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 96 MANUEL: And that’s the difference between the hombre and the loca, right? OSVALDO: Right. That’s the difference. MANUEL: This is, that’s the most important difference. OSVALDO: Yes, although there are some exceptions to the rule, because sometimes buitres want to be penetrated, but that’s a different story... MANUEL: And if an hombre wants to be penetrated, isn’t he an hombre anymore? OSVALDO: No, say, because it’s very difficult to rigidly define people like that because we as people tend to change. Only in the intimacy each person knows where to be placed. Only the partner of that person knows his place, indeed. MANUEL: By the way, now I recall when... Dimitri, that boy, the first time... you called him buitre. Later...you thought he was solapa. And a third time...you said he was traca. OSVALDO: No. Say, when I learned a[bout him], someone told me that he [Dimitri] was the buitre of X person...then when I saw him walking after you I thought he was traca. MANUEL: Solapa? OSVALDO: No. MANUEL: I remember the first time you saw him you said he was solapa. OSVALDO: Yes, solapa, but with a tendency to be a traca. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 97 MANUEL: This is...you went from an extreme to the other [from buitre to solapa] and later compromised in something intermediate [traca]. OSVALDO: A-ha, exactly. Yes, because [I? he?] was like indefinite. The “gaydar” [imariconometro] didn’t give me an exact co-ordinate. I was disoriented. MANUEL: Do you still think he’s a traca? OSVALDO: Yes. I think so. I would bet with 100% certainty that he’s traca.2 3 (Interview # 19) In the ambiente there is no established category for someone who identifies as homosexual but who likes to play the role of the penetrator. I did meet a couple of young men in the ambiente who used the term “gay activo,” to define themselves as homosexuals who penetrate. The concept is entering the ambiente, as it has done it in other parts of Latin America and in a few years it will probably become more commonly used. The Honduran men who told me they were gay activos also have sex with women, so they are also bisexuals and as such may fall in the category of “hombres.” Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 98 Figure 2. Ambiente (private sphere) parchfs marido buitre traca Figure 3. Ambiente (private sphere) obvio travesti solapa traca Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 99 Figure 4. Society (public sphere) Cuadrado(hom bre) Marginalized Paichis (hombres) Obvios (Io)ca Buitre maridos Tracas (hombres- locas) Travestis (toca) I agree with Prieur (1998) in that behind rigid categorization lies the desire to simplify complexity and create less ambiguous categories. As she writes: But still I believe Pancha’s distinction with “homosexuales” on one side and “men” on the other is less a distinction based on an absolute difference and more one that creates an insurmountable difference. The homosexuales’ own labeling— of themselves, of other supposed homosexuales, and of hombres— contributes exactly as does the outer world’s labeling to create less ambiguous categories. A place for a boy who just lays a little with the homosexual role does not exist: he is homosexual. A place for a Jose who is just a little effeminate but still a boy who considers himself normal does not exist either: he is a closet homosexual. A place for a Flaca sitting with her legs apart does not exist either he is a homosexual who has not yet learned how to behave. The homosexuales themselves contribute to make the group labeled homosexuales as unambiguous and uniform as possible. (p. 136. See also pp. 137-138) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 100 Although behind the Honduran sexual categories the dichotomy penetrator/penetrated seemed to be at the basis of the categorization, I did not see this simplication reduced to the binarism homosexual/non-homosexual. 3. SUMMARY This chapter explored how the gender ideologies of locas and machos help to assert and maintain local sexual cultures of macho/loca binarism by perpetuating traditional conceptions of the ideal macho and the ideal woman— the latter, in its aspect of “easy woman,” impersonated by the loca. Yet there is a multiplicity of native categorizations of sexual roles and characters in the homosexual subculture which destabilize the rigid dichotomy macho/loca. This chapter shows that gender and sexuality and their categorizations are more fluid than predominant gender/sexuality ideologies of locas and machos may allow them to be. Through time, and depending on differing viewpoints, the same person may move back and forth between and through two or more of these categories. The study of the macho/loca continuum raises an awareness that might open up new possibilites for subverting the ideologies that oppress the loca. Endnotes 1 Prieur (1998: 275) implies that locas do not try to be like women to attract straight men, but instead that they seek to attract straight men to prove to themselves and to the world that they can look like women. Therefore, in their cross-dressing and seduction of straight males, locas’ desire to look like women would be more relevant than their desire to seduce sexually straight men. I am not sure if I would go as far as Prieur in seeing this as a subsumption of sexual desire to gender dysphoric desires, but certainly the functionalist attempt to attribute gender nonconformism solely to the locas’ desire to rind “practical” ways to attract “heterosexual” men into their lives seems reductive as well. 2 Fieldwork notes, September 11,1997. 3 See Murray and Dynes 1995:190. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 101 A similar taboo has been reported in the Philippines. Hart (1992) reproduces the following narrative coining from a Philippine informant: During one lengthy joint evening interview, Amy explained, and the two other bayot [passive homosexual] agreed, that it was “embarrassing^’ for them to submit to another bayot. One informant related an experience that occurred after a bayot friend and he left a Dumagguete dance with “dates.” In the informant’s case, nothing happened, for he found his date “untidy [physically dirty].” His friend was also unsuccessful, for his date demanded payment before submission. When the two had returned to their dwelling, the friend said: “Well, you have not tasted mine yet.” The informant said he refused, for the proposal was most improper. Amy agreed that is was “unwholesome” for two bayot to perform sexual acts, since “they are two of a kind,” i.e. [like] women. (p. 216) L. Carcamo’s personal communication, August 1994. 6 Prieur has found a similar narrative among vestidas (transvestites) in Mexico: “The vestidas disapprove of any signs of femininity in their partners. For example, bisexual men who are apparently manly but who secretly let themselves be penetrated as if they were homosexuales are often criticized by the vestidas, even when the vestidas are the ones who penetrate them ... Without sex difference, their world falls apart” (1998:167). 7 MANUEL: Elios ^juegan con tus genitales masculinos cuando tienen sexo? / HORACIO: No. Nadie ha hecho el intento de eso. A 1 menos las personas con las que yo he querido estar, sentimentalmente involucrados, nunca ban hecho un intento por, o sea, tener ese tipo de juegos, porque si asi fuera, no me gustana y los haria de lado. Y no lo permitiria tampoco. / MANUEL: ^Te ha sucedido? / HORACIO: Si, me ha sucedido pero no con las personas con las que yo realmente he querido estar, sino que con las personas con las que he querido tener un momento de distraccidn, nada mis. / MANUEL: Aunque tu no sabtas que iban a reaccionar asi. Cuando reaccionan asi entonces ya no quisiste volver a verlos. / HORACIO: Yeah, si. Asi es. (Interview # 15) HORACIO:... Y tampoco me toca el pene porque no Io permito. <,M e entiendes? / MANUEL: £Pero algunos ban querido? / HORACIO: No, no, no, no. / MANUEL: Si quieren ya no son tu pareja. / HORACIO: Si quieren ya no son mi pareja. (Interview # 15) 9 Fieldwork notes, September 11,1997. 1 0 Accounts of machos being penetrated by locas may also at times be considered as part of the ideology of the loca (Stephen O. Murray, personal communication via e-mail, August 1998). Also Prieur reported jotas’ narratives in which as part of bragging they dismissed the other jota’s partner as being homosexual: Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 102 Then Fifi and Gloria entered a contest. Which of them had sex with real men, and which of them had sex only with other homosexuales! With a seemingly perfect overview, they pattered out all the other’s partners and always found a reason to label the poor guy a homosexual, claiming to always know of somebody who has penetrated him, or referring to the fact that the man in question has never been seen with a woman. The other jotas joined in, giving their opinion on the different men mentioned. The winner of this contest was not clear. (1998:169) 1 1 For a detailed analysis of homosexual categorization in a lower SES Mexico City suburb, Ciudad Nezahualcdyotl, see Prieur (1998): 24-31. Also see Spanish homosexual lexicon in Murray and Dynes (1995). 1 2 Fieldwork notes, September 21,1997. 1 3 MANUEL: <,C6mo defines a un cuadrado? / OSVALDO: Bueno, un cuadrado es una persona heterosexual que se supone no tiene contacto con personas de su mismo sexo. O sea contacto sexual con personas de su mismo sexo. I MANUEL: <,C6mo defines un buitre? / OSVALDO: Un buitre es una persona que es como un puto, que comercializa su sexo si no es en dinero puede ser en bienes o en comestible, en ropa, en cualquier otro objeto que se le pueda dar como regalo. / MANUEL: £[el buitre tiene relaciones sexuales] con alguien de su mismo sexo? / OSVALDO: Si, tiene relaciones sexuales con personas de su mismo sexo. / MANUEL: £todos los hombres que est£n en el ambiente son buitres? / OSVALDO: No, hay unos que no son buitres. O sea, la gente Ies dice “parchfs”, que son las personas que tienen relaciones sexuales con los homosexuales. Les dicen parchfs o maridos,como el homosexual toma el rol de la mujer, entonces le dicen maridos. / MANUEL: iY “maridos” son “buitres”? / OSVALDO: No, porque es algo permanente. Una relacidn constante y estable entre el homosexual y el hombre 6se. / MANUEL: Pero si el marido se aprovecha econdmicamente del homosexual, igual no es un buitre... / OSVALDO: No, ya no es un buitre porque ya conviven juntos, viven a diario, alguilan un apartamento entre los dos. Algunas veces comparten gastos, otras veces no, sdlo al homosexual le toca [pagar], depende de las circunstancias. / MANUEL: ...^Puede haber un parchfs que ademSs sea buitre de la persona que la considera parchfs? / OSVALDO: Sf, puede ser, se puede dar... I MANUEL: ^Cdmo es eso? / OSVALDO: No ... todo es rigido. Se dan cosas mixtas. (Interview # 19) MANUEL: ^Y 6 1 te puede tocar a ti los genitales? / MIGUEL: Tampoco, de ninguna manera. Desde el momento que me quiera tocar, yo inmediatamente lo dejo. / MANUEL: ^Cdmo le llamas al hombre que te toca los genitales? / MIGUEL: £Al hombre que me toca delante? Nosotros les decimos "traca". Porque quieren darse vuelta. Quieren que uno tambidn les haga el amor...Son tracas, porque les gusta dar y que les den... / MANUEL: ^Como bisexual? / MIGUEL: Asf, bisexual. / MANUEL: iY los tracas tienen mujeres, tambidn? / MIGUEL: Sf, tienen mujeres, y les gusta ser homosexuales. / ... MANUEL: <,Y de ddnde viene la palabra "traca”? / MIGUEL: El hombre que se da vuelta... o "plapla” tambidn. (Interview #4) One of my macho interviewees was almost killed by three locas who were his lovers and found out that he was cheating on them by dating the three at the same time. Instead of attacking each other out of envy or competition, the locas attacked the offender out of jealousy (Fieldwork of 1998). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 103 MANUEL: ^Como defines un traca? / OSVALDO: Un traca es lo que se definirfa btol6gicamente como una persona bisexual, que tanto puede tener relaciones sexuales con una mujer o con un hombre. / MANUEL: Ah, pero los cuadrados, los buitres, los parchfs y los maridos tambidn tienen relaciones con mujeres io no? / OSVALDO: No, cast nunca asf; hay como una exclusividad, no al 100% pero hay una exclusividad como de un 80%, s61o con el homosexual, porque algunos homosexuales son bien posesivos, entonces hay una cierta exclusividad. / ... / OSVALDO: — traca significa ser penetrado, tanto por un homosexual como por un buitre y tambidn puede penetrar 61 a una mujer. / MANUEL: Como un bisexual. / OSVALDO: Exactamente. Eso es lo que es. Nada menos que en nuestra cultura le llamamos traca para que otra persona no se entere que no sea del ambiente. / MANUEL: ^Cudl es la diferencia entre un traca y otro hombre que no es traca pero que sf tiene sexo con otros hombres? / OSVALDO: Bueno, que el otro hombre no tiene sexo receptivo, o sea que no es penetrado. Y el traca sf... / ... / MANUEL: Entonces, ... Ia diferencia entre traca y buitre era que el traca tenia mis mujeres que, era mas bisexual que el buitre, y el buitre era mas, solamente mis exclusivo con hombres. Pero despuds me dijiste que una diferencia era que el traca era penetrado [por] hombres y el buitre no. / OSVALDO: Mira, el buitre no es penetrado. El traca sf. / MANUEL: Entonces eso hace la diferencia. / OSVALDO: Ya serfa una diferencia. Otra es de que el traca, por presiones de la sociedad, se tiene que casar con una mujer. / MANUEL: iY el buitre y el marido y todos esos? / OSVALDO: Esos no. / MANUEL: ^No se casan? / OSVALDO: Se casan al final, pero el traca lo hace por presidn de la sociedad, aunque 61 est6 consciente de su homosexualidad. Mientras que el buitre no. El buitre no se le considera homosexual. / MANUEL: < ,A 1 traca se le considera homosexual? OSVALDO: Porque es receptivo. Porque es penetrado. Si no fuera penetrado no se le considera homosexual. / MANUEL: Y no crees que sean bisexuales y que se casen porque realmente quieren, < ;o tu crees que es un homosexual tapado y por eso se casa? / OSVALDO: Bueno... / MANUEL: iO los dos casos? / OSVALDO: Hay en los dos casos, pero los casos que he visto mayormente son esos, el que MANUEL: ^Cuil? / OSVALDO: Que el homosexual se casa por presidn — de la familia, de su trabajo, de la sociedad en sf. (Interview # 19) For more about locas’ lack of “seriousness” and how they utilize this to empower themselves, see “Causing un escandalo” in Chapter IV. 1 8 Quote taken from Murray 1995:59-60. 1 9 The term solapa comes from asolapado, which means collar-covered, like when someone raises the collar of his/her coat to cover the neck and sometimes part of the face, hiding from the cold but also from other people’s gazes. 2 0 Obvio in English is obvious, something that can be clearly seen. Something evident. In this case, the homosexuality of obvios is evident at the first sight because of their effeminacy. 2 1 Most of Prieur’s (1998) and Kulick’s (1998) work was done with transvestites. My work focused on the relation macho/loca, which usually takes place between an hombre and a loca who is an obvio or travesti. Solapas can get sometimes romantically involved with a macho, but most of their relationships are of the “gay” type and with other solapas. It is hard to classify people in one of these categories. Of the 15 people of homosexual identify I interviewed, one more or less was a travesti, eleven more or less were obvios, and three more or less were solapas. Besides the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 104 travesti (Cindy), only five (less than half of obvios and no solapa) admitted to have cross dressed in the past, usually doing some prostitution on the streets as well. 2 2 This statement, although shocking, struck me as true, since I never met or heard of a full time transvestite in Honduras who could work doing anything but street prostitution. This reality contrasts with other countries of Latin America such as Mexico (see Prieur 1998) and Brazil (see Kulick 1998) where transvestites can do other work, although very limited as well, such as being hair dressers. In Tegucigalpa I met a Salvadoran transvestite who had a mixed careen at night he did commercial sex work and during the day he taught dance in a school he had founded. But this took place in El Salvador and not in Honduras. The time he lived in Honduras he worked exclusively as a sexual worker until the day he was shot in the thorax, abdomen and legs by a homophobic client. After a difficult and long convalescence period in a Tegucigalpa hospital, he returned to El Salvador. Another alternative that is emerging for a few transvestites in Honduras is to work at one of the newly formed AIDS/gay organizations. But there are a very few vacancies available and the jobs require a level of literacy that many transvestites do not possess. Even worse, these organizations maintain an ambivalent attitude toward transvestites. On one hand, the organizations encourage transvestites to leave street prostitution because of its many dangers and low social status. On the other, and based on the ideals of North American gay models, the organizations reject transvestitles and give them subde (and at times not very subtle) messages that if transvestites really want to be part of the organization they must stop cross-dressing and adopt a more masculine look and behavior. The marginalization of the transgendered people from the new gay organizations in Latin America is analyzed in Chapter V. 2 3 MANUEL: <;Q ud es lo que es un solapa? / OSVALDO: Un solapa es como un homosexual, como su nombre lo dice, un homosexual que no es obvio, que no se le nota. I ... I OSVALDO: El solapa es un homosexual que estd consciente de su homosexualidad y que a la vez se encuentra soltero, entonces no tiene tanta presidn como el traca. El traca es una persona adulta. El solapa no; es una persona joven que no se siente tan presionado y que lleva su vida en un estilo libre y que no es tan...pervertido como el traca... / MANUEL: ^C6mo? / OSVALDO: Como el [traca, que es] sadomasoquista, eh, y otros, algunos son voyeristas, fetichistas y mientras que en el solapa no se presentan porque imagino que Ueva la sexualidad mds libremente. / MANUEL: cdmo sabes tu que los tracas hacen esas cosas y los solapas no? OSVALDO: O sea, porque, por experiencia propia y por lo que algunos amigos mfos dentro del ambiente me han comentado. / MANUEL: < ,E n qud ambiente los tracas tienen sexo, en qu6 ambiente los solapas tienen sexo? / OSVALDO: Pues, el traca tiene sexo en un ambiente casi la mayoria de las veces con los travestis, con los trabajadores comerciales del sexo de la calle. Y el solapa no. Eh, como, en otro ambiente; un ambiente, por decirlo asf, mds sano. / MANUEL: (.Entre otros solapas? / OSVALDO: Entre otros solapas o entre otros gay obvios. / MANUEL: Entonces Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 105 6sa serfa otra diferencia entre traca y solapa, pero...habria otra cosa? Todos Ios solapas se van a casar alguna vez? 1,0 algunos no se casan? OSVALDO: Ehm, la mayoria no se casan. O sea, porque ellos estin conscientes que su homosexualidad, entre algunos Ies han dicho a sus familias, entonces, sus familias no Io aceptan pero Io toleran. / ... / MANUEL: Entonces el traca y el buitre son bisexuales pero el solapa ya no. I OSVALDO: No, el solapa no. No se le considerarfa bisexual. Ya que sdlo ha tenido relaciones sexuales con personas de su mlsmo sexo. / MANUEL: 1.0 sea, desde el solapa en adelante ya es un homosexual 100% se puede decir, o traca tambidn es un homosexual? / OSVALDO: Algunas veces el solapa tiene que hacer o tener una relacidn con una mujer; cuando es bien solapa, bien solapa, lo hace para seguir manteniendo a discrecion su homosexualidad, porque todavfa no esta muy consciente de ella. / MANUEL: ^Pero cual serfa entonces la diferencia entre un solapa y un traca? ^Es Io mismo o hay diferencias, para ti? / OSVALDO: Sf, yo creo que hay diferencias. En el hecho de que, de que el solapa es mas joven, mas inmaduro y al mismo tiempo como que mas consciente de su homosexualidad, de vivirla en una forma libre, y no bajo presidn como el traca. f MANUEL: iY qu6 es Io que es el obvio? / OSVALDO: (risas) [I think Osvaldo laughs here, because this is his own category]. El obvio es la persona, el homosexual que es amanerado, o afeminado, como Io quieras llamar, y que sin que el quiera, o queriendo 61, se le note su feminidad. O su afeminamiento, serfa. / MANUEL: Pero, ^habrfa otra diferencia entre el obvio y el solapa, por ejemplo? OSVALDO: Sf, o sea, que el obvio dende a usar vestimentas mas femeninas, ropa de mujer, pantalones, blusa, e incluso hasta ciertos zapatos que se denden a ver como unisex, dicen, que se puede usar tanto el hombre como la mujer. Porque denen ciertas carctensticas femeninas. / MANUEL: iY el travesti? / OSVALDO: Bueno, el travesd es, como su nombre lo dice, el que pasa vesddo de mujer, pero casi la mayona de las veces en nuestro pais, el travesd lo hace porque es un trabajador comercial del sexo; 6 1 vive de eso, de su imagen, y pasa vesddo de mujer la mayor parte de la noche y en el dfa duerme porque su trabajo lo hace en toda la noche. / MANUEL: iY en qu6 trabaja un obvio? / OSVALDO: Bueno, un obvio puede trabajar en, limpiando oficinas. Si se logra tener el privilegio de estudiar, puede trabajar en su profesidn, que muy diffcilmente lo pueden contratar. / MANUEL: ^De toda la gente obvia que tu conoces, qu6 dpos de trabajos hacen? / OSVALDO: La mayona, trabajo de mujer. Son modistas, son cortadores de pelo, esdlistas, eh, o son que asean la casa, como trabajadoras domesticas, que asean la casa, cuidan ninos, cuesdones asf que, labores muy, muy de mujer. I MANUEL: i,Y los travesds qu6 tipo de trabajo hacen aparte de ser prosdtutos? ^Existe otro trabajo que hagan? / OSVALDO: No. La mayona de ellos sdlo son prosdtutos. No, no hay otras posibilidades para ellos. Bueno, por lo menos aquf en Honduras no se dan esos casos. Quizes en otros pafses sf, pero aquf el que es travesd es puto. f MANUEL: Y qu6 es Io que es un “homosexual de closet”? f OSVALDO: Ah, el homosexual de closet serfa el solapa. ! MANUEL: ^Es lo mismo? / OSVALDO: Sf, es lo mismo. / MANUEL: traca? / OSVALDO: El traca, no. No serfa de closet, aunque en cierta forma sf. Porque, aunque ellos no est6n conscientes de su homosexualidad, yo Ies considerarfa de closet. / MANUEL: Pero ya mas borroso. Es menos seguro. / OSVALDO: A-hS. t ... / MANUEL: i A qu6 se le llama “Iocas”? <,Qui6nes son las locas? / OSVALDO: Bueno, las Iocas son Ios travesds y los obvios. / MANUEL: < ,Y los solapas? / OSVALDO: No, [a] Ios solapas no se les considera locas. Porque, como que no andan loqueando. / MANUEL: iY los tracas? Menos. / OSVALDO: Menos, aunque hay unos tracas que son bastante locas (risas). / MANUEL: ^M£s que los solapas? / OSVALDO: Sf. / MANUEL: ....! (sorpresa) / OSVALDO: Yo conozco algunos que, eh, que son ingenieros y que salen en la noche y se visten de mujer y se ponene a la par de los travesds, que son trabajadores del sexo y Ies piden favores sexuales a ellos, de que les penetren, cuesdones asf. I MANUEL: iY el solapa no harfa eso? / OSVALDO: No. / MANUEL: Entonces en esta escala que va desde “cuadrado” hasta “travesd”, el traca y el solapa estdn en el orden correcto, £o deberfan estar en el otro orden, o no hay forma de ponerlos, porque en algunos aspectos los solapas estin mds hacia aci y en otros aspectos el traca esta mds acd? [Looking at Figure 1.] / OSVALDO: Yo creo que estan en el orden correcto, asf como esta. / MANUEL: ^Aunque hayan tracas que sean m£s, eh, locas que los solapas? / OSVALDO: Eh, sf. Pero como ellos siempre tratan de conservar su posicidn, o sea, como madzadas, tratan de conservar su posicidn. / MANUEL: Los solapas. / OSVALDO: No, Ios tracas. / .../ MANUEL: ^Quienes son hombres, segun Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 106 tu? / OSVALDO: Bueno, los que son hombres segun yo, somos todos; o sea, pero segun la mayorfa de la gente de ambiente los que son hombres son los que tienen relaciones sexuales sdlo con mujeres. Eso serfa. / MANUEL: Pero entonces el traca, eh, es un hombre o no. I ... / OSVALDO: AI traca no se le considera hombre, dentro del ambiente; dentro del argot homosexual no se Ie considera hombre. / MANUEL: O sea, se le considera traca. / OSVALDO: Sf, traca. / MANUEL: ^Y loca? / OSVALDO: Tampoco, no se le considera hombre ni al solapa, ni al obvio, mucho menos. Como tienen mis tendencta a lo femenino, entonces no se les considera hombres. / MANUEL: O sea el traca no es hombre. / OSVALDO: No. No es. [so far, tracas and obvios are not locas but are not hombres either] / ... I MANUEL: Pero entonces, £hasta ddnde Uega loca? [en el cuadro] ^Agarra solapa o no lo agarra? / OSVALDO: Loca agarrarfa hasta traca. / MANUEL: ji£,Sf?t! (sorprendido) / OSVALDO: Hasta traca, sf. Ya en forma general, loca abarcarfa hasta traca. [so now, tracas and obvios are locas] Ya el buitre no se Ie considera loca. O sea, loca es sindnimo de homosexual. Entonces el traca tambien se considera homosexual. Asf Io entiendo dentro del argot homosexual de aquf en Honduras. / MANUEL: ^Y qud es lo que es una loca cuadrada? f OSVALDO: Una loca cuadrada serfa asf como una solapa. Que es bien masculino. / MANUEL: De closet. / OSVALDO: Sf. Es de closet. Es masculino. Tiene bastantes tendencias masculinas. / MANUEL: Entonces aquf habrfa una lfnea bien gruesa entre buitre y traca, que dividirfa hombres a un lado y loca al otro. Los tracas son bisexuales igual que Ios hombres, igual que Ios buitres, hay una diferencia radical que es... / OSVALDO: La marca el hecho de ser penetrado. / MANUEL: Claro, y eso es la diferencia del hombre, que hace del hombre y la loca, tambien, £o no? / OSVALDO: A-hd, sf. Esa es la diferencia. / MANUEL: O sea, dsa es la diferencia mis grande de todas. / OSVALDO: Sf, aunque se dan ciertas excepciones a la regia, porque algunas veces los buitres quieren ser penetrados; pero dsa es otra historia... / ... / MANUEL: < ;Y cdmo? Si un hombre que quiere ser penetrado, entonces ya, deja de ser hombre o qud. / OSVALDO: No, o sea, porque, es bien diffcil encasillar a las personas, a esos hombres, entonces el buitre, encasillarlos sdlo porque pueda penetrar porque como las personas tendemos a cambiar, entonces es bien diffcil encasillarlos. Eso sdlo en la intimidad cada persona sabe cdmo ubicarse. O la pareja de esa persona sabe cdmo ubicarlo, realmente. / MANUEL: Ahora, a propdsito de eso, me acuerdo cuando...Dimitri, ese chico, la primera vez ... lo Uamaste buitre. Despuds...pensaste que era solapa. Y la tercera vez...dijiste que era traca. / ... / OSVALDO: No. O sea, cuando yo me entere, ami'un amigo me dijo que era buitre de X persona... entonces yo, ya lo dije anteriormente, te iba siguiendo a ti, entonces ya Io habfa visto como traca. Como... / MANUEL: ^No como solapa? / OSVALDO: No. / MANUEL: Y la primera vez me acuerdo que dijiste que pensaste que era solapa. I OSVALDO: Sf, solapa, y con cierta tendencia a ser traca. / MANUEL: O sea.-.te fuiste de un extremo al otro [from buitre to solapa] y despuds Uegaste como a un punto medio [traca]. / OSVALDO: A-hi, exacto. Sf, porque estaba como indefinido. El maricondmetro no me daba a un punto exacto. Andaba desorientado. / MANUEL: ^Todavfa piensas que es traca? / OSVALDO: Sf. Y creo que sf. Eh, a postaria un 100 % que es traca. (Interview # 19) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 107 CHAPTER IV: THE MACHO/LOCA RELATIONSHIP In this chapter I explore some of the complex social dynamics that exist between machos and locas. The loca has to pay machos for their sexual accessibility. By showing disinterest, the machos support the transaction. I argue that this is possible because of hierarchies of gender and sexuality that place the macho higher than the loca in the power ladder. These hierarchies also promote macho violence and macho territoriality. Although teasing and desire between machos and locas is tainted with contempt and aggression, both machos and locas have a great need to attract each other’s attention. Machos and locas attract each other’s attention by creating a scandal. In this chapter I suggest that sexual passivity in locas might be compulsory as part of a hierarchical regime that favors the macho. 1. CHARGING FOR SEX: COMMODIFICATION OF DESIRE In August 19941 went to Discotheque Terrazas, a cruisy place for people in the ambiente in San Pedro Sula. Not too long after I arrived there I was approached by an attractive young man. He invited me to go upstairs, to the terraza or balcony, where we could have a soda and some fresh air and get away from the noisy and suffocating atmosphere of the disco's dancing area. The encounter was flirtatious. I had the feeling that a sexual advance from one of the sides was inevitable after we both decided to go to the darker, more intimate terraza area. I was quite surprised, however, when he asked me, without previous introduction, explanation or apology: “how much are you going to pay me?” Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 108 ‘ Tay you for what?”— I replied. “Well”— he said— , “you are ‘a homosexual’ and I am not, so you must pay if you want to have sex with me.” This was my first encounter with a macho. Later I learned that this type of transaction was very common in the macho/Ioca relationship. In a country considered the second poorest in Latin America after Nicaragua, with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD 650 per capita in 1992 (U.S. Library of Congress n/d) it is not surprising that the way Hondurans deal with poverty may have shaped traditional expressions of masculinity and machismo, incorporating the commodification of sex as prescriptive: hombres “must” get paid by locas for sexual accessibility. This act is not considered prostitution nor does it stigmatize hombres, but it creates an image of hombres as the one who takes advantage of locas. There are a number of hombres who are underpaid, underemployed, or jobless and sustain at least part of their living at the expense of locas. This is particularly true for younger hombres, like the ones I observed in Discotheque Terrazas, who would frequent places known to be visited by locas, and then exchange sexual services with them for money. This does not happen only in “marked” places like Discotheque Terrazas, known for being cruisy. It happens in most lower SES neighborhood cantinas where hombres are invited to have free drinks by locas before going to bed with them. Sometimes an entire sexual career is built around this role, as Osvaldo told me: When the hombre begins having sexual relations with a homosexual and the hombre is new to the circle, he receives the name of “buitre” [vulture]. He begins to taste homosexuals' flesh, to nurture himself with it. As time passes, he receives another title: “zopilote” [turkey vulture]. Now, he not only has sexual relations with the first Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 109 homosexual he met and with whom he was a partner, but he also begins to have sexual relations with other homosexuals as well. He has found that he likes homosexual relations so much that it doesn't matter to him anymore if he has sex with his first partner or with someone else. Even more “advanced” than the zopilote is the condor [a large vulture], who is the hombre who depends on the homosexual. [The condor] doesn't work anymore; he spends the 24 hours of the day with the homosexual. He has sex with the homosexual, and the homosexual maintains him. In the case of the buitre, it could be either that the homosexual pays him or does not. But in the case of the zopilote and condor, payment by the homosexual to the hombre is an essential feature of the relationship. (Interview #3) But is this commodification of sex all about the pecuniary necessities of the machos? What if machos charge for sex as a way to show that they have no sexual interest in the relationship, to make people believe that their principal motivation for becoming engaged in sexual activity with the loca is only the money? Apparently the penetrator reinforces his role as the one who is in control by charging money for becoming involved sexually. Payment could work in different ways. It could “save” an hombre’s honor by showing that he is not actually interested in the loca for sex only; that he is not “homosexual,” and that he is only doing this for the money. This hypothesis is weak in that it misses the point that in Honduras what is stigmatized is generally not the homosexual act per se but the passivity or penetrable attitude. On the other hand, this hypothesis might explain at least some cases of hombres charging for sex. In recent decades increasing numbers of people are beginning to equate Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 110 homosexual identity with homosexual behavior. The new Protestant churches’ drastic and homophobic condemnation of people who practice homosexual behavior is raising homophobia to higher and previously unknown degrees in Latin America. Payment could still work as a way to save hombres’ honor if it shows the rest of the community the power of hombres. They not only dominate locas sexually, but also take advantage of locas by demanding money in addition to the sexual pleasure they obtain by penetrating them. Conversely, payment could work negatively by threatening hombres’ honor. Payment may show locas’ control and superiority, since locas are the ones who have the money to pay hombres. Locas are the ones who bend hombres’ will by the power of their money. Payment for sex could also spoil hombres’ honor by equating them with prostitutes, who have a low social status and are stigmatized. Nevertheless, this does not seem to be the case. Most likely, payment creates an image of hombres taking advantage of locas, which works to further stigmatize locas and to enhance males’ honor. On the surface, this apparently allows hombres to further take advantage of locas by extracting money and goods from the latter and creating a better living for themselves. But why would locas accept this if they are the ones who are paying? Disinterested machos Is money an effective way to coerce machos to do what they otherwise would have not felt prone to do? Is charging for sex part of a game in which machos play the passive, disinterested role and the loca the active and greedy one? Do machos show disinterest so they will be paid by locas for sex? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I l l Prieur has suggested that the way the commodified aspect of the macho/loca relationship develop is through the macho’s feigned lack of interest in sex with locas. For a macho to become interested, he needs to be paid or otherwise compensated. During my 1997 fieldwork I had an experience with a macho who refused to show too much desire toward me. Although he was obviously interested in having a sexual adventure with me, by all means he avoided being the initiator. The story began on Tuesday, November 4,1997 when I was sitting on the stairs of Centro Cultural Sampedrano, waiting for the library to open. It was around 1:00 pm. I saw a man in his mid-twenties walking up the street. He was wearing a tank-top and his arms looked rather muscular, so I thought he was going to the gym that is up the street. His walk was slightly effeminate or, at least, not as macho as most young men of his age. As he approached, he looked at me with “eyes-of-desire.” I put it all together and figured out that he was in the ambiente. He asked someone else where the library was while repeatedly establishing eye-contact with me. I approached him and explained where the library was. We began chatting. His name was Hector M. He had come to the library to do some homework for his sister. He told me he had been in San Pedro only for about a month. He had spent his previous years in Tegucigalpa, although he was bom and raised in Arenal, Yoro, close to Olanchito. Then the library opened and we went in. Hector was helped by the librarian. I went to the restroom. As I was peeing in the restroom, I heard someone enter. After a few seconds, I turned around to see who was there. I saw Hector standing behind me and staring at me. I said “hi” and continued peeing. Then he went to the urinals and peed as well. I could see his penis but I did not see him looking at mine. We chatted a little in the restroom. Then I began brushing my teeth. The librarian also came to the restroom and began brushing Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 112 his teeth. Hdctor left the restroom. When I entered the main library's room again, I saw Hector was sitting in the middle of the room (a big, rectangular room). He saw me and winked at me. By now I was totally positive that he was in the ambiente. Straight young guys who are not into being buitres do not wink at other guys— at least not in Honduras, from what I had observed! But buitres could. Hector, however, did not look like a buitre but rather as a solapa. Buitres usually dress very fancy, are extremely masculine in demeanor, and the way they look at a homosexual is rather mean and greedy instead of the lustful glances that Hector was giving me. I did not stop at his table (he was being helped by the librarian at that time and also I wanted to sit at the end of the room). I sat at the end of the room but stared at Hector. Every few minutes Hector would look at me and I would smile back to him. He would not smile back but look neutral, instead. Then he walked to the photocopy machine with the librarian. To do that he had to walk closer to my table. He looked at me when doing so and I smiled more openly. I think this time he smiled back at me. After he finished with the photocopies he came and sat at my table. We chatted for about 1 1/2 hours. He told me that he was not doing “anything” at this time in San Pedro. He was looking for a job, but he was taking it very easily— no rush. He was helping in his home. He was 26 years old, did not finish elementary school, and had been working for the past two years as a clerk for a government office. Hector told me that from the very first time he saw me he thought I was from the US. He thought I did not speak Spanish. That was the reason he did not talk to me— not until I addressed him in Spanish. When I told him that I had been actually living in the the US for the past seven years, he confided me that his dream was to go to the US so he could feel more free and have more work Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 113 opportunities and larger horizons. He asked me if 1 could help him to move to the US. I told him I would do what I could, but I immediately told him that there was not much I could offer to him, besides giving him some contact information. Then he started talking about famous women, such as Princess Diana, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna, etc., saying how much he admired them, and blah, blah, blah. The conversation was getting really boring. He was talking about all these beautiful women and how much he admired them. I was expecting a speech next about beauty pageants and the Venezuelan Miss Universe, but luckily, he did not touch on that topic. I just could not picture a heterosexual Honduran man talking about female actresses and models instead of soccer games! I thought that he must be gay .. .rather a queen. Then 1 do not remember how he raised the issue of HIV. He said that a couple of weeks ago he tested for the HIV and the results were negative. He had to test because of a job he was applying for. I told him that the last time I tested the results were negative, too, but that I had not tested for the past two years because I felt I had not done anything that was risky. Then we talked a little bit about safe sex, using a condom, etc. The chemistry between us seemed good and I felt we were raising lots of steam— at least I had a full erection. We would stare at each other and smile coquettishly. He was shaking his legs and body while talking. He almost looked like he was mounting someone. At some point I thought that if he continued rubbing his crotch with that movement, he was going to have an orgasm. I, then, suggested going to have a drink somewhere else. (I waited to lose my erection before saying that.) He agreed. I stood up and went to the desk to check out my bagpack. He remained seated for a minute before standing up (waiting for his erection to end?) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 114 We went to a coffee-shop since he wanted to have coffee. At the library he made it clear that he only had money for the bus ride back home, so I invited him for the cup of coffee. Was a buitre profile starting to show? At the coffee shop, he made his sexual interests clearly known. He said that a woman from the US, a friend of his in Tegucigalpa, had once kissed him in the mouth and it felt good. Then I asked him for more experiences. He said that he did not have sex with that gringa— she was not attractive enough for him; she was too old for him (in her 40s) and too fat. He told me about a girlfriend he had in Tegucigalpa, just before moving to San Pedro. He said she was very homy and described some sex scenes to me. They had sex on several occasions. She was older than him and paid him and gave gifts to him (the buitre profile showing again...) As he was talking, an attractive young woman entered the coffee-shop and he looked with heated eyes at her and made a remark about how sexy she was. Then he looked at another woman and said he liked to look at women's butts. To this point, I had never noticed him looking at women in such a macho demeanor. I began to feel a bit insecure about my speculation of his being a solapa. Not resisting any longer this confusion, I asked him if he had ever had sexual experiences with men. His face turned somber and serious. He said something like, “well, since you asked me that question, I will tell you the truth: yes, I’ve had encounters with two homosexuals.” (I found strange that, as it had happened in other occasions as well, a Honduran man confesses to me that he has had sex with two and only two homosexuals, as if two were the normative, acceptable number of homosexual encounters for a Honduran straight man to have. I also noticed that the person speaking is never homosexual; only the persons with whom he had sex are.) He told me the stories of his homosexual experiences. Both experiences had occurred in the past year (in Tegucigalpa), the last one about six months ago Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 115 (is this an accident that he took: the HIV test exactly 6 months after his last homosexual encounter?) In his “first” experience he was in a colectivo (a sort of taxi but that is shared by several people and follows a fixed route) at night with only one other passenger. They were both seated on the back seat. “Suddenly”— he claims— (but I am sure that Hector gave the other passenger plenty of lustful eye-contact, just as he did with me), the other passenger began rubbing one of Hector's thighs. Hector liked it and got aroused. The guy apparently rubbed Hector’ s crotch in the dark of the back seat and noticed Hector's arousal. Hector gave the man his telephone number, but the man never called. The second man Hector “met” was more responsive and they met more than once. As in the other case, Hector gave the man his telephone number, so the man called Hector each time he wanted to see him. Hector and the man would go to the cinema, the man would caress Hector's thighs and crotch, get him aroused and finally pull Hector's penis out of his pants and give him a blow-job. In the last occasion they met, the man brought Hector to a dark, unknown, and sleazy bar with mirrors on its walls. The place was almost empty. They went to a dark comer and the man got Hector aroused again. After giving Hector a blow- job, the man put a condom on Hector's penis and sat on it. Hector fucked the man while sitting in the bar. Hector just sat with a full erection while the man rode him. The fantasy of the man was to look at this scene through the mirror. Hector came fast and apparently nobody noticed anything. The man did not call Hector again after that. In both cases, especially the second one, it was clear that Hector was playing the role of the desired (young and attractive?) macho. Hector never touched (at least that is what he claims)~he was touched. He never gave oral sex- -he was given it. He did not fuck— the man sat on his penis and rode him. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 116 Whether this is true or not I do not know. I am only reproducing Hector's story. How Hector is choosing to portray himself and why is more interesting to me that his actual behavior. Of course it would have been very informative to know what he actually did, how he reacted. This is in part why I chose to disclose to Hector my desire: I asked Hector if he would like to have sex with me. He looked shocked. Had he not been expecting anything like this coming from me? Certainly he was not shocked because of the disclosure of my desire, since, as he later told me, he had realized that I was attracted to him from the very first time he saw me because of the way I was looking, staring, and smiling at him. Was I being too direct then? Was this something that could be done but never spoken about? He said “no” and then remained in silence. He seemed to be thinking lots of things. I asked him what he was thinking about. He said he was feeling lots of fear. Fear about what?, I asked, but he would not reply. Then it occurred to me that my perception of him being a solapa was because of his body language, which was clearly sending me signals that he was interested in me (and that he was homosexual), although behavior and identity many times do not correlate in Honduras, as in the case of the buitres. Maybe Hector was in denial of his homosexual desires, if any. Or perhaps he was consciously taking on the role of the buitre because it was more convenient in a socially homonegative society. Although he deceived me with his lustful eyes, his effeminate manners, his topics of discussion, and his humble dressing, the latter— that he was taking on the role of the buitre— was confirmed to me when he told me that from the very beginning of our encounter he noticed that I was looking at him with desire. (Was he aware that he too was looking at me with desire, I wondered?) Maybe his desires were my dollars and a direct plane ticket to the US rather than my looks or Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 117 sex appeal (see Morton 1995, Murray 1996). Or most likely, were all of the above combined and articulated in strange, mysterious, and unknown ways and proportions in his “sexual” desire toward me? That fact that I was inviting him for a coffee and later to the cinema (where he suggested I could touch him), and that he claimed no active desire toward me, but rather mere receptivity to my own impulses, also reaffirmed his buitre status. It is interesting to note that other buitres I met in Honduras behaved in a similar fashion: they would not take any initiative that showed sexual desire on their part. They liked to make themselves available to the sexual advances of the loca. But this was not for free. In order for the loca to satisfy their sexual urges and reach the macho's body, the loca had to pay for it: pay by inviting the macho for drinks, food, and to the cinema, among other things. I told Hector that there was no reason to be nervous about losing my help in his effort to get to the US should he not respond to my sexual desires toward him. My sexual interest in him and the help I could offer to him should he decide to emigrate to the US were two completely different things and he should not mix them up. He seemed relieved after hearing that, although he could not tell me, even after that, the origin of his fears. After leaving the coffe shop, we went to “Cinema 1,” but Hector was not admitted because he was wearing a tank-top. The same occurred in Cinemas 2 and 3. Hector suggested that I could buy a shirt for him so he could enter a cinema. This buitre was getting more and more expensive, I thought! How long would I have to be paying before he realizes that he actually likes me? That would certainly spoil his buitre exploits. We could not find a cheap shirt. Only then he remembered that he had a cousin living in the same neighborhood. After about 10 minutes, he returned Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 118 wearing a black T-shiit. Upon Hector’s suggestion, we went to see a film about a man who turns into a woman (a favorite topic for Honduran locas but not for Honduran machos, I must say). Hector was very enthusiastic about seeing the film. I paid for the movie tickets (L. 50 total, ca. four dollars, two dollars each ticket) and bought a big cup of coke and popcorn for him. I bought nachos with melted cheese for me. During the film, Hector talked to me in a flirtatious way and would look seductively at me, almost as if supplicating me to touch him. I, however, decided on an experiment: I told him that I was going to respect him, and that I was going to wait for him to touch me first. Checking my hypothesis about machos taking a passive attitude toward locas' sexual advances, I said that I would not touch him until he touched me. He said “no,” that it was not right. Well, now it was a challenge, I thought: who will “fall” first. By this time I was melting for him, and this challenge helped me restore my integrity and feel less frustrated since he was not going as fast as I wished. At some point during the film I noticed he was playing with himself, almost as if he could not resist one more second without my touching him. Then he rubbed my thigh with his knee (not with his hand). It looked almost like an accident or like his body was taking over without his authorization (a hand touching, on the other hand, would have been a sign of too much willingness and agency in the initiation of the contact). The way he touched me with his knee was by thrusting his knee below my thigh and raising my thigh a bit. I told him: “touch me,” but he refused. After the film, as we were walking down the street he asked me why I did not touch him during the film, almost as if reprimanding me. I said that I was waiting for him to touch me first. He said that it was not right, that I was Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 119 supposed to touch him first. Had I been a woman, would you have touched me first, I asked? Of course I would, he said. But because I was not a woman but a gay man, then / was supposed to make the move because he was the macho. In other words, I was supposed to be the interested one, because I was the homosexual. He was a macho and therefore he could not possibly be interested in initiating anything with another male. I understood all this as something he was implying and not saying: he could not put it in words when I asked him why I was supposed to touch him first. We said good bye and agreed I was going to call him the next morning. When I called him the next morning we agreed to meet later at the library of the Centro Cultural Sampedrano, the place we first met. He did not show up. We talked once more over the phone, but I never saw him again. Charging for sex is not always performed in subtle ways. Sometimes it can be done with force, as in robberies. Sometimes there is not even the need to be a sexual transaction for the macho to feel that he deserves payment from the loca. The mere difference in social hierarchy that seems to separate the loca from the macho allows the macho to charge and beat the loca if the loca enters his territory. It is almost like paying a toll, the fee that the macho requires of the loca for being in his presence, in his territory. The following incident shows how machos decide to charge a toll in money for sexual services or just for providing their presence. If the loca is not willing to pay, then they will take payment by force. Territoriality and danger On Saturday, October 11, 1997, Osvaldo and I went to meet Fausto G. at his barrio, colony El Roble, in San Pedro Sula. We wanted to go to “ el bordo” (the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 120 border of the river and of the colony) and the river, Armenta. Fausto, a known homosexual in his barrio, was waiting for us by the bus stop. A few meters away there was a group of workers with shovels resting under the shade of some trees, their “territory.” One of them, a man with a backpack, Mario, charged me a toll; he asked me for my sunglasses. I just smiled. We chatted for a while. Then he asked for my sunglasses again but I said “no” and smiled, keeping the interaction at the joking level. We went to the barrio’s cantina, a wood and tin shack. Fausto told me that that man who was asking me for the sunglasses is a delinquent, that he robs people by the river, but that he would not do anything to us because he was friends with Fausto. Some of the men left the shade and followed us to the cantina. At the cantina the men, most of them in their early twenties, in total about ten, began playing by teasing each other— especially the youngest-looking one. He would suggestively touch one of the drunk older men (in his forties?) The older man would chase and swing at him with a shovel, but the young guy who was not drunk would ran away, evading the shovel attack to the amusement of the crowd. This young man and another young man also were dancing in a sensual manner to the Caribbean music that was playing at the locale. Fausto told me that all this display of dancing and horseplay was not “normal” in a drinking environment like this. Fausto thought that the men were becoming excited because of our presence. I observed the men doing this “show” for us. They were not looking directly at us; not at this point at least. After about twenty minutes four of them began getting closer and closer to us, to the point that they joined us by sitting at the same table. This happened gradually as Fausto began introducing them one by one to me and by quietly telling me that he had had sex with two of them. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 121 After we were seated together, Fausto explained that I was doing fieldwork on homosexuality. This opened the door for me to ask them questions about their perceptions of gender and sexuality. This setting had the advantage that people were relaxed and semi-drunk so they did not feel embarrassed talking about these issues, as they could have been in a different environment. On the other hand, the fact that every answer was heard by the rest of their peers created pressure and invariably influenced the veracity of answers that were personally/emotionally compromising. Finally, the fact that we were in their territory, and furthermore that we were locas in a macho territory, made us extremely vulnerable but also created the invaluable opportunity for machos to open up and say things that they would not have said elsewhere. The youngest-looking man, whom I will call Rivereno (one who lives by the river), told me he was 20 years old. He told that he has lived with two maricas (“sissies”; that is the word he used), one in Mexico and one in Honduras. Rivereno claimed that the Bible said that it is not right for two men to have sex and that he did it because of financial necessity. He said he only lived a couple of days with each. He said one marica was age 25 and the other around 27. He was age 17 in the first case (in Mexico) and a year or so older in the second case. He said that he expects that by the time he reaches age thirty he will have done it with about thirty maricas. I wondered in a loud voice if he had not already done it with thirty maricas. Everyone laughed and he reddened as if he was caught in a lie. Fausto had already told me that he had had sex with him; and that the guy had a large penis. Rivereno proceeded to show me with a stick how long his penis was. He said it was the length of a palm plus a bit more (about 8 to 9 inches?). Fausto said I was homosexual and that I wanted to have sex with him. Rivereno asked how much I was going to pay him. I told him that I do not like to pay the person I have sex with, that I like to have sex with people for pleasure only, and that I Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 122 enjoy knowing that the other person is with me because he desires me and not my money. Rivereno said he would have sex with me for the pleasure of it then. He said he liked to be fellated. He asked me if I liked to fellate. I told him not really, unless I knew we later were going to have anal intercourse. He did not look very enthusiastic about having anal intercourse. He told me that he has a woman, that he is very homy, and that he can fuck seven times in a row. This conversation was public. The people at the table were listening to it, adding comments and enjoying it. I also think they were getting aroused. Most of them had either drunk some alcohol or smoked some marijuana prior to the conversation. A man in his late thirties wearing shorts and no shirt was sitting by my side. He repeatedly rubbed his legs against mine and grabbed my hand, the side of my torso, and what he could of my buttocks (I was sitting), although in a rather subtle and sporadic manner. It was subtle enough that it did not bother me or distract my attention from the conversation. The man was quite drunk and added his nonsensical comments on several occasions. No one seemed to pay attention to him (this was the same man who had chased Rivereno away with his shovel). Personally, I did not pay attention to him because I was trying to get as much information as I could from my conversation with Rivereno. I asked another young man about his sexual experiences with other men. His name was Eduardo and he was wearing a baseball cap. His eyes were quite red; he looked like he was high on marijuana. He said he was 23 years old. Unlike Rivereno, who looked sober, more greedy, astute and experienced in negotiating sex in exchange for money, Eduardo looked more innocent. He was sweet and smiled frequently. He seemed shy, and I imagine it would have been hard for him to open up to this type of topic had he not been high on something. He showed interest in me from the very beginning. He would stare at me and smile a lot. He was sitting close to me, almost waiting for his turn to interact with Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 123 me. He seemed ecstatic when I directed my attention to him. He told me that he has never had an experience with another man but that he was willing to have his first one (he would smile and look with homy eyes— pupil-dilated eyes— at me while saying this, so I imagined that he wanted to have his “first experience” with me). Eduardo was the young man who had been dancing with Rivereno earlier on. Fausto did not know Eduardo sexually so he could not give me any details with respect to his anatomy, etc. Eduardo looked a little bit embarrassed telling me all this in front of his friends, but at the same time he looked excited (and aroused?) about it. During the conversation with the two boys more young men came over. One was known as “El Turco” (the Turk) because of his big nose. He was the most forward of the three. He also looked like he was high on marijuana. He would stare at me with a gaze of desire as I was talking to the other men. He would whisper things to me like “I want to have your ass”; “I want you badly” with a facial expression of desire as I was talking to the other boys. I felt El Turco was a little pushy and I did not pay attention to him. El Turco also looked more experienced in dealing with situations like this and it was clear that he wanted some reward for his sexual services. He repeatedly asked me to invite him to have a beer; a thing that I refused to do each time by claiming that I was not carrying any money on me (this was the same explanation I gave to the 20- year old Rivereno when he asked for financial rewards for sexual services). Men asked what I had in my mariquera (a waist bag I was carrying). They asked if I had money there. I said no. Fausto told me that he had repeatedly had sex with El Turco. El Turco struck me as being a “professional” buitre. I also learned that El Turco was the leader of the local mara (gang). El Turco's arousal struck me as fake, not genuine like Eduardo’s, or even Rivereno’s. I asked El Turco how old he was and he said Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 124 22. I asked him if he had had sex with another man and he said that he had with two men. I found it amusing that again the answer was “two/’ almost as if that was the prescription. El Turco later confessed to having fucked many locas, confirming my suspicion that he was quite experienced at this type of interaction and was a “professional” buitre. I asked the guys who claimed to have had experiences with men what a marica has that a woman does not. Rivereno said nothing, except that he gets paid in the first case. He then added that he liked the pleasure of being fellated, and that many women did not like to do that. El Turco said that men’s asses feel great because they are more socado (tighter) than vaginas. Then I wondered, since I have heard that comment before, why these machos do not then fuck women in the ass. But El Turco, almost guessing my next question, added that the culo (“ass”) of maricas was tighter than the culo of women (implying that he has fucked both) because maricas knew how to squeeze the penis once inside. (I believe this argument to be true as I have been told by locas how they learn to squeeze their anuses to make machos more excited.) El Turco then proceeded to give the example of Fausto as a culo socado (publicly stating that he has had fucked Fausto's ass). This seemed to amuse the audience, who appeared to get more and more excited. Even Mario, the delinquent, other people from the mara, the bartender, and the neighborhood guard (a private security watchman) joined the conversation. At this point probably a group of about 15 men were surrounding us in a tight circle. Fausto pointed out to me the difference between this scene and a bar situation in the US. He said that this situation would have been impossible in a straight bar in the US, and that machos in the US would have homophobically kicked Osvaldo, Fausto, and me out of the bar. But in Honduras all these neighborhood working class machos, many of them with shovels in their Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 125 hands, were surrounding us, amazed at the conversation and getting more and more excited and aroused. El Turco was the most persistent of the group, wanting to go to the river “and have an orgy.” Everyone seemed excited by the idea. I told Fausto that I was afraid of going to the river with so many drunk men. I was afraid of being gang-raped. Osvaldo was terrified and did not voice a word during the whole conversation. Curiously, this time it was not Osvaldo but me who was the center of attention and desire. It was not clear to me, though, how their desire to sexually possess my body was intertwined with desires to possess my apparent wealth— my sunglasses, my mariquera and anything of value (money?) that could have been inside it— , my perceived higher status and education, or my lighter skin, hair, and foreign looks. Osvaldo, on the other hand, even though he was a marica— and a feminine looking one— , was still one of them and did not seem to have anything of value on him. Their attention to me and their ignoring Osvaldo, however, was most likely due to a great extent to my friendliness in contrast to Osvaldo's aloofness. Then Fausto and I left the cantina and headed to the river. Osvaldo said he was not going to go. He left, going straight to the bus stop where he quickly took the first bus back home. Osvaldo did not tell me what was going on, but he was certainly terrified. Later Osvaldo told me that in the past he had gone with Fausto to this river and the same mara tried to gang-rape him. That time he escaped by telling them that he was going to the cantina to buy some drinks and bring them to the riverside. Osvaldo also told me later that he overheard some guys saying that since we did not invite them to drinks at the cantina, they were going to ponerla (to put a knife to someone, meaning to rob us). As we were walking down the road toward the river I saw that a gang composed of about five guys, including Rivereno and El Turco, were going to the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 126 river as well. I told Fausto that they were too many, that I felt I could not handle the situation which could easily get out of control. Fausto tried to talk to them, but they took off into the bushes. I told Fausto that I did not want to go to the river, that the situation looked too dangerous and was getting out of hand. Fausto, who by this time was quite drunk himself, insisted that everything was fine, the gang were all his friends, and he lived in the same neighborhood where they lived. As we were discussing whether or not to go into the bushes toward the river, Mario, the delinquent, and another guy who was also in the bar, approached us with a smile. When they were really close to us, Mario's partner’s face turned angry or serious and he tried to grab my sunglasses as he said: “Give those sunglasses.” I resisted. Fausto stepped in front of me and said something like, “Come on, what's going on?!” Mario attacked Fausto with his shovel (but he did not hit him) and looking very mad said something like, “Don’t you interfere!” Remembering that Mario was a professional delinquent who usually carries a knife to attack his victims, I was afraid that the situation could escalate dangerously into a bloody attack. Every time I go to the river I am prepared for the worst (I have been told countless times that it is very common to be mugged by the river), thus I calculated that I was not carrying more than ten dollars’ worth on me and that resisting was an unnecessary risk to take. I immediately gave the man my sunglasses. Then Mario asked for my mariquera, which I immediately gave away, too. The two men left and ran away into the bushes. Fausto was upset. He complained that I gave away my things too quickly. When I reminded him of the shovel attack, he seemed to agree with me that what I did was the wisest thing to do. Fausto felt betrayed by the men (on other occasions Mario had asked Fausto to help him to rob someone else, so Fausto felt that he was one of them). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 127 I guess my presence was far too temptating to Mario’s greedy tendencies, and that made him go even beyond the feeling of comraderie he had with Fausto. Also I was a stranger, an outsider, someone they had never seen before and would probably never see again. Fausto felt guilty and stupid for having put me in such a dangerous situation. After all, Osvaldo had been right in running away as soon as he could. The situation was certainly risky, but I had trusted Fausto and his expertise and familiarity with the people and the environment. I had overlooked the fact that Fausto was drunk, which was what had altered his appraisal of danger. After a few minutes the gang of young men who had gone to the bushes to have the orgy returned to the road to see why we were taking so long to go down to the river. We told them what had happened and they seemed surprised and a bit disgusted by the turn of events. Rivereno looked especially upset. After a few minutes of discussion they went back to the bushes after the two robbers. I was never sure if this was a plot and a sting so a few could rob me and later the rest could share the marijuana bought with the stolen money. I especially thought this when Fausto told me later that Rivereno was also a robber. I wondered if these others would not have robbed me while at the riverbank anyway. I also wondered that since Fausto and I were locas whether this was a stimulus for the robbers to act. After all, it is well known that sissies do not defend themselves. I was also wearing open, thong-like sandals, which made me quite vulnerable. I could not run away or after the robbers and neither could I give a good swift quick in the groin to my attacker. Fausto pointed this out after the robbery. He said that they saw me so harmless and defenseless walking with those sandals... Although I escaped being gang-raped, the machos did take their toll. Another way in which machos demonstrate their territoriality is by teasing a loca Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 128 when he passes by, in a way not much different from the piropo aimed at women. In the teasing aimed at a homosexual, as in charging for sex, toll and power inequality are combined in a complex equation that includes tease, contempt and desire. 2. TEASE + CONTEMPT = DESIRE? Sexual teasing in the form of flirtatious comments and provocative body language is normative behavior within the courting protocol of Latin American machos. The fact that teasing is not only directed toward females but also toward other males in the “culture of machismo” is, perhaps, less known. How does teasing differ in these different settings? Is teasing a culturally-specific form of socially relating to each other that is deployed to overcome tensions between different subjectivities? How does this tension originate among machos who are the possessors of the Phallus? Are machos threatened by the fact that their courted males are also possessors of the Phallus? Does teasing between machos emerge as part of a negotiation between their sexual desire toward each other and their internalized contempt for homosexuality? Joking relationships have long been studied in anthropology. Depending on the culture and historical period, joking relationships have been found to be practiced among only some of the members of a given group, while other members have practiced relationships of avoidance. Perhaps because joking— and sexual teasing— deal with desire and anger simultaneously, a very fine line divides joke from insult. If a cultural boundary is trespassed, joking can suddenly become an insult. An avoidance type of relationship should then take place if conflict is to be averted. Peter Lyman (1995[1987]> sees sexist jokes and other Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 129 types of joking that take place among fraternity members or sports teammates in the United States as a way of maintaining male group bonding. All-male joking, which might be perceived as offensive or vulgar by someone who does not belong to the group, is nevertheless considered “funny” and as proof of “coolness” among their peers. As Lyman writes: Joking is a special kind of social relationship that suspends the mles of everyday life in order to preserve them. Jokes indirectly express the emotions and tensions that may disrupt everyday life by “negotiating” them, reconstituting group solidarity by shared aggression and cathartic laughter. The ordinary consequences of forbidden words are suspended by meta linguistic gestures (tones of voice, facial expressions, catch phrases) that send the message “this is a joke,” and emotions that would ordinarily endanger a social relationship can be spoken safely within the micro-world created by the “joke form.” (p. 87, citations omitted) According to David L. Collinson (1995[1988j) “The ability to produce a laugh is a defining characteristic of group membership” (p. 164). If one of the parties does not want to collaborate, then it is not a joke anymore. Joking needs cooperation. If joking is used opportunely, tense situations that might have otherwise escalated to higher forms of conflict are defused. Through joking, things that would have otherwise been impossible to mention, suddenly can be said. People do not only relax but also “let off steam” by laughing (Ibid.). The fact that they are laughing together is a reflection that they are willing to “work”— at least in the joking realm— as a team. Much like male or co-worker bonding, sexual teasing expressed in the form of the piropo in Latin America, most of the time from a man to a woman, but sometimes from a macho to a loca, , can be used to dissolve interpersonal tension and open up new avenues of communication— communication that might go from verbal to physical, having a sexual contact with the teased as its ultimate goal. Sexual/erotic desire, then, is expressed through teasing. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 130 In the winter of 1997 I was volunteering at AIDS Project Los Angeles. I got to know people who worked there very well. Most of the people who worked and volunteered there, especially the males, were gay identified- The exceptions were the security guards and the janitors, who usually were African-American or Latino, heterosexually-identified males. Leonel, a Mexican-American security guard, regularly teased me in public. He would say things like: “And so, when are you available to go out with me?...”; or “Yeah, I’m ready to do ‘it’...”; or “Manuel, would you kiss me?...” These utterances were camouflaged by laughter, joking, and double-meaning— clues read by others as “that was just a joke.” I certainly took it as a joke instead of sexual harassment. I, however, did not see much difference between what Leonel was doing and what Honduran machos were doing when they were grabbing their crotches, smiling, and inviting Miguel and me over as we walked the streets of barrio Medina in 1994. All of them were expressing forms of desire through teasing. By doing this, people around are never sure if what the macho is saying is true or not. And this is exactly the raison d'etre of macho/loca teasing: by saying what he says in an outrageous way, the macho sweeps away from his displays of desire any trace of seriousness, guarding his otherwise objectionable behavior from societal condemnation. Teasing is used as a way to let the other party know that he is willing and ready to go for sexual activity. Teasing is a safe way to negotiate a sexual transaction with the other. “Would you be available to have sex with me?,” the teaser seems to be asking. By responding as part of the joke, by enabling the joke to survive, by collaborating in it, the person teased seems to be saying, “I might consider it.” Yet many times a loca has no choice but to collaborate with the joke. Otherwise he might be attacked by the macho. Therefore, the equation tease = desire in the relationship macho/loca is not complete, as contempt (expressed in violence against I ocas) seems to be an important part of it as well. The same Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 131 machos who tease locas may be the ones who mistreat them, full of contempt, if locas do not respond appropriately to their jokes. In the Honduran lower SES, where macho/loca teasing occurs to the greatest extent, violence against locas is commonplace. Causing un escandalo On Sunday, Oct. 4 1998, Osvaldo and I went to the beach of Omoa, close to Puerto Cortes. Osvaldo was wearing tight jeans hiked up to his thighs which showed off the full length of his shaved legs. To this, his round and fat butt accentuated his swishy walk and it immediately attracted the attention of men (and women). If this were not enough, at the beach Osvaldo took his shorts off and below them he was wearing a tiny woman’s bikini or tanga. He wore a long, white shirt that covered the tanga, so he looked like he was wearing a miniskirt dress. In the water the shirt turned transparent, so the black tanga could be seen through the shirt. We walked along the beach. In an area with many young men in the water, Osvaldo caused a commotion. Men yelled piropos, whistled, etc. We kept walking and Osvaldo totally ignored them. Suddenly, a piece of ice fell close to us. Next, a rain of chunks of ice (quite big, like rocks) fell in front of us. They had been thrown from behind us, so they had flown over our heads, very close to us before falling right in front of us. Any of these big pieces of ice (each the size of a polo ball) could have hit us, hurting us. Luckily, not one did. I turned toward the men who had yelled piropos, visibly angry. They calmed down immediately, affected by my reaction. I could not figure out who had thrown the ice. Later I asked Osvaldo why he dresses like that. I asked him if he liked to cause a commotion, paraphrasing Kulick’s idea (1996) that transgendered people Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 132 can self-empower themselves and exett agency by causing a commotion or public scandal.1 Osvaldo replied, yes, that he likes to be acknowledged. More importantly, he dresses like this because he feels more comfortable. I asked him how he could feel more comfortable with clothes which are so tight. He replied that he has always been used to wearing tight clothes. When he wears loose clothes, according to him, Osvaldo feels uncomfortable, heavy, etc. Then 1 asked him how can he feel more comfortable when he provokes the aggression of people, such as when the ice was thrown at us. He claimed that the reason they threw the ice at us was solely based on his non-response to their piropos, and not to the scandal he caused by his appearance per se. In other words, if he dresses like that, he will excite men. Once they are excited, if he ignores them, the men will become angry and attack. But if he teases them back, the situation would not escalate beyond verbal jokes. I have heard this argument before from Osvaldo. Hombres will only physically attack him (or his Mends) if he or his friends ignore hombres after having excited them. Because I was so puzzled by Osvaldo’s active pursuit of scandal, I inquired more about the issue during my last interview with him in October 1998: MANUEL: Why do you look obvio’ l Would it be possible that if you wanted to you could look less obvio? OSVALDO: Well, I don’t think it’s possible, since I’ve tried it on several occasions with no success. I’ve made the effort to even imitate ways of walking that are different from what I’m used to, like one a Mend and I practiced, which we called “stepping on ants.” It consists of making the gesture of killing ants with the feet as one steps, but not even this worked out. So I’ve Med several times. Even walking like a robot, this is, mechanically, all cuadrado, but nothing, nothing has Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 133 worked. I believe that it’s something natural which each one of us brings with oneself. For some people, walking with mannerisms is part of us. It’s not an attitude that one may want to take, because no one likes to be humiliated or harassed by other people. MANUEL: But your being obvio isn’t only a way of walking. It’s also the way you do your eyebrows, your hair. The clothes you wear, your high heel shoes; those things could be avoided. If you don’t use those things you’d look much less obvio, wouldn’t you? OSVALDO: Yes, but I don’t feel well. I have some loose clothes that you can say are for cuadrados; these clothes are even a few numbers larger than my size. But in that moment, when I wear those clothes, I don’t feel right. It feels like it isn’t me. I don’t identify with it. And at the same time I don’t feel well because when I look at the mirror I look ugly. Say, aesthetically, to my standards, those clothes don’t look good on me. MANUEL: So even if people yell things at you on the street because you look obvio, is that less negative than the feeling you get from dressing as a “heterosexual”? OSVALDO: Yes, exactly. It’s less negative because that I can somehow tolerate it, while the internal part is a conflict that I almost don’t control; twenty years had to pass before I could solve my own identity or sexual orientation and accept my personality. To try to change internally, not to feel uncomfortable in certain clothes, would take me a long time. It’s not that I can’t do it. Perhaps it’s possible. But it’s difficult. MANUEL: It’s easier to tolerate people yelling at you on the streets... OSVALDO: Yes. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 134 MANUEL: How could a homosexual at whom people are yelling things on the street or in a public place, avoid violence?... You told me once that there was a way to respond to them. Do you remember? OSVALDO: Yes. If one doesn’t want to have any more trouble or is in a quiet mood and wants to have a good day, what one does is that when they say “adios” [“bye”], one answers back in a nice way, just like they did it. Or if they say “hold” [“hello’] and they tell you “Mi amor, ique tal esta?” [“my love, how are you?”], one replies “Bien carino” [‘ T m fine, darling”], “adios, bye-bye”. MANUEL: And in that way they don’t react with violence? OSVALDO: No, they don’t react with violence because somehow they feel like ... reinforced in their self-esteem. [They feel] they were heard. Even if they don’t admit this: [un]consciously they want to feel the answer of the homosexual, that the homosexual has paid attention to them. MANUEL: I would like to ask you something else: when you go out colorinche [flashy] to the streets and create a scandal, is it a situation that you weren’t looking for, does it inevitably happen because you were carrying yourself in a colorinche way, or were you also looking to create a scandal? OSVALDO: Well, sometimes. Other times it depends on the occasion. Sometimes we people are in a low mood. Then we need to feel that we exist, feel that we are visible in this world. So we wear certain clothes, certain shoes that call people's attention and we hit the streets so people become scandalized. We go out colorinches. And other times we don’t. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 135 MANUEL: So it’s not only that you just are the way you are and you can’t change because if you do you’d suffer, you’d feel you aren’t yourself anymore and the reaction of people on the street is something you simply can’t avoid. You also are actually looking for that reaction on the street; you actively want to have that reaction from people. And if nothing happens, how would you feel? OSVALDO: Well, it wouldn’t affect me much either. It depends on my mood, but most times it doesn’t affect me at all. MANUEL: Most times when you’ve caused a scandal, does it give you pleasure, do you like it, or would you rather [wish] that wouldn’t have happened, or perhaps do you have a combination of both feelings? OSVALDO: Sometimes I enjoy it. Sometimes I don’t. And sometimes it’s a combination of both feelings. Sometimes I feel angry because I’d like to remain invisible and not be the center of attraction in that moment. But I have to accept it at times, that, well, most times, I catch people’s attention. MANUEL: Besides the times when you enjoy it because that was really what you were looking for, are there times that you enjoy it because the type of scandal people are doing for you is a type of scandal that you like? Are there times when you don’t enjoy the scandal because you don’t like that type of scandal? Does it only depend on your mood whether you enjoy a scandal or not? OSVALDO: No, it also depends on that [on the type of scandal]. MANUEL: What’s the difference between both types of scandal? OSVALDO: One of them feels offensive at times. People try to stigmatize you as an easy person, like a whore. Sometimes people see Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 136 me on the streets and yell “whore”, “prostitute” or any other word alike (laughter). MANUEL: And do you like that or not? OSVALDO: No, I don’t like it, because I’m really not a whore. If I were one, I wouldn’t feel offended, because [prostitution] is a job like any other; someone has to do it. MANUEL: So what’s the kind of scandal you enjoy? What do people say to you? OSVALDO: Well (laughter), the scandal I like is educated, sensual, exotic; it uses words that please the ear. MANUEL: Like a piropo rather than an insult? OSVALDO: That’s it. Exactly. MANUEL: Do you remember any? OSVALDO: Ahm,... MANUEL: Or your favorite [piropo], the one you like most. OSVALDO: Well, I like it when they say “mamacita” [“Mommie”] (laughter). Or “iindd” [“pretty female”], “ belleza” [“beauty”], “amorcita” [“lovely female”]. Words like that, make one feel well when listening to them. MANUEL: Like affectionate words. OSVALDO: Huh-huh. Exactly. MANUEL: But the tone in which they say it, is it affectionate? OSVALDO: Yes, affectionate. MANUEL: Isn’t it ironic? OSVALDO: No. Well, sometimes it is. But most times it’s affectionate. They say it because they really mean it, though they define themselves as heterosexuals. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 137 MANUEL: Would you say that there is some sexual charge, desire, in the tone? OSVALDO: Yes, I think so. Most times yes, that’s it. Even though they don’t consider themselves anything, simply heterosexuals. MANUEL: And would you say that the tone resembles the tone of the piropos directed to an attractive woman? Is there a difference? OSVALDO: No, I think they are similar, the same tone. I don’t see any difference. MANUEL: Would you then say that the pleasure that those piropos directed to you provoke in you has to do with the fact that these piropos make you feel like an attractive woman? OSVALDO: No, I don’t think so. Before I used to be like that, [cherishing] that idea of feeling almost like an attractive woman. But not anymore. I’ve accepted my masculinity and I feel very well the way I am. MANUEL: This question about if you really liked some kinds of scandal comes from something you told me last year [1997]. You said that when you [and a group of other locas] went to El Salvador nobody yelled anything at you on the streets and you began to feel insecure; like “What’s going on, is there something wrong about us here?” But as soon as you crossed the border back to Honduras people again were yelling piropos at you. With a sigh of relief you said: “Thank God, people are making a scandal for us again!,” almost as if you really needed it. OSVALDO: Yes, say, as I told you, sometimes one needs to feel that one is visible, that one exists; that people look at one for x or y reason. And there are times when one doesn’t... Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 138 MANUEL: Does it have to do with that you may like a scandal depending on the context? Say, it isn’t the same being called “mamacita” walking on IS street and 14 avenue than being called “mamacita” in front of your house or being called “mamacita” in your workplace. OSVALDO: Yes, it also depends on the context. As you say, the place has lots to do with it, because sometimes, for example in the workplace, I don’t like people crying piropos at me because what I’m doing there is a job, I’m getting paid for working, not for receiving piropos or being seduced by anyone. MANUEL: So, the same scandal may make you feel unconfortable instead of pleasing you if it happens in the “wrong place...” It seems that the dynamic of causing a scandal and the reaction and then the violence that may or not come from the men who yelled at you has to do with wanting to attract attention. Maybe not in every case, but most times. You, for instance, want to attract attention, so then you dress provocatively, then other people feel attracted to you and want to get your attention by yelling and creating a scandal. You ignore them and they may become angry and attack you. But if you acknowledge them, then they won’t attack. So both you and they are trying to attract each other’s attention! OSVALDO: That’s it. Say, in the mechanics [of causing a scandal] there are several situations, subjects, contexts and elements involved. I’d say the main subjects involved are the homosexual and the person making the scandal, or the subject who is seducing [the homosexual] and the context would be the place, the moment: the workplace, the street, a recreation place. And the time, the moment. However, it all Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 139 depends on the context and one's mood. Sometimes one really doesn’t want to create a scandal but it happens anyway.2 (Interview #19) While joking relationships between machos and locas alleviate tensions created by the socially condemned homoerotic attraction that exist between them— expressed in the need to attract each other’s attention— , the balance of the relationship is indeed a weak one and can easily lead to violence. If the loca decides not to collaborate in the joke, usually by ignoring the macho, both the loca and the macho feel insulted. The loca feels insulted because he takes the piropo, joke or teasing as a demonstration of disrespect. The macho feels insulted because the loca did not want to collaborate with the joke and he felt ignored. The situations of violence that occur after failed teasing usually, although not always, leaves the loca as the most affected party: the loca is beaten up by the machos. The fact that many times the loca decides to collaborate with the joke for fear of physical retaliation on the part of the machos shows the socially disadvantageous position that the loca occupies in Honduran society. Lack of collaboration with the macho in any realm, not just joking, may lead to violence against the loca. This, along with the previous example of toll charging and violence due to macho territoriality, reveals hierarchies of gender and sexuality that disfavor the loca. To what extent is the exclusive sexual passivity of the loca an expression of gender oppression? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 140 3. GENDER HIERARCHIES AND COMPULSORY PASSIVITY Gender markers According to Osvaldo, Honduran male-dominated society wants homosexuals to be feminine, because that makes it easier for men to control homosexuals. This oppression parallels the oppression that men have historically exerted over women, Osvaldo claims. As Osvaldo speaks, I observe him. He is extremely effeminate. How can he be so effeminate if that will place him in a subordinate position in a macho-dominated culture according to him, I wonder? Does he want to be dominated? Is Osvaldo perhaps reaping some benefits out of his feminine looks? What is he getting? When walking with Osvaldo, I noticed that most of the time men would yell catcalls at Osvaldo and never at me, even though I was hanging out with him. On a superficial level one may imagine that if what Osvaldo wants is to sexually attract machos, then his looks are appropriate since he is getting machos’ attention (although as I showed in chapters H and m , many machos actually prefer to date homosexuals who are not too visible or obvious). On the street many hombres tease locas and by doing so they seem to show their desire toward the obvious homosexuals. One time, however, I was walking with Osvaldo and an hombre with erotically-charged language approached me first. It was the first time that it ever happened and, as I learned later, it was because I was adopting an attitude culturally marked as feminine. I did a feminine gesture only for a few seconds, but this was enough to attract an hombre (and I am sure that being on the side of Osvaldo did not but help for this to happen). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 141 The situation was as follows: On Thursday, September 19, 1997, Osvaldo and I were walking in downtown San Pedro. It was 6:45 pm and it was getting dark. A cipote (teenager) who was selling something approached me on my right side (Osvaldo was on my left) and said to me “Mi amor7 ’ (“my love”), which could be considered a piropo. Then he said “V Como estas?” (“how are you?”) and I said “ Bien" ("good"). Then Osvaldo told me not to talk to him. Next the cipote said “iM e vas a dar algo?” (“Are you going to give me something?”). I did not reply. Next the cipote walked behind us and went to Osvaldo's side and said some piropos to him. Osvaldo did not reply as usual. Osvaldo looked back. The boy said “Adios” (“bye”) and left. Osvaldo said that the cipote was a “ choz” or “ chocero ” (robber, from “ chocear, ” to steal, and this from choza (hut), perhaps implying that robbers live in huts). Osvaldo said the cipote grabbed Osvaldo's ass before leaving. He also said that the cipote was accompanied by two other persons. According to Osvaldo, these people had asked the cipote if he was going to continue walking after us or was going to join them. He joined them while Osvaldo and I kept walking. I was surprised because this was the very first time in my stay in Honduras that an hombre had teased me. I asked Osvaldo why this time I was the one who had been teased. Osvaldo had no doubt that the reason why I was identified as a loca this time was that I was holding the water bottles I just bought in a store against my chest with crisscrossed arms~a feminine gesture, according to Osvaldo. An hombre would carry the bottles hanging down or on his shoulder, but never holding them against his chest with crossed arms. This is one out of many examples of the power of gender markers, which Osvaldo manipulates to perfection. Is Osvaldo then choosing to be recognized as a loca so he will attract men who want to penetrate him? Is his passivity voluntary or culturally compulsory? Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 142 Compulsory passivity Paraphrasing Leo Bersani, Lee Edelman (1994) claims that for a man, “getting fucked” is seen as a suicidal act because it implies that he is being inscribed in the role of the (heterosexual) woman— a passive object— that, by extension, “connotes a willing sacrifice of the subjectivity, the disciplined self-mastery, traditionally attributed only to those who perform the ‘active’ or penetrative— and hence ‘masculine’— role in the active-passive binarism that organizes ‘our’ cultural perspective on sexual behavior'’ (p. 98). Condemning the “‘addictive’ passivity of the anus in intercourse” and linking it to AIDS, is a form of strengthening the male heterosexual’s moral agency which feels constantly threatened in “our” society, Edelman claims (p. 101). “Only against women and gay men may the ‘normal male subject’ imagine himself to be a subject at all” (p. 105). The passivity of gays, therefore, is, according to Edelman, attributed to their loss of subjectivity and agency in the eyes of society, especially in the eyes of heterosexual males who are enforcing compulsory passivity. It is hard to determine to what extent exclusive passivity is a choice or a cultural imperative in the case of Honduran locas. Locas seem to enjoy being penetrated and I have seen how they actively manipulate gender markers that will place them as penetrable in Honduran sexual subcultures. So I doubt that passivity is as compulsory as Edelman claims it to be. (But, of course, locas’ taste for being penetrated might have been culturally determined from an early age.) On the other hand, I can see how passivity is culturally condemned and an oxymoron for a macho, so clearly the relationship between being a loca (a non macho) and being sexually passive is culturally determined. This would explain Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 143 how machos will need locas to define themselves: by not being locas, by not being passive, machos become machos. What comes first, the desire to be penetrated or the desire to be gender non-conforming? Do these desires follow a causal order? There is probably not a definitive answer to these questions as the degrees of sexual passivity and gender nonconformism present in the loca vary from individual to individual, following a complex gamut of variance, change, degree, and reinforcing and opposing cultural and biogenetic forces. There is the structural-functionalist and biologically essentialist explanation, which claims a functional role of male sexual passivity in Latin American: sexual passivity in some males would allow for the sexual release of young, heterosexually-identified males who possess an uncontrollable sexual urge and do not have access to women because of their age, social conditions, religion, or lack of money. In his study of sexual behavior among males of middle and lower SES in the northwestern regions of Mexico, Carrier (1995) found that the incidence of same-sex sex in males was extremely high among young, unmarried males. These males cannot have sexual relations with their girlfriends or most other women because “good” women are supposed to remain virgins until they get married. On the other hand, they cannot afford “bad” women (prostitutes) either, because they are too expensive. These men learned from an early age that “homosexual,” sexually passive males, are available as sexual outlets. In this region, same-sex sex is acceptable as long as it is not acknowledged publicly (Ibid.: 16, 188). Apparently, something similar occurs in prisons where the lack of women creates a demand for homosexual sex that otherwise might not occur. This approach misses the point that, at least in prisons, most homosexual intercourse (at least in the beginning of a “relationship”) is actually rape, with its connotation of power. Apparently, a main function of rape in prisons, beyond the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 144 mere sexual release of inmates, is the complex hierarchization of networks of power which determine who is in control (or who tops whom). Even though the homosexual relationships that Carrier observed in Mexico in most cases occurred between consenting adults, one should not overlook the fact that (a) many of the homosexuals who play the passive role have been sexually abused by machos, especially during childhood; (b) many of the machos see and treat the passive homosexual with contempt as an unquestionable statement of power and superiority; and (c) at least for certain cases, the effeminate (or homosexually- identified) man is compulsorily made passive by other people and society at large. I remember talking to two Latino gay men who prefer to be tops. When they initiated their homosexual careers in their respective countries (Mexico and Honduras; they latter moved to the US) they played only the passive role, because they thought that it was their only alternative if they were to identify themselves as homosexual. Only after moving to the US did they realize that they did not need to be exclusively passive to be homosexuals. After that discovery they realized that what they actually enjoyed the most was the active or penetrator’s role. Had they stayed in their countries of origin, they would have perhaps always remained trapped under the regime of compulsory passivity that affects homosexually identified people in many parts of Latin America. Or perhaps they would have become acculturated enough to the ambiente to find out that there actually was a broad spectrum of possibilities awaiting for them in the continuum macho/loca, as shown in Chapter IH. If, according to the structural-functionalist explanation, male sexual passivity plays an important social function, why is it stigmatized? This question is tautological in that it is exactly because of its social role that it is stigmatized; part of the very essence of passivity as a social role is the stigmatization that accompanies it, because of the connotations of domination, subservience, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 145 powerlessness, and lack of agency that are attached to it and from which machos supposedly benefit. The passive partner is seen as an agentless object and the penetrator is seen as the agent, the subject, the empowered one. I clearly remember that in Honduras I was constantly forced to negotiate my status as passive or active when my sexual orientation or my masculinity were in question or disclosed for any possible reason. Someone who has grown up labeled as a homosexual— loca— in Honduras, I imagine, would find it much harder to fight back or negotiate sexual activeness or passivity after being stigmatized for years for enacting the very act that the stigmatizers want him to enact. So as there may be locas who feel “naturally” inclined to be effeminate and are compulsorily made sexually passive by societal enculturation, there may be others who feel “naturally” inclined to be sexually passive and adopt feminine gender markers to attract penetrators. Moreover, there may be a majority of homosexuals who feel a combination of these and other desires and struggle to find their niche in the sexual culture in which they were bom. SUMMARY In this chapter the relationship between the macho and the loca has been explored from multiple angles: the commodification of desire and the games of disinterest played by the macho; toll charge, violence, and territoriality; the complex equation of tease, contempt and desire; and the need of machos and locas to attract each other’s attention by creating a scandal. While locas actively pursue creating-a-scandal to be acknowledged and desired, and many times choose to mark themselves as feminine to attract hombres who may want to penetrate them, there are also culturally ingrained hierarchies of gender and sexuality that place the macho over the loca in the power ladder. The loca often has no choice but to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 146 play by the rules of the macho regarding territoriality and teasing if he does not want to be physically abused by the machos. While paying the macho may be seen merely as a way for the macho to disguise his homosexual desires, it is also part of a larger system of gender inequality that benefits the macho. It was suggested that the exclusive sexual passivity of many locas is related to hierarchies of power and gender inequality which impose sexual passivity in locas (and heterosexuality in women) as their only options, making them sexually available for machos or penetrators. Even though the power implications of compulsory passivity in feminine men are evident, it is unclear if compulsory passivity is the case for all locas, as many of them seem to deeply desire to be penetrated and then mark themselves as feminine in order to attract penetrators. Endnotes 1 I took this general idea of public scandal as resistance and self-empowerment from Kulick. The scandals or commotions that Kulick describes for Brazilian transgendered prostitutes, however, are very different of a kind, consisting mainly of the transvestites calling their macho clients “maricona” in front of other people, which suggests that the macho client has played the passive role during intercourse with the transvestite, something that obviously causes a commotion. 2 MANUEL: i Y por que tu, eh, te ves obvio? ^Podrfa ser posible que si tu quisieras te vieras menos obvio? / OSVALDO: Bueno, yo no lo considero posible, ya que Io he intentado varias veces y no ha sido posible. He hecho el esfuerzo hasta imitando formas de caminar diferentes a la que estoy acostumbrado, como, una que practicibamos con un amigo que Ie Ilamibamos “pisando hormigas”, que uno va como haciendo el gesto, la maniobra de que va a ir matando hormigas con los pies y ni aun ast dio resultados. O sea, que lo he intentado varias veces, o caminando como robot, asf como mecinicamente, todo cuadrado y tampoco; no, no ha funcionado. Creo que ya es algo natural y cual todas las personas traemos. Algunas personas traemos de caminar de esa forma amanerada y no es una actitud que uno quiera tomar, porque a nadie le gusta ser humillado u hostigado por otras personas. / MANUEL: Pero tu obviedad no es solamente la manera de caminar. Tambiin [es] cdmo tienes las cejas, el pelo. La ropa que te pones, los zapatos de tacones; esas cosas se podrfan [evitar]. Si no usaras esas cosas te verfas mucho menos obvio, £no? / OSVALDO: Sf, pero no me siento bien. Tengo cierta ropa que es floja y que se puede decir es para gente cuadrada; hasta [de] unas tallas mis grandes que la mfa, pero lo que pasa es que en ese momento, cuando ando con esa ropa no me siento bien, me siento como que no fuera yo; no me identifico. Y al mismo tiempo no me siento bien porque al verme mi reflejo, mi imagen ante un espejo, me siento feo. O Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 147 sea que estedcamente, en mi escaia de estddca, no se me mira bien para mf. / MANUEL: O sea, aunque te gritan cosas cuando vas en la calle porque te ven obvio, eso negativo que consigues its menos negativo que el sentimiento que tendrias si te disfrazaras de “heterosexual"? / OSVALDO: Sf, exacto. Es menos negativo porque eso en cierta forma lo puedo tolerar, mientras que la parte interna es un conflicto que yo casi no domino mucho, que para resolver mi propia identidad u orientacidn sexual tuvieron que pasar 20 anos para que yo Iograra mi aceptacfdn de mi personalidad. Tratar de cambiar internamente, de no sentirme bien con “x” ropa, me llevaria bastante tiempo. No es que no pueda. Quizas se puede, pero es bien dificil. / MANUEL: Es mas fdcil soportar los gritos de la calle... / OSVALDO: Sf. / ... / MANUEL: ^C6mo podrta un homosexual al que le estan gritando cosas en la calle o en un Iugar publico evitar la violencia? ... tu me dijiste que habfa una forma en que habta que contestarles [a los agresores], £te acuerdas? / OSVALDO: Ah, sf. Si uno no quiere ningun problema o anda en los animos mds tranquilos y quiere pasar el dfa feliz y no se lo quiere amargar, lo que hace es cuando ellos dicen “adids”, contestarles a ellos tambidn, en forma grata como lo hacen ellos, o si Ie dicen “hola”, y Ie dicen “mi amor, qud tal estd” una Ie contesta “bien carino”, “adids, bye-bye”. / MANUEL: asf no reaccionan con violencia? / OSVALDO: No, no reaccionan con violencia porque ellos en cierta forma se sienten, eh, como ... reforzados en su autoestima, de que ellos fueron escuchados aunque ellos no lo acepten, conscientemente ellos quieren sentir la respuesta del homosexual, de que el homosexual les ha prestado atencidn. / MANUEL: Te querfa hacer otra pregunta: cuando tu sales colorinche a la calle y haces un escdndalo, ies una situacidn que tu no la andas buscando, sucede inevitablemente por ir colorinche, o tambidn [la] andas buscando, tu buscas crear un escdndalo? / OSVALDO: Bueno, algunas veces. Otras, depende de la ocasidn. Algunas veces las personas estamos con animos bajos. Entonces necesitamos sentimos que existimos, sentimos visibles en este mundo. Entonces nos ponemos ciertas ropas, ciertos zapatos que llamen la atencidn y salimos a la calle para que las personas se escandalicen y, como te dije, salimos colorinches. Otras veces no. / MANUEL: ^Entonces no es solamente el que uno es, que tu eres la forma en que tu eres y que no puedes ser de otra forma porque si no sufrirfas, te sentirfas que no eres tu y la reaccidn en la calle simplemente es una reaccidn que no puedes evitar, sino que [tambien] tu buscas esa reaccidn en la calle; activamente tu quieres que se produzca una reaccidn? Y si no se produce, £cdmo te sientes? / OSVALDO: Bueno, tampoco me afectarfa mucho. Depende del estado de dnimo, pero casi la mayorfa de las veces no afecta para nada, o sea... / MANUEL: La mayorfa de las veces cuando has causado un escdndalo, ite da placer, te gusta, o preferirfas que no hubiera sucedido, o tienes una mezcla de los dos sentimientos? / OSVALDO: Algunas veces lo disfruto. Otras no. Eh, y algunas veces una mezcla de los dos sentimientos. Algunas veces me da rabia porque quisiera permanecer desapercibido, y [no] ser el centro de atraccidn en ese momento, pero tengo que aceptarlo que a veces, bueno, la mayorfa de las veces, llamo la atencidn. / MANUEL: Aparte de las veces que lo disfrutas porque realmente eso era lo que estabas buscando, £hay veces que lo disfrutas porque el cierto tipo de escandalo que te estdn haciendo es un tipo de escandalo que te gustarfa y otras que no lo disfrutas porque el tipo de escdndalo que te estdn haciendo no te gusta? 10 solamente depende de tu estado de dnimo el que lo disfrutes o no? / OSVALDO: No, tambidn depende de eso. / MANUEL: ^Cuil es la diferencia entre los dos tipos de escandalo? f OSVALDO: Uno a veces se torna ofensivo. Te tratan de estigmatizar como una persona fdcil, como una prostituta o una puta. Es que algunos cuando me ven me dicen prostituta, puta o ramera o cualquier palabra similar a esa (risas). / MANUEL: lY eso te gusta o no te gusta? / OSVALDO: No, no me gusta, porque realmente no lo soy. Si yo fiiera no me ofendiera, porque igual yo lo considero que es un trabajo como cualquier otro que alguien lo tiene que realizar. / MANUEL: Y £cudl es el dpo de escandalo que te gusta? es lo que dicen? / OSVALDO: Bueno (risas), el escandalo que me gusta es cuando es educado, sensual, exdtico, con palabras que se sienten bonitas al ofdo. / MANUEL: O sea, que es como un piropo, mds que un insulto. / OSVALDO: Asf es. Exactamente. / MANUEL: <,Te acuerdas de algimo? / OSVALDO: Eh, ... f MANUEL: O tu favorito. El que mis te gusta. / OSVALDO: Bueno, me gusta cuando dicen “mamacita” (risas). Ese serfa uno. O “linda”, “belleza”, “amorcito”. Palabras asf, que uno se siente bien al escucharlas. / MANUEL: Como carinosas. / OSVALDO: A-hd. Exactamente. / MANUEL: Pero el tono en que lo dicen, its cariiioso? / OSVALDO: Sf, es carinoso. / MANUEL: ^No Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 148 es irdnico? / OSVALDO: No. Bueno, algunas veces sf. Pero la mayor parte de las veces es carinoso. Lo dicen porque lo sienten, aunque ellos no se definen como homosexuales. / MANUEL: ^Tu dinas que [en] el tono hay cierta carga sexual, de deseo? / OSVALDO: Sf, yo creo que sf. La mayorfa de las veces, sf, eso es. Aunque ellos se consideran, o no se consideran nada: simplemente heterosexuales. / MANUEL: tu dirfas que en el tono se parece al tono de los piropos que se le dicen a una mujer atractiva, o hay una diferencia? / OSVALDO: No, yo creo que se parecen, el mismo tono. No le notarfa ninguna diferencia. / MANUEL: i Y tu dinas, entonces, que el placer que te causa entonces es porque te hace sentir como una mujer atractiva? I OSVALDO: No, no creo. Porque antes sf tenfa ese perfU. Esa idea de sentirme casi como una mujer atractiva. Y ahora no. Como dicen, he aceptado mi masculinidad y me siento muy bien asf como soy. / MANUEL: Esto de la pregunta de que si realmente te gustan algunos tipos de escdndalo tambien viene de una cosa que tu me contaste el ano pasado [1997], de cuando fueron a El Salvador nadie les decfa nada y se sintieron inseguros: “^qud es lo que pasa, algo anda mal?” Pero tan pronto como pasaron la frontera hacia Honduras de nuevo les empezaron a gritar cosas y les dio un alivio y dijeron: “menos mal, de nuevo nos estdn haciendo un escdndalo”; o sea, £como que realmente lo necesitaban? / OSVALDO: Sf, o sea, como te digo, algunas veces uno necesita sentirse visible, que existe. De que las personas te miran por x o y razdn. Y otras veces no. Por ejemplo, en ese viaje aprendf bastante, por ejemplo que no en todos los lugares las personas cuando te miran llegar te miran como algo extraiio, como algo raro, como algo diferente. Algunas personas ya miran la homosexualidad en ciertos lugares de Centro Amdrica como algo normal [que] forma parte del abanico de la sexualidad. No lo miran como algo raro, cosa del otro mundo. Y entonces eso hace cambiar todas las ideas que tiene uno acerca de la sexualidad. / MANUEL: ^Tiene tambien que ver que un escdndalo te guste o no dependiendo del contexto? O sea, no es lo mismo que te digan “mamacita” caminando por la IS calle con la 14 avenida, a que te digan “mamacita” frente a tu casa o que te digan “mamacita” en [el lugar de trabajo]? / OSVALDO: Sf, tambidn depende del contexto. Como tu dices, el lugar tiene mucho que ver, porque algunas veces, por ejemplo en la fiiente de trabajo, no me gusta que me tiren piropos porque lo que voy a hacer ahf es una labor, me pagan por ir a trabajar, hacer un “x” trabajo, no para que me vayan a piropear o me vaya a enamorar cualquier persona. / MANUEL: Entonces el mismo escdndalo podria causarte incomodidad en vez de placer si sucede en el “lugar incorrecto”. Pareciera que toda la dindmica de causar un escdndalo, y la reaccidn y despuds la violencia que puede o no venir del que gritd, tiene que ver con llamar la atencidn. No todas las veces, pero muchas veces. O sea, tu, por ejemplo, quieres llamar la atencidn, entonces te vistes de una forma provocativa, caminas de una forma provocativa, entonces las otras personas se sienten atrafdas a ti y quieren llamar tu atencidn haciendo el escdndalo, pegdndole los gritos y todo; tu los ignoras, entonces se pueden enojar y te pueden agreder. Pero si tu les respondes, entonces no te agrederfan. ^Entonces tu y los otros estarfan tratando de llamar la atencidn del otro? / OSVALDO: Asf es. O sea, que en la mecdnica intervienen varias situaciones, varios sujetos, contextos y elementos, por decirlo. Los sujetos que intervienen, yo dirfa principales, serfan el homosexual y la persona que se estd escandalizando, o el sujeto que ie esta enamorando y el contexto serfa el iugar, el momento y eh, en vez del lugar si es en la fiiente de trabajo, si es en al calle, si es el lugar de diversion, y en el horario, en el momento, serfa la hora. Por ejemplo, a veces uno se levanta, como que tuvo un mal sueno, en la manana, en la noche, y se levanta mal en la manana, entonces a veces no quisiera escuchar nada, ni el zumbido de una mosca. Y entonces, por eso digo que depende del momento. A veces en la noche cuando uno va a dormir ya viene uno cansado uno del trabajo. Quisiera escuchar nada de nada, sino que uno sdlo viene a descansar. Y tambidn depende de los estados de dnimo del individuo, del homosexual. Eso serfa toda la mecdnica que yo miro. (Interview # 19) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 149 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS I began my dissertation by offering a sociohistorical introduction to the city of San Pedro Sula, the place where I conducted my fieldwork on homosexual cultures. I showed how the feelings of danger and violence in which gender and sexual relations are embedded in San Pedro are deeply rooted in the cultural and geographical memory of the region. I then discussed how sexuality has been traditionally kept out of the public discourse in Latin America, finding its way into public forms only through joking or picardfa. I showed how this impossibility of talking seriously about sex has had a dramatic impact on the development of a homosexual identity among subjects with a masculine gender identification, as sexuality cannot be separated from gender. I analyzed to what extent this is a matter of denial, role playing, or cultural impossibility. I explored the possibility that the ideology of the loca helps to assert and maintain local sexual cultures of macho/loca binarism by perpetuating circum- Mediterranean concepts of the ideal macho and the ideal woman. Native categorization of sexual roles and characters in the homosexual ambiente were presented as an important part of this sexual culture. These categorizations, apparently, are more fluid than the ideology of the loca. I continued by analyzing the relationship between the macho and the loca from multiple angles: the commodification of desire and the games of disinterest played by the macho; toll charge, violence, and territoriality; the complex equation of tease, contempt and desire; and the need of machos and locas to attract each other’s attention by creating a scandal. While locas actively pursue creating-a-scandal to be acknowledged and desired and many times choose to mark themselves as feminine to attract hombres who may want to penetrate them, Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 150 there are also culturally ingrained hierarchies of gender and sexuality that place the macho over the loca in the power ladder. The loca often has no choice but to play by the rules of the macho regarding territoriality and teasing if he does not want to be physically abused by the machos. While paying the macho may be seen as a way to disguise the macho’s homosexual desires, it is also part of the same system of gender inequality that benefits the macho. The exclusive passivity of many locas may be related to hierarchies of power and gender inequality which impose sexual passivity in locas (and heterosexuality in women) as their only options, making them sexually available for machos, the penetrators. Even though the power implications of compulsory passivity in feminine men are evident, it is unclear if this is the case for all locas as many of them seem to deeply desire to be penetrated and then mark themselves as feminine in order to attract penetrators. My main research question during fieldwork was: what does it mean for both machos and locas to be involved in same-sex relationships and how does the fact that they are in such a relationship affect their views of themselves and of others about gender and sexuality? My answer to this question, which constitutes the main conclusion of my dissertation, is that the macho/loca relationship is only possible within a gender/sexuality system in which sexuality is part of gender, so gender and not sexuality is the principal determinant of sexual identity. The immediate consequence of this particular gender/sexuality system is that homosexual behavior does not imply homosexual identity in the case of the macho bisexual male, because he is culturally marked as masculine. This system is maintained by taboos which prevent speaking about sexuality in a serious manner. It also makes possible the existence of pervasive hierarchies of gender/sexuality that impose compulsory passivity in locas and heterosexuality in women and encourage effeminacy in males who desire to be penetrated. Yet the Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 151 categorization of males as hombres and locas is a fluid one and there are multiple alternative categorizations available that challenge these cultural ideals. In their daily interaction, machos and locas have to deal with tremendous stress to cope with contradicting imperatives of cultural prescriptions and personal desires. Thus the relationship between the macho and the loca has created a rich and complex sexual subculture within the mainstream gender/sexuality system. In Latin America in general, and in Honduras in particular, as more people claim an identity based on sexuality, freed from the dictates of traditional gender forms, as gender itself is questioned and allowed the embracing of multiple sexualities, and as homosexuality is increasingly discussed in a serious manner and in the open, the traditional macho/loca relationship may disappear and become part of the past. Most likely, however, this traditional gender/sexuality system will transform into new forms which will interact with the gay models and identities that are becoming prominent with the spread of globalization throughout Latin America. Reducing homophobia and heterosexism in Honduras It is left to the future to see if the traditional hierarchies of gender that sustain heterosexual male power in Honduras will transform into heterosexist practices as sexuality is separated from gender. To date, heterosexism is at the same time, and paradoxically, overwhelmingly present and strikingly absent in the macho/loca relationship. Its unquestionable presence reflects on the automatic assumption that every masculine man must be heterosexual. Its absence, however, lies on the fact that the traditional Honduran gender/sexuality system allows for every man to be involved in homosexual relationships in a way only undreamed of in the highly heterosexist societies of North America and Northern Europe. But because this Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 152 “absence” of heterosexismo is only possible under the umbrella of macho gender supremacy and social norms of public decency where public talk about sexuality is not possible, one cannot argue that Honduras possesses a non-heterosexist culture where homosexuality can be practiced freely and at no personal cost. On the contrary, homosexuality is highly constrained within a machistic regime. Since sexuality is part of gender, one can argue that the contradiction between the apparently simultaneous presence and absence of heterosexism in Honduras is due to a highly macho gendered system in which heterosexism is included in a tacit way. Therefore working in reducing heterosexism in Honduras is an extremely difficult task because before dealing with heterosexismo one needs to deal with sexismo. Only in the measure that the system of machismo is undermined and publicly questioned it will be possible to reduce a heterosexism which is hidden behind the masquerade of the macho gender system. So what can be done now to improve the lives of homosexual people in Honduras without having to wait for a gender revolution to happen? Research has proven that multiple strategies tackling the problem of homophobia and heterosexism from different angles work best (Sears and Williams 1997). For Honduras, the strategies to reduce heterosexism have to take into consideration the predominance of the class system, the family, Christianity, and an emerging serious discussion of sexuality in the media due to the AIDS crisis. I therefore suggest five different strategies to reduce heterosexism taking into consideration the four aspects of Honduran culture mentioned above. The class system and the gay-oriented business strategy Social class is an important aspect of Latin American cultures and the differing aspects of elite and working class cultures have been amply researched in Latin Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 153 American urban anthropology (Lomnitz and Perez 1993 [1987]). For the same reason, sexuality in Honduras, like in the rest of Latin America, has adopted unique forms depending on social class. For instance, the emerging gay culture in Honduras has taken place mainly among the upper middle and upper classes. This is due to the fact that the gay identity was brought to Honduras along with neoliberalism and consumerist discourses about sexuality where only the rich could afford the expensive and exclusive new gay locales. As in most of Latin America, the gay “lifestyle” in Honduras has been only adopted by an elite, who have the means to travel and adopt the gay trends they observe and experience in cities such as New York or San Francisco. The North American gay culture of consumerism, sexual freedom, and privacy, with relatively expensive gay locales and the possibility to live alone or with a partner away from familial surveillance, is the privilege of a few. Therefore, working with heterosexism among the upper classes in Honduras might benefit from promoting gay-based or gay-oriented entrepreneurship. The boosting of gay-based business in the more affluent neighborhoods of Honduras might help create a more positive and less homophobic atmosphere toward gay people as gays will increasingly be seen as customers who bring money to the area within the new neoliberalist economic climate. The family and the positive-media-image strategy According to Murray (1995), Carrier (1995), and Lumsden (1996) there is a relation between the capacity to come out as gay and economic solvency: “Lack of economic independence and impoverishment in housing, health care, education, and culture ... necessarily make homosexuals more dependent on Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 154 relations with their family for survival and less likely to challenge traditional customs in their communities” (Lumsden 1996: xv). However, as the economic power of gay people in Latin America increases and neoliberalist values of individualism and consumerism become more generalized, more people will adopt a gay and lesbian identity in Latin America and come out as such. For them the strategy of encouraging gay business entrepreneurship described above might work well. But the fact is that still a vast majority of the homosexual population in Honduras belong to the lower classes and cannot afford to live out of their parents’ and extended family’s households. For this reason, very specific strategies that consider the family as a basic element in the lives of homosexual people need to be developed. Since television is becoming a main focus around which family gathers and forms its opinions about the world, education and the creation of empathic emotional attachment to gay characters in soap operas, talk shows and documentaries would be a strong and effective technique to create a more accepting atmosphere toward gay people within the family (Sears and Williams 1997). Personal discussion of homosexuality, i.e., “coming out” is strongly discouraged as the gay family member is extremely vulnerable to the family reaction since he or she would not have any other place to live in case he is asked to leave the house. In most cases, however, people whose sexuality has been discovered, but the issue has not been openly discussed, continue living with their families in an atmosphere of tolerance though not full acceptance. The way both the rest of the family and the gay family member accommodate to the situation is by not speaking about the issue, since talking about homosexuality in a public way is taboo. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 155 Christianity and the strategy of shifting Biblical discourses to gay positive ones Another institution which has an enormous impact on individuals, families, and society at large is Christianity. While the Catholic Church has always officially condemned homosexuality, at present it does little to repress it as it does little to repress any sexual “deviation,” including adultery. And the reason why this is so is because the Catholic Church has been one of the main defenders of the silence that exists around sexuality. Confession is considered private and one should never air any “improper sexual concern” in public. Protestantism, on the other hand, advocates strict morals and an abolition of the Latin-Catholic division private/public. To Protestants, sexual behavior should be in accordance with what the sacred scriptures say. Protestants strongly condemn any non-reproductive behavior, such as homosexuality, and encourage public confession and repentance. Protestantism is rapidly spreading throughout Latin America, especially among the poor. Protestant religious right moralist rhetoric can be heard daily in Christian evangelical popular radio and TV programs broadcast throughout Latin America, hi these programs homosexuality, rock music, and reproductive rights, among many other things, are condemned as being the product of satanic conspiracies. Unfortunately, this type of overly simplified moralist rhetoric is causing profound and still unpredictable effects in the undereducated poor youth of Latin America (Williams 1992[1986], Femandez-Alemany 1999, Femandez- Alemany and Sciolla forthcoming). I would argue that this rhetoric threatens to create more homophobia in Honduras as it is rapidly breaking apart the traditional macho gendered system. Brusco (1995) has shown for Colombia how in only a few decades centuries-old Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 156 macho systems have been changed at the level of the family due to Pentecostal evangelization. But as the traditional gender/sexuality system is shattered into pieces, instead of promoting positive images about homosexuality Protestant evangelization has condemned it. Homosexual behavior cannot be “hidden” anymore behind the macho masquerade in this newly puritanical system of sexual transparency in the eyes of god and the community. Machos, then, turn with contempt against locas, who are now seen as devilish temptators instead of sources of pleasure. What strategy might work in this case? I propose working with the same tool used by the Protestant movement, the interpretation of the Bible, but shifting its negative approach to homosexuality to one that is positive and reassuring.1 This can be done by stressing the positive images of homoeroticism which have appeared in the Bible, such as the love poem of Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1:16-17) and the passionate relationship between David and Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:1; 1 Samuel 19:1; 1 Samuel 20:40-41; and 2 Samuel 1:26). It should be also highlighted that in the New Testament Jesus never appears preaching against homosexuality, which is only mentioned as a marginal subject in the letters of Paul (1 Corinths 6:9; Romans 1:18-32; andTimotheus 1:10). In addition, the passages that have been traditionally used and abused by the Protestant movement to condemn homosexuality in Latin America, such as Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13, and the description of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), could be shown as products of a unique culture, this is, the Judaic tribes of 3,000 years ago, for which reproduction was highly regarded as it helped Jews to survive as a group under very difficult conditions. An anti-reproduction argument which instead favors homosexuality could be developed by showing the terrible conditions in which most poor Hondurans live precisely due to an uncontrollable overpopulation phenomenon Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 157 that urban poor areas of Honduras are currently experiencing because of the massive migration of people from rural areas to the city. These pro-gay messages coming from the Bible should be aired in religious meetings of all denominations by gay members and their family and friends to counteract the negative rhetoric maintained by these groups. Another way to propagate pro-gay, Biblical-based messages is in the form of flyers that could be stuck at the entrance of the religious establishments or in their bulletin boards. The AIDS crisis and the transgender population: two additional strategies AIDS forced the discourses about sexuality to become more public than ever before. This created much tension, as sexuality had traditionally belonged to the realm of the unspeakable. This speaking about sexuality brought for the first time in Latin American history the figure of the homosexual as a serious topic of discussion. This new situation helps implement the strategy of promoting open and well informed discussion about homosexuality with the purpose of educating the general public about homosexuality. The discussion should take place especially in talk shows and other television and radio programs and newspapers. Argumentation and debate can thus create a change in public opinion. Letters to the editor and telephone calls with positive opinions about homosexuality will help. But AIDS also produced a homophobic backlash that created many hate crimes and closed most of the new gay locales in Honduras (Elliott 1996b). Doing a study of newspaper reports on violence against homosexual and gender nonconforming people in Honduras, Richard Elliott reached the conclusion that there was a connection between the appearance of the first AIDS cases after 1985 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 158 and the dramatic rise of hate crimes. Apparently, several of these cases of violence had to do with the fact that, at least in the beginnings of the epidemic, people blamed homosexuals as being the carriers of AIDS (Elliott 1995, 1996a, 1996b: 22, Newspaper articles). The homophobia raised by the AIDS epidemic also has to do with a new visibility of homosexual people which threatens to subvert the heterosexist and patriarchal order of things. In addition, as shown in Chapter I, one must not forget that the general climate of Honduran society is a very violent one. Moreover, the victims of most hate crimes in Honduras have not been homosexuals at random, but a very specific sector of the homosexual population: the transvestites. Interestingly, the transvestites have also been the ones who have received the least attention since the AIDS crisis even though they are the ones who are at the higher risk of becoming infected because of their work as street prostitutes. Also when transvestites are killed, this usually occurs on the streets, late at night, and the crime is usually related to their work as prostitutes. Transgender people, especially transvestites, feel marginalized from mainstream “AIDS-Inc.” The new AIDS campaigns depict a North American ideal of male homosexuality with the upper middle class consumerist-oriented gay model as its icon. Transvestites, who throughout Latin America belong to the lower SES and cannot afford the North American gay model lifestyle feel excluded. Moreover, their gender-variant bodily presentation appears nowhere represented in the new imagery and narrative about macho masculine gay clones imported from the First World and promoted by AIDS-Inc. (see Lemebel 1996, Femandez-Alemany 1998a, 1998b, 1999). An effective strategy to reduce hate crime rates against transvestites then would be to give more attention to their specific needs. This can be done by creating new work opportunities for them. It is very difficult for transvestites in Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 159 Honduras to find any job other than street prostitution. If they had the opportunity to find other types of occupations many of them would perhaps leave the dangerous streets and the crime rates would decrease. Another strategy for the tranvestites who cannot or do not want to leave prostitution is to provide them with protection. Finding more secure places where they can practice prostitution, rather than in a dark alley in a bad area of town, would definitely help to reduce the risk of being attacked by bigots. For example, in San Pedro Sula several transvestites now offer themselves in front of the building that houses a gay organization. This organization hires a guard at night. Since that happened the crime rate against transvestites has gone down dramatically in San Pedro. Another solution would be to acknowledge that the agendas of mainstream organizations differ from the ones of transgender and transvestite people and allocate special funding for this population so they can form their own transgender organizations. This might help them to better organize and work for their own needs, improving their general situation. In sum, here I have presented five different strategies: the gay-oriented business strategy, the positive-media-image strategy, the strategy of shifting Biblical discourse to a gay-positive one, the strategy of promoting open and well informed discussion about homosexuality in the era of AIDS, and the strategy of meeting the needs of transvestites. The interaction of all of these strategies, plus others, can help to reduce heterosexism andean offer hope for improvement in the lives of homosexually-inclined individuals in Honduras and throughout Latin America. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 160 Endnotes 1 For works that include gay-positive interpretations which challenge previous homophobic readings of the Bible, see Boswell (1980), Dynes (1990), McNeill (1993[1976]), and Nugent (1997). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 161 BIBLIOGRAPHY Abelove, Henry, Michele Aina Barale, and David M. Halperin, eds. 1993. The lesbian and gay studies reader. New York and London: Routledge. Adam, Barry D. 1985. Age, structure, and sexuality: Reflections on the anthropological evidence on homosexual relations. Journal o f Homosexuality 11 (3/4): 19-33. ---------------- . 1993. In Nicaragua: Homosexuality without a gay world. Journal o f Homosexuality 24:171-181. Adam, Barry D., Jan Willem Duyvendak, and Andre Krouwel, eds. 1999. The global emergence o f gay and lesbian politics: National imprints o f a worldwide movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 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El vampiro de la Colonia Roma: Las aventuras, desventuras y suenos de Adonis Garcia. Mexico, D J .: Grijalbo. Filmography Mosquito coast (1986). Formal Interviews 1. Interview of Mango, August 3,1994. 2. Interview of Don Pedro, August 8, 1994. 3. Interview of Osvaldo, August 10, 1994. Published as Honduras: Somos varones homosexuales; entrevista con Osvaldo. Part I: De Ambiente 8 (December 1994-January 1995); Part II: De Ambiente 9 (February-March 1995), Los Angeles, California. 4. Interview of Miguel, August 11,1994. 5. Interview of Joe, January 1996. 6. Interview of Jesus Guillen from AHHLCOS, September 1996. Published as Entrevista con Jesus de AHHLCOS (1996). ka-buum 7: En Honduras (zine, Manuel Femandez-Alemany and Sam Larson, eds.), 1996. 7. Interview of Alfredo Idiaquez and Juan Jose Zambrano from Colectivo Violeta, September 1996. Published as Colectivo Violeta. ka-buum 7: En Honduras (zine, Manuel Femandez-Alemany and Sam Larson, eds.), 1996. 8. Interview of Nina Cobos from Prisma, September 1996. Published as Entrevista con Nina Cobos. ka-buum 7: En Honduras (zine, Manuel Femandez- Alemany and Sam Larson, eds.), 1996. 9. Interview of Evelio Pineda and Derek Raickov from Comunidad Gay Sampedrana, September 1996. Published as Entrevista a Evelio Pineda y Dereck Raickov. ka-buum 7: En Honduras (zine, Manuel Femandez-Alemany and Sam Larson, eds.), 1996. 10. Interview of Gaston, June 12,1997. 11. Interview of Patricio, June 1997. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 177 12. Interview of Fausto, October 1,1997. 13. Interview of Freddie, October 7,1997. 14. Interview of Saskia, December 26,1997. 15. Interview ofHoracio, December 29,1997. 16. Interview of Gerson Donali, September 13,1998. 17. Interview of Allan Geovanny, September 1998. 18. Interview of Jose Pantrn, October 1998. 19. Interview of Osvaldo, October 12,1998. 20. Interview of Alexander David, October 1998. 21. Interview of Jaime Enrique, October 1998. 22. Interview of Enrique, November, 1998. Newsclips 1. Investigaran homosexuales ante peligro de caso de SIDA. La Prensa, June 7, 1995, p.64. 2. Cerraran los centros de homosexuales sampedranos. La Tribuna, June 8,1985, p.40. 3. Ordenan cerrar temporalmente prostfbulos de homosexuales. El Heraldo, June 8,1985, p.5. 4. Dispuesta “FUSEP” a entrarle a “maricas.” La Tribuna, June 10,1985, p.63. 5. De llegada del “SIDA” todavfa no hay certeza. La Tribuna, June 11, 1985, p.38. 6. Decenas de homosexuales comienzan a examinarse. El Heraldo, June 11, 1985. 7. Inician investigation a los homosexuales sobre el SIDA. La Prensa, June 12, 1985, p. 10. 8. Colocan bomba en un salon sampedrano. La Prensa, June 12,1985. 9. Policia desactiva bomba en bar de San Pedro Sula. El Heraldo, June 12,1885, p.4. 10. Oficialmente no hay SIDA dice Ministerio de Salud. La Prensa, June 12, 1985, p.ll. 11. Paciente no ha podido contagiar “SIDA.” La Tribuna, June 12,1985, p.50. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 178 12. “Manuela” y “Xiomara” dispuestos a examinarse. La Tribuna, June 12, 1985, p.50. 13. Un pelo no les toca “FUSEP” a mariquitas. La Tribuna, June 17,1985, p.51. 14. Dos por ciento de “hombres” hondurenos son homosexuales. La Tribuna, June 20,1985, p.48. 15. Sepultan homosexual que murio de “SIDA.” La Tribuna, June 21, 1985, p.54. 16. Homosexual es violado y asesinado a balazos. El Heraldo, April 7, 1986, p.46. 17. Le identifican por el mote de “Julieta.” La Prensa, April 18. Se amotinan prisioneros jamaiquinos; algunos son asesinados. IGLHRC - Resumen del anho 1997, pt 2/2 (Internet listserv posting). Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 18:03:28 +0100. From: Sydney Levy < svdnev@iglhrc.org>. 19. Diario La Prensa, jueves 3 de diciembre de 1998:12 A. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 179 APPENDIX: GLOSSARY OF TERMS armas al hombro = missionary position, but the bottom has both legs on the shoulders of the top bolo = drunk bordo = the border of the river and of the colony buitres = "straight" men interested in sex with locas in exchange for a gift or money candelita chorreada = one sitting on the other changoneta = in a joking fashion; not taking things too seriously chava = adolescent girl choz or chocero = robber, from "chocear", to steal, and this from choza (hut) implying perhaps that robbers live in huts cipote = teenager colectivo = like a taxi, but with a fixed itinerary and which takes up to 5 passengers besides the driver colorinche = a person with color or who da color computo = the Spanish version of raga or rap-reggae, coming mainly from Panama, where El General is its most important representative cuadrado = squared; hombres who are not buitres; cuadrados are hombres who are not in ambiente culero = faggot; from "culo" (ass) dar color = literally, to give color to someone or to color someone up. It means to make someone obviously homosexual because of his proximity to someone who is too obvious. In other countries, as in Chile and Mexico, to "bum" someone has a similar meaning Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 180 gringo/a = a white person from the United States. Sometimes is also used for white people from commonwealth countries and northern European countries, huirra = female adolescent jetelear = give blow jobs mara = gang marinovios = a combination of the words marido— husband— and novio— boyfriend mariquera = a waistbag martear = to give away gifts or money in exchange for sex. It comes from Marta, a woman's name that in this case stands for Sugar-Mommie monte = mountain forest, or simply, "the bush" nachos = com chips ponerla = to put a knife on someone, meaning to rob someone popsicle = HIV+; someone with AIDS rebanar = literally, "cutting it in pieces", but it means joking solapa = closeted gay tortillear or hacer tortillas = having sex with another passive, loca trigueno = dark-skinned trinca them = kisses them Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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Creator Fernandez, Manuel (author)

Core Title An ethnography of the macho /loca relationship

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Social Work

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag anthropology, cultural,History, Latin American,OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, individual and family studies,women's studies

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Williams, Walter L. (committee chair), Lutkehaus, Nancy C. (committee member), Messner, Michael A. (committee member), Moore, Aleexander G. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-554694

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Document Type Dissertation

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Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

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