Sexual self-determination in Cuba: The epistemic decolonial turn

Abstract

The term ‘sexual self-determination’ has become a keyword for the project of sexual emancipation and the appreciation of sexual diversities in Cuba. Sexual self-determination, as a human right, allows for each individual to define his or her own orientation, condition and gender identity without the stigmatization proposed by psychiatric pathology. At the same time, the principle opens up the possibility for professionals in the fields of health and sciences to deliver care and attention within a new ethical framework. Sex education, as established by the country’s feminist movement, is considered to be the means by which this new framework has been shaped in social policy. This article uses the concept of decolonial/border thinking and the epistemic decolonial turn in order to explain current changes being made in Cuban society concerning sexual diversities and identities, and the challenges these pose for global conceptions of health, ethics and human rights.

Keywords

Cuba decoloniality ethics gender sexual self-determination social policy

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Acosta D (2010) Cuban Foreign Ministry explains controversial ‘sexual orientation’ vote to activists. In: ILGA. Available at: http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/mJCu72w1df.

Alfonso MI (2012) Ediciones El Puente y dinámicas raciales de los años 60: un capítulo olvidado en la historia literaria cubana. Temas 70(April–May): 110–118. Available at: http://www.temas.cult.cu/revistas/70/110-118%20Alfonso.pdf.

APA (2012) American Psychological Association Board of Trustees Approves DSM-5, Release No. 12-43.

Arce Fernández

(1965) Sexología I, Havana: Universidad de La Habana.

Arce Henderson M (2012) A la memoria del Doctor Angel C. Arce Fernandez: Médico, sexólogo y revolucionario. Revista Sexología y Sociedad 49: 30–36. Available at: http://revsexologiaysociedad.sld.cu/index.php/sexologiaysociedad/article/view/434/479.

Arguelles L and Rich R (1984) Homosexuality, homophobia and revolution: Notes toward an understanding of the Cuban lesbian and gay male experience, part I. Signs 4 (The Lesbian Issue): 683–699.

Bejel E (2001) Gay Cuban Nation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Butler

(2010) Prologo: Transexualidad, transformaciones. In: Misse

Coll-Planas

(eds) El Genero Desordenado: Criticas en torno a la patologizacion de la transexualidad, Madrid: Egales.

Capó J (2010) Queering Mariel: Mediating cold war policy and US citizenship among Cuba’s homosexual exile community: 1978–1994. Journal of American Ethnic History 29(4): 78–106.

10.

Carmona Báez

(2002) State Resistance to Globalisation in Cuba, London: Pluto.

11.

Carmona Báez A (2004) State Resistance to Globalisation in Cuba. London: Pluto Press.

12.

Castro Espín

(2002) El Programa Nacional de Educación Sexual en la Estrategia Cubana de Desarrollo Humano. Revista Sexología y Sociedad 8(20): 4–9.

13.

Castro Espín (2008) La transexualidad en Cuba. Editorial Sexual.

14.

Castro Espín M (2011a) Cuba: A revolution in sexuality, genders and bodies. Lecture delivered at the University of Amsterdam, Research Centre for Gender and Sexuality Lecture series, 28 October.

15.

Castro Espín M (2011b) La educación sexual como política de Estado en Cuba: 1959–2010. Revista Sexología y Sociedad 17(44): 4–13.

16.

Castro Espín M (2011c) Autodeterminación Sexual en Cuba: Entrevista con Mariela Castro Espín por Antonio Carmona Báez. In: 80grados. Available at: http://www.80grados.net/autodeterminacion-sexual-en-cuba-entrevista-con-mariela-castro-espin/.

17.

Castro Espín M, Sánchez A and Rodríguez M (2009) Familia y personas transexuales: una relación al desnudo. Revista Sexología y Sociedad 15(40): 32–39.

18.

Chelala J (1959) Cinco ensayos sobre la vida sexual [Five Essays on Sexual Life]. Havana: Universidad de La Habana.

19.

Dussel

(1977) Filosofía de la liberación, Mexico City: Edicol.

20.

Epps

(1995) Proper conduct: Reinaldo Arenas, Fidel Castro, and the politics of homosexuality. Journal of the History of Sexuality 6(2): 231–283.

21.

Espín Guillois

(1987/2012) With no preconceived structure or agenda. Interview by José Estrada Menéndez. In: Waters

(eds) Women in Cuba: The Making of a Revolution within the Revolution, New York: Pathfinder.

22.

Espín Guillois V (1990) Discurso por el XX aniversario de la creación de la FMC. In: La Mujer en Cuba. Havana: Editora Política.

23.

Espín Guillois

(2007) Historia de la educación sexual en Cuba Conferencia Inaugural: XVI Congreso Mundial de Sexología. Revista Sexología y Sociedad 13(34): 5–17.

24.

Evans R (2011) Rainbow Cuba: The sexual revolution within the revolution. Links International Journal for Socialist Renewal (23 December 2011/28 January 2012). Available at: http://links.org.au/node/2671.

25.

Farber S (2011) Cuba Since the 1959 Revolution: A Critical Assessment. Chicago: Haymarket Books.

26.

Fanon F (1963) The Wretched of the Earth (Trans. C Farrington). New York: Grove Press.

27.

Fanon F (1967) Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press.

28.

FNLIG (2012) Histórico: Argentina tiene ley de Identidad de Género. Available at: http://frentenacionaleydeidentidad.blogspot.com/2012/05/historico-argentina-tiene-ley-de.html (accessed 27 July 2014).

29.

Fornet A (2006) El Quinqueneo Gris: Revistando el Termino. Available at: http://www.criterios.es/pdf/fornetquinqueniogris.pdf.

30.

Frank

(1987) Hegemonic heterosexual masculinities. Studies in Political Economy 24: 159–170.

31.

Fraser L (2012) Monthly Notes #2 from WPATH President Lin Fraser. Available at: http://www.wpath.org/site_page.cfm?pk_association_webpage_menu=1351&pk_association_webpage=3929 (accessed 10 February 2012).

32.

Freire

(1970/1996) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, London: Penguin Books.

33.

Frente Nacional para La Ley de Identidad FNLIG (2012). Available at: http://frentenacionaleydeidentidad.blogspot.nl (accessed 1 October 2012).

34.

IGLHRC (2012) Argentina Adopts Landmark Legislation in Recognition of Gender Identity. https://iglhrc.org/content/argentina-adopts-landmark-legislation-recognition-gender-identity (accessed 27 July 2014).

35.

García C (2009) Comienza campaña contra la homophobia 2009. In: K1000G, 23 March. Available at: http://k1000g.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=17.

36.

Glenn

(1985) Racial-ethnic women’s labour: The intersection of race, gender and class oppression. Review of Radical Political Economics 17(3): 86–108.

37.

Grosfoguel

(2007) The epistemic decolonial turn: Beyond political economy paradigms. Cultural Studies 21(2–3): 211–223.

38.

Grosfoguel R (2008) Transmodernity, border thinking, and global coloniality: Decolonizing political economy and postcolonial studies. In: Eurozine. Available at: http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2008-07-04-grosfoguel-en.html.

39.

Grosfoguel

(2012) The dilemmas of ethnic studies in the United States: Between liberal multiculturalism, identity politics, disciplinary colonization and decolonial epistemologies. Human Architecture 10(1): 81–90.

40.

Guerra L (2010) Gender policing, homosexuality and the new patriarchy of the Cuban Revolution, 1965--70. Social History 35(3).

41.

Horta Sánchez ME, Pérez Rodríguez MM, Casanova Marín C, Portal AR and Rojas Sánchez E (2011) La sexualidad en Cuba desde la llegada de los españoles hasta el Triunfo de la Revolución. In: Illustrados. Available at: http://www.ilustrados.com/tema/10290/sexualidad-Cuba-desde-llegada-espanoles-hasta.html.

42.

Jansen

(2007) The right to sexual self-determination. Akron Law Review 40(2): 311–337.

43.

Jorge

(2010) El Corpus Sexual de la Biomedicina. Sexología y Sociedad 42: 22–34.

44.

Kuyper

(2012) Transgenders in Nederland: Prevalentie en attitudes. Tijdschrift voor Seksuologie 36(2): 129–135.

45.

Lugones

(2007) Heterosexualism and the colonial/modern gender system. Hypathia 22(1): 186–209.

46.

Maldonado Torres

(2004) The typology of being and the geopolitics of knowledge: Modernity, empire, coloniality. City 8(1): 29–56.

47.

Mignolo

(2000) The many faces of cosmo-polis: Border thinking and critical cosmopolitanism. Public Culture 12(3): 721–748.

48.

Mignolo

(2003) The Darker Side of The Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality and Colonization, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

49.

Mignolo

(2007) Delinking. Cultural Studies 21(2): 449–514.

50.

Mignolo W (2009) Who speaks for the ‘human’ in human rights? In: Human Rights in Latin American and Iberian Cultures. Hispanic Issues On Line 5(1): 7–24. Available at: http://www.hispanicissues.umn.edu/assets/pdf/MIGNOLO_HRLAIC.pdf.

51.

Ministerio de Educación (MINED) (1971) Congreso Nacional de Educacion y Cultura, Memorias, Havana: MINED.

52.

MINREX (2008) Declaration of the International Workshop: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 60 years later. Available at: http://anterior.cubaminrex.cu/English/currentissues/2008/Diciembre/DDHHDeclaracionFinal.html.

53.

MINREX (2010) Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Available at: http://www.cubadiplomatica.cu/onu/ES/DiscursosenONU/EnlaAsambleaGeneral/65Per%C3%ADododeSesiones/65P10declaracEjecucextrajudarbitraria21Dic.aspx (accessed 27 July 2014).

54.

Misse M and Coll-Planas G (eds) (2010) El Género Desordenado: Críticas en torno a la patologización de la transexualidad. Madrid: Egales.

55.

Montané L (1890) La pederastia en Cuba. In: Primer Congreso Médico Regional de la Isla de Cuba. Havana: Alvarez & Co.

56.

Munro VE (2008) Constructing consent: Legislating freedom and legitimating constraint in the expression of sexual autonomy. Akron Law Review 41(4): 923–956. Available at: http://www.uakron.edu/dotAsset/728200.pdf.

57.

Namaste

(1994) The politics of inside/out: Queer theory, post-structuralism and a sociological approach to sexuality. Sociological Theory 12: 220–231.

58.

Negrón-Muntaner F (2008) Mariconerías de Estado: Mariela Castro, los homosexuals y la política en Cuba. Nueva Sociedad 2008: (218) 163–179.

59.

Nuñez M (2011) Estrategias cubanas para el empleo femenino en los noventa. In: Mujeres cubanas: Estadísticas y realidades 1958–2008. Havana: Oficina Nacional de Estadísticas & Federación de Mujeres Cubanas (FMC).

60.

O’Flaherty

Fisher

(2008) Sexual orientation, gender identity and international human rights law: Contextualising the Yogyakarta principles. Human Rights Law Review 8(2): 207–248.

61.

Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) (2012) Objetivos de trabajao del PCC aprobados en la Conferencia Nacional, Havana: PCC.

62.

Ramonet

(2006) Cien Horas con Fidel: Conversaciones con Ignacio Ramonet, 2nd edn. Havana: Consejo de Estado.

63.

Rodriguez Cruz F (2010a) Carta abierta al canciller cubano o no nos equivoquemos otra vez. Available at: http://paquitoeldecuba.com/2010/11/28/carta-abierta-al-canciller-cubano-o-“no-nos-equivoquemos-otra-vez”/ (accessed 1 October 2012).

64.

Rodriguez Cruz F (2010b) Un paso adelante o cuando la ausencia no quiere decir olvido. Available at: http://paquitoeldecuba.com/2010/12/22/un-paso-adelante-o-cuando-la-ausencia-no-quiere-decir-olvido/ (accessed 1 October 2012).

65.

Rodriguez

Alfonso

Diaz

Rodriuez

(2008) Recuentro con la familia en el proceso grupal: Descripcion de las sesiones de trabajo. In: Castro Espín

(eds) La Transexualidad en Cuba, Havana: CENESEX.

66.

Rojas

(1978) Tesis y Resoluciones, Primer Congreso del Partido Comunista de Cuba, Havana: Editorial Ciencias Sociales.

67.

Roque Guerra A (2010) Diversidad Sexual en las políticas públicas en Cuba: Avances y Desafíos. Intervención ante la 25 Conferencia Anual de ILGA, Sao Paulo, 6 December. Available at: http://revsexologiaysociedad.sld.cu/index.php/sexologiaysociedad/article/view/416.

68.

Roque Guerra

(2011) Sexual diversity in revolutionary times: 1959–2009. Cuban Studies 42: 218–226.

69.

Sanchez Y (2011) Gay Pride parade in Havana. In: Huffington Post/The World Post, 28 June. Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yoani-sanchez/gay-pride-parade-in-havan_b_886305.html.

70.

Sánchez Parodi

(2011) CUBA–USA: Diez tiempos de una relación, Havana: Editorial Ocean Sur.

71.

Schnabl

(1979/1982a) El hombre y la mujer en la intimidad, Havana: Editorial Cientifico-Tecnica.

72.

Schnabl

(1979/1982b) En Defensa del Amor, Havana: Editorial Científico-Técnica.

73.

Smith

(2007) In pursuit of ‘good’ sex: Self-determination and the sexual experience. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 24: 69–85.

74.

Sosa

(2008) Aborto en Cuba. Breves Consideraciones Históricas y Jurídicas: Situación actual, Panamá: Publicación FIGO.

75.

Stolke

(1992) Racismo y sexualidad en la Cuba colonial, Madrid: Alianza Editorial.

76.

Stone E (ed.) (1981) Women and the Cuban Revolution. New York: Pathfinder.

77.

Walsh C (2012) ‘Other’ knowledges, ‘other’ critiques: Reflections on the politics and practices of philosophy and decoloniality in the ‘other’ America. Transmodernity 1(3).

78.

Walsh

Foshee

(1998) Self efficacy, self determination and victim blaming ad predictors of adolescent sexual victimization. Health Education Research 13(1): 139–144.

79.

Waters MA (ed.) (2012) Women in Cuba: The making of a Revolution within the Revolution from Santiago de Cuba and the Rebel Army, to the birth of the Federation of Cuban Women. Atlanta: Pathfinder.

80.

Wolf

(2009) Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics and Theory of LGBT Liberation, Chicago: Haymarket Books.

81.

World Health Organisation (2012) ICD-10 Data. Available at: http://www.icd10data.com/ICD10CM/Codes/F01-F99/F60-F69/F64-/F64.1 (accessed 27 July 2014).

82.

Worsnip P (2008) UN divided over gay rights declarations. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/12/18/us-un-homosexuality-idUSTRE4BH7EW20081218.

83.

WPATH (2011) Standards of Care for the Health of Transexual, Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People, Version 7. International Journal of Transgenderism 13: 165–232.

84.

WPATH (2012: 4–20). Available at: http://admin.associationsonline.com/uploaded_files/140/files/Standards%20of%20Care,%20V7%20Full%20Book.pdf (accessed 27 July 2014).

85.

WPATH (2012a) Available at: http://www.wpath.org/Documents2/Ethics011105.pdf.

86.

WPATH (2012b) Available at: http://www.wpath.org/documents/SOC%20V7%2003-17-12.pdf.

87.

WPATH (2012c) Available at: http://www.wpath.org/documents/WPATH%20Reaction%20to%20the%20proposed%20DSM%20-%20Final.pdf.

88.

WPATH (2012d) Monthly Notes #2 from WPATH President, 10 February 2012, Access Date: 1/10/2012.

89.

Young