Cuba’s Sexual Mill

Erasmo Calzadilla

HAVANA TIMES — In a recent previous post I discussed my idea that sex, a rich source of pleasure and happiness, has been converted into a source of distress and unhappiness.

From my point of view, there’s a principal cause for such discomfort: the operations being carried out by The Machine to extract the most juice possible from sex.

One of these operations consists of developing — with the help of science — seduction techniques that are increasingly effective. These techniques put the brain of the “consumer” at full speed while at the same time increasing the price of the “product.” So why wouldn’t the levels of frustration shoot up?

In Cuba

One doesn’t have to go back to the days when the church prevailed; this is also the case in the 21st century in Cuba. This tropical Caribbean island, with a reputation for its heat, abounds in sexual unhappiness.

What’s true is that the bio-energetic impulse isn’t paid in the same currency as before (church weddings, long-term dating) or with the same rigor, but they are paid for. Today it is those with capital and the patriarchy that vie over who makes the collection.

The capital and the patriarchy are power structures that dominate the Cuban sociocultural climate. They use their hegemony to censor and ban any attempt at sexual emancipation. Obviously they would love to continue collecting their tribute per secula seculorum.

The result is an unusual environment. Scratch the surface and you’ll find arch-conservatism, machismo, the values of the holy family, sex reduced to genital contact or physical exercise, a fetishism for young flesh, or when not for some benefit or open prostitution.

This doesn’t seem to be an appropriate setting for the exploration of ways to have sexual experiences.

After multiple failures, those who are valiant become tired and enclose themselves in self-examination and self-satisfaction.

The sexual Galileo these days (using a cellphone with a camera instead of a telescope), is not interested in the moon or his/her own beauty spots.

Even I, a potential liberator, I go around curled up in a warm nest of love and sex that is hard to leave. I quench my thirst for adventure through literature.

I will continue with the subject, so please wait for me, don’t come yet.
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* This is not a scientific fact, just intuition confirmed by asking friends and acquaintances.