Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) [Paperback]

John Dececco Phd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 1999 | ISBN-10: 1560239662 | ISBN-13: 978-1560239666

Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America is the first in-depth study of sexual culture and AIDS in Latin prisons. Psychologists, social workers, criminologists, and AIDS specialists will discover how the interplay of sexual ideals, prostitution, manipulation, resistance, and power relationships among prisoners and some staff are based on money, sex, drugs, and violence. Macho Love gives you a stirring and emotional look at the various risks and dangers lurking in the Latin American prison culture and discusses how Costa Rican and Central American prisons are improving the situation with new intervention programs.

Fascinating and informative, Macho Love explores the dangerous Latin prison culture as it discusses:

• new HIV/AIDS prevention programs implemented in some Costa Rican and Central American prisons
• the frequency and types of prostitution and rape in prison
• drug and alcohol addiction and their effects on the spread of HIV/AIDS
• an understanding of why rehabilitation programs fail or succeed
• the lack of opportunities to work or to study that leaves the inmates vulnerable to the only freedom they have left--sex
• why a “cachero,” or a man who penetrates another man, is not considered a homosexual and often refuses to wear a condom, which tremendously increases the risk of HIV/AIDS
  
  Macho Love explores the life-threatening sexual culture in prisons to bring you the realities of the Latin prison culture. This revealing book examines the different types of relationships which occur in prisons and the factors that place inmates at risk for contracting the HIV virus, such as not wearing a condom because of intoxication due to drugs and alcohol. Macho Love also shows you how the new HIV/AIDS intervention programs in Costa Rica are combatting these serious problems to lower HIV infection rates and avoid the spread of this deadly and dangerous disease.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Provides a fascinating account of male sexual culture in Central American prisons. . . . The prisoners' narratives are effectively used to complement the author's analysis of prison sexuality, an analysis that is always mindful of the social context in which the inmates live. Macho Love is an important book and a valuable contribution to the research literature on sexuality." (Gregory M. Herek, PhD, Research Psychologist, University of California, Davis, California) "This is a powerful book about men in jails, their sexuality, and AIDS prevention, but most of all it is about the vicissitudes of love, hope, and redemption." -- Sara Sharratt, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Counseling, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California --This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (August 27, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560239662
• ISBN-13: 978-1560239666
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,306,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Oz" as ethnography, September 19, 2004

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Paperback)

This book divides into two clear halves. The first half discusses three types of homosexual relations found in a Costa Rican jail. This will be the section that non-academic readers will enjoy. It's fun reading about men in a Latin American country saying, "Yup! I love relations with dudes." Some of the interviews are filled with wild, sexy tales that will set your imaginations on fire. However, this book has many disturbing examples of prisoners abusing men and women, sexually and non-sexually, both in jail and outside of it. Though not writing in Spanglish, many colorful colloquialism shine through in the translations here.

The latter half consists of policy recommendations to curb the transmission of AIDS in Costa Rican jails. Academics and policy wonks may prefer this section. The author conducted self-improvment and AIDS education workshops for these prisoners. Obviously biased, he recounts how the interviewees thought the programs were phenomenally helpful. Some of this policy recommendations do not have the slightest chance of being enacted. Still, it is good that ideas are tossed around from well-intentioned observations. This book may be helpful for prison officials in the United States as well as AIDS activists that want to improve their outreach to American Latino MSM.

Many books on Latin American gay men say that heterogenderal relationships are the norm, but egalitarian couples (also called "internacionales") are becoming seen. Here, the author suggests that class is the basic determinant for which homosexuality is most common. This book gives clear evidence of how both types can exist in a Latin American country. Still, the older type (in this book called "cacherismo") wants to see the newer type wiped out. And heterogenderal coupling is not made to look respectful here. Thus, despite thinkers who argue that there are homosexualities, rather than homosexuality, those men within those models still fight to ensure their way of loving remains the norm.

I now understand why the author writes to prolifically on gay men in Latin America. This book is a fun, quick read at the same time that it grapples with competent anthropology and decent policymaking.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Study Of An Heretofore Unknown Culture, September 19, 2006

By 

David K. Tomb "Love The Papis" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Macho Love: Sex Behind Bars in Central America (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Paperback)

I found this book to be interesting, insightful, and at the same time frustrating, maddening, pathetic, and titillating! Schifter worked years to gain the trust and confidence of men in a latin prison, the result of which is this work. I would have appreciated a more thorough analysis of his conversations, as well as greater insight into the future. Hopefully in a future revision. The book is FAR more than a sexy look into male sexuality behind bars. I learned far more than I expected and, for that, am thankful to the author!