I AM SICK of reading in Socialist Challenge that rape has been eliminated (or 'virtually eliminated' as Dave Smith told us in issue 239) in Cuba. It is clear that huge gains have been made by women in Cuba and this must have had a huge effect on the general consciousness about women's position in society.
But to assume (and assumption it must be as we are never given any facts) that sexual relationships have been so radically changed that sexual coercion and oppression have been eradicated is nonsense. It would take years and years for that to happen in any society.
Rape is not only something that happens late at night in a dark street. Women all round the world have been challenging that myth for years. Rape, in its broadest terms, is unwanted sexual attention. Most rapes take place in the home by males known to the woman, including husbands. Most rapes are also not reported.
Maybe it is the case that women are safe to walk the streets at night in Cuba. That in itself is fantastic. But the logic that flows from a uselessly narrow definition of rape leads to an unnecessary glorification of the gains of the Cuban revolution, which we wholeheartedly support.
LAURA MITCHELL, Oldham