Black Sexualities: Probing Powers, Passions, Practices, and Policies

by Juan Battle, Sandra L. Barnes, Erica Chito Childs, Enoch Page, Bette Dickerson

Overview

Why does society have difficulty discussing sexualities? Where does fear of Black sexualities emerge and how is it manifested? How can varied experiences of Black females and males who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), or straight help inform dialogue and academic inquiry?

From questioning forces that have constrained sexual choices to examining how Blacks have forged healthy sexual identities in an oppressive environment, Black Sexualities acknowledges the diversity of the Black experience and the shared legacy of racism. Contributors seek resolution to Blacks' understanding of their lives as sexual beings through stories of empowerment, healing, self-awareness, victories, and other historic and contemporary life-course panoramas and provide practical information to foster more culturally relative research, tolerance, and acceptance.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813546025
Publisher:	Rutgers University Press
Publication date:	11/24/2009
Pages:	474
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Juan Battle is a professor of sociology and public health at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the coeditor of Free at Last?: Black America in the Twenty-first Century.

Sandra L. Barnes is a joint appointed professor in the department of human and organizational development sociology and the divinity school at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of The Cost of Being Poor: A Comparative Study of Life in Poor Urban Neighborhoods in Gary, Indiana.

Table of Contents

Identity Theories and New Frameworks
Nontraditional, Nonconforming, and Transgressive Gender Expression and Relationship Modalities in Black Communities
Creation Out of Bounds
On the Fear of Small Numbers
Blackness, Sexuality, and Transnational Desire
Part II
Pathologizing Black Sexuality
Dangerous Profiling
Revisiting Black Sexualities in Families
To Be Fluent in Each Other's Narratives
Part III
Prison, Crime, and Sexual Health in the United States
Black and Latino Same-Sex Couple Households and the Racial Dynamics of Antigay Activism
Racialized Justice Spreads HIV/AIDS among Blacks
Black Sexual Citizenship
Part IV
Blacks and Racial Appraisals
When Secrets Hurt
Black Female Sex Workers
Yes, Jesus Loves Me-A Case Study
Part V
Black Mother-Daughter Narratives about Sexuality
Black Youth Sexuality
"I'll Be Forever Mackin'"
Black Senior Women and Sexuality
Epilogue

Editorial Reviews

"Excellent for courses in black, Latino/a, women's, and LGBT studies, and sociology. Highly recommended."

Choice

"Filled with provocative arguments and illuminating insights, Black Sexualities marks a new and exciting epoch in the study of human sexuality and its interactions with race and class; a must-read for scholars and students of ethnic studies and human sexuality."

Cesar E. Chavez Institute, San Francisco State University - Rafael Díaz

"A path breaking contribution and the definite resource for interdisciplinary scholars in the growing field of Black sexualities. A highly sophisticated intervention that fills the existing void of empirical research in this area, while drawing from and critically engaging with the social and behavioral science literature. This volume will forever challenge us to rethink the categories, methods and approaches scholars use in this rapidly developing field of study."

author of Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race - Arlene Dávila

"Two groundbreaking, indispensable guides for serious scholars of sexualities who wish to understand both the heterogeneous sexualities of African Americans and Latinos as well as how greater attention to race, ethnicity, class and culture provides important new directions for the field."

author of Black Sexual Politics - Patricia Hill Collins

"Filled with provocative arguments and illuminating insights, Black Sexualities marks a new and exciting epoch in the study of human sexuality and its interactions with race and class; a must-read for scholars and students of ethnic studies and human sexuality."

Cesar E. Chavez Institute, San Francisco State University - Rafael Díaz

"A path breaking contribution and the definite resource for interdisciplinary scholars in the growing field of Black sexualities. A highly sophisticated intervention that fills the existing void of empirical research in this area, while drawing from and critically engaging with the social and behavioral science literature. This volume will forever challenge us to rethink the categories, methods and approaches scholars use in this rapidly developing field of study."

author of Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race - Arlene Dávila

"Excellent for courses in black, Latino/a, women's, and LGBT studies, and sociology. Highly recommended."

From the Publisher