Longing to Tell: Black Women Talk About Sexuality and Intimacy

The Sexual Lives of Black Women In Their Own Words. In a culture driven by sexual and racial imagery very few honest conversations about race gender and sexuality actually take place. In their absence commonly held perceptions of black women as teenage mothers welfare recipients mammies or exotic sexual playthings remain unchanged. For fear that telling their stories will fulfill societys implicit expectations about their sexuality most black women have retreated into silence. Tricia Rose seeks to break this silence and jump-start a dialogue by presenting for the first time the sexual testimonies of black women. Spanning a broad range of ages levels of education and socioeconomic backgrounds twenty women in their own words talk with startling honesty about sex love family relationships and intimacy. Their stories dispel prevailing myths and provide revealing insights into how black women navigate the complex terrain of sexuality. Nuanced rich and powerful Longing to Tell will be required reading for anyone interested in issues of race and gender.