- Scholarworks @ CSU San Marcos

Sexual Repression and Black Women's Sexuality
By: Flora Seawood
Research Committee:
Garry Rolison, Ph.D., Chair
Sharon Elise, Ph.D.
Robert Roberts, Ph.D.
Master’s of Arts in Sociological Practice
Cal State University San Marcos, San Marcos
May 2015
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THESIS ABSTRACT
This research study examines the historical events, Black family, community, Black
women’s sexuality, and religiosity. A Black critical race feminist theory gives a deeper meaning
and understanding as to how Black women objectify their sexuality. The controlling images of
Black women reflects the dominant group’s interest in maintaining subordination, despairs,
hopelessness and sexual repression. Black women’s sexuality is often described in metaphors of
speechlessness, or empty space that is simultaneously ever-visible, because Black women’s
bodies are already seen as being colonized (Hammonds 1997:171). Black Females in Black
churches service roles distinctively represents invisibility, because they are not recognized for
their contributions in the church. For Southern Black women to rectify social inequities they
participate in social service program within the Black community. Many Black female Blues
artist use music as a language that express their feelings, emotions, disappointment, oppressive
and repressive conditions. Music is sexual freedom to tell how they think and feel without
feeling guilty. They tell composite stories about Black women’s sexuality. A multimethodological method (qualitative and quantitative) including semi-autobiographical account of
Black women’s stories and their struggles. The data analyzed was the respondents’ answers
which is n=3393 samples used to test the hypothesis questions: Do Black women feel guilty
thinking about sex and how often they have masturbated in the past year. My key findings is that
the church represents a place of retribution for Black women and others, also sexual repressive
because the patriarchal dominant control within the church who refuses to participate in
educating Black women and others about their sexuality. There are many gaps in the research
because the impact of this research is about how Southern rural Black women’s sexuality is
constructed.
Keywords: Black women, sexuality, religiosity, family, community, Blues
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Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I want to thank my Creator and my two therapist for being there for
me through many storms. My two friends, Debra and Andrew for encouraging me never to giveup on my dream. I also want to thank the ACE Scholar Director, Mr. Mickelson for never being
too busy to care and inspiring me as a formal foster youth to keep my eyes on my academic
success.
I want to thank my Chair person Dr. Garry Rolison whose unconditional patience and
support whenever I needed someone to talk to, someone who cares and understand, someone I
trust as a person and a friend, you helped me complete this project. I also want to thank Dr.
Sharon Elise for her encouragement, wisdom and support which was crucial for me completing
this project. You are an inspiration to Black women struggling to “OWN” their stories. Dr.
Robert Roberts, thank you for the additional knowledge and support you provided to make my
research project stronger.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………….2
Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………….3
Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...5
Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………….8
Literature Review………………………………………………………………………….9
Black Families……………………………………………………………………...10
Community…………………………………………………………………………11
Sexuality in the Black Church……………………………………………………...11
Black women’s Forbidden Secret…………………………………………………..13
Theoretical Approach……………………………………………………………………..15
Black Feminist Theory……………………………………………………………...15
Stereotypic Perception………………………………………………………………16
Methodology………………………………………………………………………………..16
Narratives of Sexuality………………………………………………………………17
Influence of Religiosity………………………………………………………………20
Patriarchal Control……………………………………………………………………22
Sociological Significant……………………………………………………………………...24
Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………….25
Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………25
Variable Operationalization………………………………………………………………...26
Table.1 How Often Respondent Thinks about Sex…………………………………...26
Table.2 Whether a Respondent Felt Guilty About Having Sex………………………28
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Table.3 Whether Respondent Masturbated in the Past Year…………………………31
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………31
Findings……………………………………………………………………………………...32
Limitations of the Research…………………………………………………………..32
Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….33
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………....35
Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….38
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Black women’s Sexuality
“From every tree of the garden (utopia) to satisfaction, you may take from its’ trees, but as for
the tree of knowledge of good and bad, (which is symbolic) you must not eat from it, or touch it,
for in the day you touch or eat from it, you will certainly die.”
(Genesis 2:16-17)
Introduction
The forbidden tree of knowledge of good and bad and Eve’s insistence that Adam eat
from it is an enduring symbol of sexual restrictiveness in which women’s sexuality is targeted.
Part of the reason for this was how Eve used Adam’s desire against him. In this religious
construction that is the basis for much of conservative Christian thought in the United States,
women were portrayed as evil, if naïve, seductresses. What is not addressed is Eve’s enticement.
The serpent first had Eve commit the sin, yet Eve is punished for giving in to the serpent’s
command. This biblical construction stands as a model for the women I discuss in this thesis:
poor, Southern Black women attending fundamental churches who found themselves in Eve’s
predicament. Black women’s restrictive sexual history in the United States goes back to the
auction block. Perceptions of Black women’s sexuality have been molded by a history of slavery.
Slaves exposed for sale. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
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The primary ingredient in the mixture of the social construction of Black women’s
sexuality is how their bodies were seen as Slave women: sexual, erotic and unusual because of
their full round hips, large breasts, full lips and the black skin. Horton, Oliver & Horton (2006)
comments on the harsh treatments that female slaves had to endure because of the construction
of their sexuality as savage.
Africans on the slave bark Wildfire. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
For example, the selling of slaves allowed the naked bodies of Black women to be stripped
naked and placed in full view of the public. In short, this allowed Black women to be visually
and physically violated. Enslaved women had no voice or intervention measures in place to
protect their rights as human beings. The enslaved woman’s body was the sellers’ and her buyer
(bell hooks 1981:52-53). Their bodies came along with a bonus, free sex because the white man
had the rights to have sex whenever they desired. Black women were vulnerable and powerless
victims (bell hooks1981:53). They had little choice about their sexuality.
https://likeawhisper.wordpress.com/
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Karabo Mkhabela (2014) notes that enslaved African women were raped by their owners,
who distorted their deeds with the notion that White men were doing Black women a favor by
saving them from sex with Black men who were considered to be animalistic and brutal. This
statement reflects how Black sexuality was regarded by Whites as dangerous and dark unknown
“jungles” (Spivak 1999). This comparative image of Black women’s sexuality as dark, wicked
and dangerous is the portrait that White patriarch use to eliminate them from identity formation
(Spivak 1999). This treatment of Black women justified the ruthless exploitation of their sexual
labor.
Statement of the Problem
This research examines how Southern rural Black women constructed their sexuality and
concerns related issues of repression. The above racist imagery and its impact was made very
clear to Black women in the South. Religious thought told them that virginity was an absolute
necessity before marriage but the reality was their sexuality was up for grabs by almost
everyone. Once, a friendly conversation with a group of Black women friends, “Mary’ (pseudo)
told a story that had affected her for years. As Mary explained how her classmate, a fifth grader,
was raped by three White boys, tears streamed down her face. This crime was committed against
a vulnerable Black girl because White men in the South had the privilege and power to control
whomever they pleased, with no age limits. However, the victim was considered ruined in the
Black community, no longer fit for marriage, because Black women were held responsible for
their sexual abuse.
One theme consistent in these stories was an agreement that, as young girls, Black
women received too little information from the right sources, and too much information from the
wrong ones. Wyatt (1977) argues that sexuality is still unfinished business for Black women
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today. She explains, that in a society increasingly obsessed with sex, too many people, white and
black, hold the dangerous view that black women must either ignore their sexuality altogether or
be perpetually sexually available. The construction of Black women’s sexuality through
coercion continue and repression is a key concern of this thesis.
Review of the Literature
Scholars who study Black women¹s sexuality explore the topic through examinations of
history, religiosity, family, and the Black community. We know that many tribal groupings
retained centuries-old sexual patterns before colonialism (Staples 2006). The sexual history of
Black women in the United States began when European men met African women in the “heart
of darkness” - Mother Africa. African women captives were considered the sexual property of
the European conquerors (Omolade 1995). The history of Black women’s sexuality in America
has been socially constructed; it will take groundbreaking work to transform the meaning of
sexuality from reproduction to individual sexual pleasure (Staples 2006).
The sexual history in America reflects the patriarchal control operating within a racial
caste system supported by state power in which white sexism becomes the definition of Black
women being (Omolade 1995). Black women were oppressed and exploited and forced to
redefine themselves as women outside of an antagonistic racial patriarch that denied their
existence; however, Black women resisted racial patriarchy by escaping, stealing, killing,
outsmarting, and using their sexual bargaining power (p. 363). The historical pages blot-out
Black women’s sexuality of White patriarchal rules that regulated their bodies. What happened
on that auction block centuries ago is still unfinished business for Black families today because
of the ideology that Black women must ignore their sexuality altogether or be perpetually
sexually available (Gail E. Wyatt 1997). This notion has consequences for Black families.
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Black Families
Slavery inhibited family formation and made stable, secure family life difficult (Andrea
H. Williams 2005). Moynihan (1965) argues that after three centuries of unimaginable
mistreatment, the disintegration of poor, urban Black families can be blamed on slavery. He
blames Black men values for the mother-centered fatherless pattern within black families, and
Black women’s dependence on public assistance (Moynihan 1965). It is easy to put the blame on
the victim instead of looking at the poverty level in Black communities and how many Black
men are in prison. Even after Black men and women return home from serving time in jail or
prison, no jobs are there for them. Although the U.S. Department of Labor does not track the
unemployment rate for former offenders, experts estimate the jobless rate for individuals with a
prison record is from 40% to 60% percent (Eve Tahmincioglu 2010).
Additionally, if Moynihan’s argument was true then there would be no need for the
struggles over controlling another person. Elise and Umoja (1992) argue that the struggle for
ideological transformation is just as profound as the struggle for control over material resources.
“It is the resolution of the struggle of ideas that determines the dominant norms which legitimize
the pattern of resource distribution in society, and as long as dominant ideas are challenged, the
struggle will be ongoing.” In America, there are two overlapping systems against Black families
and their community and that is the foster care system and the prison system. This resulted in
fatherless homes and delinquent children, creating a societal break down within Black
communities. Davis (1990) argues that in order to guarantee that this historical pattern of power
be broken, Black women must create a revolutionary, multiracial women’s movement that
seriously addresses the main issues affecting poor and working-class women, such as jobs, pay
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equity, paid maternity leave, and protection from sterilization abuse. Women of all racial and
class backgrounds will greatly benefit from such a movement.
Community
Hooks (2000) argues that, to ensure human survival Black men and women organize
themselves into communities, not nuclear families or a couple, but a communal bonds that is a
better place to learn “the art of loving.” She argues that Black communities cannot survive in
“shallow top-soil,” but must be deeply, deeply-rooted in finely aged historical truth. Long before
community assume external shape and form, there is strength present as a seed in the undivided
self, because only Black women who are in communion with themselves can find community
with others (Parker Palmer 1990). Southern older Black women were the pillars within the
community. hooks (2000) argues that when love is present, the need for domination cannot exist.
If Black men held their position in the community as a strong stable force anchoring the
family there would be less need for the Black woman to exercise power over the community.
Further, how can social norms be passed throughout the Black community when the symbols of
abnormality hang over the Black community like a cloud ready to burst with rains of violence
and terror against Black communities. So, speaking about norms has never been healthy for the
Black community (hooks 2000). As stated before, the church was Black women only hope for
acceptance and presence in the Black community.
Sexuality in the Black Church
In America, White bodies are equated with God, which is good, and Black bodies are
equated with an anti-God that represents evil. The color and body together declare who is
acceptable and who can belong, who will always be rejected, and who will be cast aside (Lee
Butler 2000:116). The attack on Black women’s sexuality is intrinsic to White culture and
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contemporary Black men ideologies have been shaped, in part, by the representation of
Whiteness as being good and Blackness as evil, this has a direct effect on Black women’s
sexuality (Douglas 1999). Some Black male pastors are sexist and mirror the values of many
men in society with respect to Black women. Still other pastors consider the problem of racism
as the primary injustice afflicting Blacks, believing that feminism is a middle-class White
woman's issue. There are also those who claim that Black women are already liberated (Cone &
Wilmore, 1993). For a sexual transformation to take place in the church in relationship to Black
women, gays and lesbians, the Black church leaders must institutionalize regular dialogue
between the Black church and Black academy (Douglas 1999).
The Black churches throughout history have been involved in seeking justice and equality
for Blacks, but the inequality of Black women within Black churches remains an unresolved
issue. The focus has been on Black male contributions, but little or no attention has been given to
the roles of Black women and their contributions (Green 2003:114-115). Some Black male
ministers have been silent on the role of Black women’s sexuality in the church, but it is time for
a “sexual discourse of resistance” against their sexual desires. In Black churches need to change
their attitudes toward Black women’s sexuality and their behavior toward Black women
(Douglas 1999:137-141).
Over time America’s history has undergone a profound awakening, moving from
hierarchical and patriarchal studies of White America to broader examinations of race, gender,
and sexuality (Gross 2014). According to Blair (2010) there still remains a dearth of historical
writing on Black female’s sexuality outside of their exploitation during enslavement and
subsequent stigmatization and unsupported myths of their lasciviousness. Sexual exploitation can
be compared to human trafficking. Black enslaved women were moved from one state to the
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next, by force, manipulation, and coercion for the purposes of sexual exploitation, servitude,
forced labor, and sex. Their displays of nakedness, especially for women in the 18th and 19th
centuries, implied lack of civility, morality, and sexual restraint despite the fact that their
nakedness was forced (Sharpley-Whiting 1999). However, details about Black women’s
sexuality have been obscured in the historical record (Richardson 2003:65).
Blair (2010) argues that accounts of Black women’s sexuality have generated silence and
exposed significant gaps in understanding Black women sexual history. Because Black male
leaders have historically abandoned Black women as collective rape victims, Black females were
pressured to remain silent about their abuse at the hands of Black men (Collins 2005). Southern
Black women religious beliefs have also kept them in silence. Black women’s religious
commitments extends further, because faith in God and Christ is part of their identity. Black
women are given active roles in the church working alongside of the patriarchal powers who
have authority over them and their church members but getting praise for the women’s hard
work (Harris-Perry 2011). Baldwin (2000) argues that the Black church acts as a repository of
sexual repression inciting Christians to suppress their sexual desires. Domination involves
attempts to objectify the subordinate group. The patterns of suppression of Black women’s
sexuality are similar to other women of color. However, Thompson (2009) argues that middleclass Black women such as successful female hip-hop artists openly addressed their sexuality
and rewriting their roles in Black Culture.
Black women’s Forbidden Secret
Adams (2006) discusses Black Christian women Single, Saved, and Having Sex, and
longing to have sex. He explains that sexual urges are a natural component of Black women
lives, and thousands of Black women are ready to tell about their sexual urges. One Black
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woman evangelist expressed the sexual longing and transgressions that caused her to have
destructive romantic relationships. She felt vulnerable and naked trying to fulfill the commands
of God.
Religion has been a chain that binds Black women sexually. The ultimate fear for
Southern Black women is losing connectedness with their community and church, because this
was and still is their support system (Shorter-Gooden 2004:416). The church was their only hope
for acceptance and presence in Black communities though the church did not embrace Black
women’s sexuality or related sex issues concerning their health. The church’s position for
Christian Black women was be good to their husbands and keep quiet about their sexual desires.
Black women have been covering up their sexual desires because the church’s ideology
made it a taboo for Black women to educate themselves on sexual issues. Under slavery Black
women were not allowed to read and write; this was reinforced by Jim Crow laws structured
largely on the effort to preserve a racial caste system affording political and economic rights to
whites (Michelle Alexander 2010:25). Black women structured their lives around the teaching of
the church’s rules and regulations to avoid the labels of deviant women or whore. Southern
Black women have always been held to a higher standard of sexual restriction than Black men.
The platform for Black women’s sexuality was the prevailing ideology of Black females’ bodies
as property. Their ability to speak about desire or subjugation was taken from them; it was
forbidden, nor did they have laws protecting them from sexual assaults and domestic violence
(Lee 2010).
Although these sexual scripts are unique to black women’s experiences, it is important to
look within a racialized and sexualized historical context to visualize the remnants of the
foundational Jezebel, mammy, matriarch, and welfare mother images of Black womanhood
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(Layli D. Phillips 2003:3). One powerful stereotype more than others that have influenced the
construction of Black women’s sexuality is the Jezebel perception. This stereotype suggests that
black women are naturally and inevitably promiscuous, and may reinforce the labeling of black
women as whorish (Jewell 1993). Southern Black women are struggling to break free from under
the dominant patriarchal chain of the church; however, many emotional scars have been left that
cause their sexual repression.
Black women have problems countering societal ideologies about sex because they have
been afraid to talk openly about sex and sexism and how it is intertwined with racial
oppressiveness and sexual brutality. For Black women, sexual and racial oppression make it
difficult to disentangle racism and sexism (Feagin & Sikes 1994). The term “gendered racism”
refers to the quality of racial oppression that Black women face daily. It is a challenge for Black
women to construct their sexuality because of their sexual identity is deeply rooted in race,
power, and control (Collins 2000). Black women resist the control of sexuality and notions that
pleasuring and self-pleasuring is wrong.
Theory
Black feminist theory is articulated by feminist theorist Patricia Collins, who has been
inspired by and has inspired other Black feminists. Collins uses Black feminist stories to break
up deep-rooted myths and give a detailed meaning behind what is really happening in Black
women’s lives. In a social system structured on compulsory heterosexuality, Black women’s
sexual relationships with other women are not seen as a choice, but only as deviance from the
social norm unless they are eroticized in pornography for men (Andersen 2003).
The ideology that Black women need men to achieve a sexual response reflects the
assumption that women are dependent on men for their sexual, emotional, and social economic
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well-being (Zane 1998). Elise describes a “game,” is not based on raced, clamed gendered
access to power and privilege (Elise (2004). The game is race and racism and it is played against
marginalized victims. Crenshaw argues that Black women are discriminated against in ways that
are greater than the sum of racism and sexism that both feminist and antiracist theory neglect to
accurately reflect. This is the interaction of race and gender that theories do not take into
account, particularly with Black women who are subordinate (Crenshaw 1989; Elise 2004;
Collins 2000; hooks 2009).
Stereotypic Perceptions
One stereotype of Black women that have been portrayed in the mainstream media is the
jezebel image, and it has persisted through many generations. The characteristics displayed by
the matriarch and Sapphire images are highly correlated with those of the jezebel (Collins 2000;
Jewell 1993). Black women can be singers, actors, dancers, and mentors but they are still
invisible. Society’s ideology of Black women’s visibility is recognized when they are preforming
domesticated duties in a subrogate position. The old institutional ideologies and colorblindness
have helped to construct Black women’s sexuality that is deep-rooted in race, power, and
control. This is why I am using Black critical race feminist theory because any of the single
theories would not stand alone.
Method
This research uses a multi-methodological method (qualitative and quantitative)
including a semi-autobiographical account of Black women’s stories and their struggles to
reconstruct their sexuality. Black women’s literature comprises written accounts about Black
women through carefully detailed documents that reveal the complex challenges and hurdles
Black women face daily. This literature also explains their sexual vulnerabilities, from the
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treatment that they received during enslavement to experiences in the present. Narrative research
is an important tool in the study of Black women’s sexuality, allowing Black women to tell
stories that were never heard (Collins 2005). These are paired to determine how Black women’s
association with the church is connected to sexual repression, and whether the more they attend
church the more likely they are to feel guilty about sex and to suppress desires such as wanting to
masturbate. Regression models were used to look carefully for patterns that illustrate the
experiences of Black women. My objective is to show the influences that intertwine with the way
Southern Black women repress their sexual enjoyment. How silence is broken is when Black
women share conversation about their disappointments, frustrations, hopes and dreams with
other Black women friends. The stories discussed in this study reflects Black women sexual
abuse, sexual desires, and loneliness.
Narratives of Sexuality
The economic conditions in the South during the 60s were very hard. Black women
would take any jobs they could find to make ends meet financially. Some Black women took
jobs washing and ironing for Whites in their homes. This left them vulnerable to sexual abuse, as
one woman shared in a story told to me:
One afternoon while waiting for the laundry to be picked up, a truck drove up a
tall white man with blue overall stepped out of the truck walked up to the door,
opens it without knocking and asked if her mother or father was home, I said no,
immediately he grab me and ripped my panties off and pushed his white dick
inside. He told me to keep my mouth shut or my family would be hurt.
This experience illustrates that a Black girl’s first sexual experience was most likely to be rape.
They had to submit to any white man who made sexual demands, otherwise they would be
beaten and sometimes their family would suffer. Black women in the South faced sexual abuse
because of their financial hardships. For many Black women in the South talking about their
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sexual encounters was not allowed, silence was the norm. Black women have never admitted to
their husbands or anyone else how lonely they get working around the house cleaning, taking
care of the children and cooking. It is important to understand how women objectify the way
others view them.
I met with this guy every Sunday. My girlfriend helped me. I would finish
cooking and my girlfriend would picked me up and drop me off down the road
where this guy was waiting for me. I would get into his car without panties on,
because I was ready for him, he had a big thing that felt good. He made me feel
like a queen, touching me between my legs and moving his hands somewhere
down there, all I know it felt so good, I told him to put it in my p…y. After it was
over, he took me back where my girlfriend was.
Southern Black women’s sexuality is repressed because they are longing to be told how
beautiful their hair look, or that old dress hanging on the wall looks beautiful on them even
though it is five years old. There is nothing like close friends talking about their sexuality and
sexual desires. After working hard all week cooking and cleaning for someone else, Southern
Black women get together listening to blue’s music, eating, dancing and having sister-to-sister
talks. They are able to open up and talk about their erotic sexual desires and their sexual fantasies
without being judged for desiring to feel like a divas. Black women telling their stories is a way
of healing the past and moving forward without thinking and feeling guilty. Southern Black
women love to laugh and when they want to talk about sexual taboos, one of the women will
start the story about a friend’s story to help her begin. They would say something like, it is okay
we are friends.
Okay, I can’t get enough sex, doing it is fun to me, I had nine men in one night.
They thought that I could not handle them. Girl, ya’ll have to excuse me what I
am about to say. One of those guys were kissing my p…y, one was waiting to f
…k me. Sometimes when the guys finish having sex with me, one guy called me
a whore. I hope you all are not judging me.
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Southern Black women have a distinctive fiery way of telling how they feel about their
sexual adventures, but at the same time desiring positive support as “normal” sexual women.
What does love have to do with sexual abuse, this story was so heartbreaking because women
have been silence far too long. There is no shame in the sex game, just Black women loving the
erotic lustful sensation they get from having sex, and not used as a weapon of rape.
We were so happy as a family because my mother met a man who had something.
He had a house out in the country with all this land. This was too good to be true
because his motive was to mistreat us sexually. It was fun picking plums, pears,
apples, black walnut and pecans. I thought this was wonderful until he raped me
and he told me to keep my mouth close and I better not tell my mother.
Black women telling their stories is part of healing and it is essential for them to forgive
themselves. It is also exciting and fascinating listening to other women tell similar stories about
their sexuality. Though it is Regardless, how difficult for Black women to talk about their sexual
needs, when they have a circle of trusted friends, they can abandon the institutional patriarchal
control within the church. Black women’s sexual desires have been silenced too long; it is time
for a sexual healing one that sparks intense sexual fantasies without feeling guilty. Black women
love the blues, because they can relate to the words of the music.
Music such as the “blues” is enjoyed by many because it is a language that is explosive.
The lyrics tell about Blacks’ own sexual struggles, sexual desires and hardships. Black female
blues icons, such as Millie Jackson, Denise Lasalle, Peggy Scott Adams, and Barbara Carr, use
lyrics that deal with topics that are considered taboo in society, including sexual exploitation. For
Black female subjectivity, there will be complex questioning about self and subject, person and
persona (Lee 2010). The words of Millie Jackson’s music expresses sexual imagination, sexual
identity, eroticism, and love-making, especially when she sings “Trying to Hold Back this
Feeling for so Long” and “Ugly Men.” She uses the instruments in the band to describe how he
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is stroking her when her man is pleasing her. Black women connect to the words because they do
not want to be sexual repressed. Millie goes on to explain that “an ugly man will give your pussy
a black eye…an ugly man will make you walk funny” because “an ugly man is gonna try to get it
for the times he hasn’t had it.”
Denise Lasalle starts out by stroking her body and at the same time talking sexy,
indicating an explicitly sexual way in which love is expressed. The audience temperature reaches
erotic level when she tells how to make her scream “licking it before you stick it,” like you lick a
stamp on a letter. She tells her audience how to please the Black woman, “If you want to please
her, you need to taste her between the legs not just the lips.” Barbara Carr sings “Bone Me like
You Own Me,” and uses the psychological sexual exotic expressions that leaves no imagination
as to what it means for her man to bone her.
Blues also expresses disappointment and broken hearts, when you find out that the man
you love, and the man you thought loved you, is cheating with another man instead of another
woman. Peggy Scott Adam song “Bill” tells a warning story to Black women, when you think he
is cheating with Susan, Helen, or Jan, but instead it is Bill. If the society we live in were more
tolerant of gays and lesbians then Black women and Black men would not have to suffer the
heartaches because of their sexual repressiveness and silence. Black women singing the blues
represents sexualized stereotypes, but they do not give stereotypic perception any authority, nor
do they validate them. Rather they transcend and create new Black identity, at the same time
stating to God who acknowledges them as sexual beings.
Influence of Religiosity
The General Board of Church of Society of the United Methodist Church: Black
Women’s Sexuality and Spirituality (2012) argues that Black people who attend church are
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active sexually. They may act as if they are holy (clean and pure) but “under the sheet at night”
they became sexual sinners. “Holy’- clean and pure was a behavior that Black women had to
present before the church because they did not want to be called a sinner. The word sin is
something that no one wants to hear because its meaning tells a person that they have missed the
mark of trying to be perfect. How can they be “holy,” when 13% of Black women in the South
have had sexual intercourse before age 13 (Wyatt 1997:80-85). One Black woman explained:
How can we keep our virginity when the ones telling you what not to do wrong is
the ones that is touching you in the wrong way. My stepfather started touching me
when I was six years old and started having sex with me when I was sixteen, a
few months later after my sixteenth birthday I was pregnant with my stepfather’s
baby. We went without my mother knowing it, to a place where this old woman
did abortion and she removed it. The church knew about this woman.
Therefore, virginity was not expected of black women. Women born in the 1950s
can recall the exact biblical passages about the evils of sex before marriage, that it was
the works of the flesh that is manifest in adultery, fornication, uncleanliness and
lasciviousness (Wyatt 1997:81).
Black women are most likely to say that their religious beliefs constructed their sexuality
because of their strong beliefs in God (Shorter-Gooden 2004:410). They are not only showing
strong belief in God but Black women showed humility, this calls for strength and attitude the
opposite of pride and arrogance. According to a 2012 Kaiser Foundation and Washington Post
poll, Black women are among the most steadfastly religious groups in the nation. Only 2% said
that being religious was not important to them, compared to 7% of White women and 15% of
white men. Yet 74% of Black women believed that having religion in their lives is “extremely”
important versus 57% of White women. Southern Black females are more conservative on moral
issues than that of Northern and Western women and closed-minded about sexual issues (Staples
21
2006). One source of this difference is the result of a rather conservative Black church that
served as a guiding force for Black women’s morals.
Douglas (1999:121) argues that Black church members approach sexuality as a vessel of
sin. The church’s ideology on sex is their taboo. This leads Black women to suppress or hide
their emotions, desires and their sexuality. The church teaches that a woman should not have sex
until marriage. Southern rural Black women church members’ sexuality is set by scriptures,
within patriarchal control.
Patriarchal Control
In Invisible Man (1980) Ellison writes: “What else but try to tell you what was really
happening when your eyes were looking through me, and it is this which frightens me, being
invisible” (p. 581). Southern Black women remain invisible in social situations because the
ideologies of the churches are grounded in patriarchal doctrines such as 1 Corinthians 14:33-35:
For God is a God not of disorder but of peace. As in all the congregations of the
holy ones, let the women keep silent in the congregations, for it is not permitted
for them to speak. Rather, let them be in subjection, as the Law also says. If they
want to learn something, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is disgraceful
for a woman to speak in the congregation.
Vincent Wimbush (1991) argues that the Bible became a world into which Blacks could
retreat, a world they could identify with, draw strength from, and in fact manipulate for selfaffirmation.
However, when Black Southern religious practices and beliefs
took away sexuality, they reinforced the Mammy stereotype image (Ross
2000). Therefore, an ideology of domination and stereotypical images of
black womanhood that idealizes the Mammy may directly affect the way
Black women view images of themselves (Ross 2000). The black church
22
is an important social location to view how Southern Black women construct their sexualities,
and to see how religion maybe a tool of oppression and a weapon to censor the behavior of
church members (Douglas 1999:91).
Additionally, talk of sex in the church consistently addresses what women should not do,
and in what contexts sexual behavior is sinful. In order for Black women to be respectable, they
must show submissiveness to men. Baldwin (2000) explains that the Black church is a structure
of sexual repression provoking Christian women to engage in a tug-of-war against sexual desires.
In short, religious beliefs and ideologies impacted objectification of Black women’s sexuality
under religious principles (Newman 2002). Sexual objectification occurs when a woman’s body
or body parts are singled out and separated from her as a person and she is then viewed as a
physical object (Bartky 1990).
It is important to understand that Black women’s affiliation with the church is their only
hope for acceptance in their communities, even though the church does not embrace their
sexuality or medical issues related to sex. The church is an institution that enforces full trust in
religion, faith and prayers to God is a contagious disease (Newman 2002). Further, sexuality is
controlled under patriarchal authority. Women in black churches outnumber men by more than
two to one; yet in positions of authority and responsibility the ratio is reversed (Frederick 2005).
Nowadays women are gradually becoming bishops, pastors, deacons and elders in the church,
but in token numbers.
Marla Frederick (2005) notes resistance to women’s leadership as seen in the reaction of
men when their church licensed a woman to preach over a decade ago. Almost all the male
deacons and even many women members opposed the action, justifying their opposition by
appealing to tradition and selected Scripture passages. So Black theology and the Black church
23
must deal with the double burden of not accepting women in authority within the church, the
same as in society, because Southern Black women will not challenge the church’s rules or their
views about virginity before marriage (Newman 2002:16).
Despite the church’s conservative viewpoint on sex, Black women love to talk about their
sexuality without feeling guilt or thinking that it is wrong to feel sexy. Despite their strong
conservative religious beliefs and the deployment of stereotypes, name calling and being labeled
as a Jezebel against them, many Black women have sister-to-sister talks about their sexual
desires (Tricia Rose 2003).
Sociological Significant
My objective is to provide an integrated overview of Black women’s sexuality in the
South and the connection with their religious affiliation and the history of slavery that may lead
them to be sexual repressed. However, there are also images of equality, wholeness, and freedom
affirmed in Gal. 3:28: “We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free men or even merely
men or women, but we are all the same, we are Christians; we are one in Christ Jesus.” This
vision has never been totally achieved by African American churches throughout their history in
regards to Black women. The failure to realize the vision of Gal. 3:28 in their own institutional
policies has resulted in some Black churches trying to justify the practice of inequality and
suppress the freedom and equality of Black women to be sexually guiltless (Anderson &
Stransky 1979). Many historical pages reveal Black women’s stories of the most brutal sexual
exploitation believably done to another human (Anderson & Stransky 1979). Black women
experience the pains and struggles as they reclaim, or do not, their subjectivity.
24
Hypotheses
Hypothesis 1: Greater the religiosity less likely Black women will think about sex than
Others.
Hypothesis 2: Greater the religiosity tells weather the respondent will feels guilty about
having sex.
Hypothesis 3: Greater the religiosity weather the respondent has masturbate in the past
year.
With my hypotheses, I wish to examine statistical evidence and determine whether they
support or contradict the claim I have made. The significance level of the sample date were
tested for increased religiosity (i.e. how often someone attends church) among Black women
leads to more sexually repressive feelings. In particular, how often Black women thinks about
sex, and the more often they attend religious affiliations they feel guilty thinking about sex; and
have they masturbated in the past year, using data analysis.
Data Analysis
The (NHSLS) National Health and Social Surveys (1992:9) sample “is comprised
of two components: (1.) a cross-section sample of 3159 cases designed to give each household an
equal probability of inclusion and (2.) a supplementary sample of 273 cases drawn to increase
the number of Blacks available for analysis.” The cross-section sample is self-weighting (Strauss
and Corbin 1990:270). In short, the NHSLS sample is comprised of two components: a crossoversample and cross-section cases that simultaneously adjust for household size and for
nonresponse (post-stratification adjustment). The variable name for that is RWEIGHT, or the
sample weight for respondents. This results in a combined sample of 3432.
25
Variable Operationalization
My Dependent variables are: How often R think about sex, and does R feel guilty
thinking about sex, and whether R has masturbated in the past year. My independent variables
are: Respondent is Black, Age of R, Respondent is Female, Respondent Protestant14, and
Dummy South SA ESC WSC (Region). The variables names used:
Thinksex: how often Black women think about sex
Guiltsex: does Black women feel guilty thinking about sex.
Mast12a: whether the respondent has masturbated in the past year.
Table 1.1 How Often Respondent Thinks
About Sex
THINKSEX1
Frequency Percent Cumulative
Percent
MISSING
18.0
0.5
0.520
1 Never
87.0
2.5
3.067
2 Less than Once a Month
202.0
5.9
8.956
3 One to a Few Times a Month 602.0
17.5
26.505
4 One to a Few Times a Week 1346.0
39.2
65.731
5 Everyday
848.0
24.7
90.450
6 Several Times a Day
328.0
9.5
100.000
Mean = 4.07
Standard Deviation = 1.13
Table 1.2 Ordinary Least Squares Model Predicting How Often Respondent Thinks About Sex
With and Without the Interaction of Being Black and a Woman
F-ratio
106.1
Adjusted Squared Multiple R .178
Squared Multiple R
.180
26
Table 1.3
Effect
Coefficient Standard Error t
CONSTANT
5.208***
HOW OFTEN R ATTENDS RELIGIOUS
-0.027***
SERVICES(ATTEND)
AGE OF R(AGE)
-0.016***
NORC SIZE OF PLACE(XNORCSIZ)
-0.010
Respondent Protestant at 14(PROTESTANT14) 0.088**
Respondent is Female(FEMALE)
-0.825***
Respondent is Black(BLACK)
-0.230***
Dummy South SA ESC WSC(SOUTH)
-0.046
p-value
0.072
0.007
72.541 0.000
-3.947 0.000
0.002
0.007
0.038
0.035
0.058
0.039
-10.150 0.000
-1.394 0.163
2.340 0.019
-23.303 0.000
-3.977 0.000
-1.184 0.237
Table 1.4
F-ratio
93.0
Squared Multiple R
.180
Adjusted Squared Multiple R .178
Table 1.5
Effect
Coefficient Standard Error
CONSTANT
5.201
0.072
HOW OFTEN R ATTENDS RELIGIOUS
-0.027*** 0.007
SERVICES(ATTEND)
AGE OF R(AGE)
-0.016*** 0.002
NORC SIZE OF PLACE(XNORCSIZ)
-0.010
0.007
Respondent Protestant at 14(PROTESTANT14) 0.090*
0.038
Respondent is Female(FEMALE)
-0.810*** 0.038
Respondent is Black(BLACK)
-0.162*
0.083
Dummy South SA ESC WSC(SOUTH)
-0.046
0.039
BLKFEM
-0.125
0.110
27
While the above model explains nearly a fifth of the variance in the dependent variable,
the interaction effect is non-significant. This means that Black women are not less likely to think
of sex than others. However, since both the dummy variables for race and gender are significant,
this means that women think about sex less often than men and Blacks think of sex less often
than non-Blacks. Moreover, measures of religiosity, how often the respondent attends church and
whether they were Protestant while growing up are also significant, although the Protestant
measure is contrary to expectations. This may be due to the broadness of the measure, however,
and is likely an artifact of the data. The church attendance measure’s association with the
dependent measure is as hypothesized; the more often a respondent attends church, the less likely
they are to think about sex.
I next test whether there is a significant interaction effect for Black women with respect
to whether they feel guilty or not about having sex. The dependent variable is dichotomous with
1 representing that a respondent never feels guilty with 0 representing some guilt about having
sex. Because of the dependent variable’s dichotomous nature, logistic regression is used. Table 3
shows the results of the model without the non-significant interaction representing that Black
women differed from other racial and gender groups with respect to sexual guilt.
28
Table 2.1 Logistic Regression Predicting whether a Respondent Felt Guilty About Having Sex
Parameter
Z
p-value
1 CONSTANT
Estimate Robust
Standard
Error
0.461
0.192
2.396
0.017
2 AGE OF R(AGE)
0.030
0.005
6.488
0.000
3 HOW OFTEN R ATTENDS
RELIGIOUS
SERVICES(ATTEND)
4 NORC SIZE OF
PLACE(XNORCSIZ)
5 Dummy South SA ESC
WSC(SOUTH)
6 Respondent is Black(BLACK)
-0.108
0.018
-5.912
0.000
0.038
0.018
2.067
0.039
-0.013
0.101
-0.130
0.897
0.389
0.143
2.718
0.007
7 Respondent is Female(FEMALE)
0.439
0.094
4.665
0.000
8 Respondent Protestant at
14(PROTESTANT14)
0.013
0.100
0.127
0.899
Log-Likelihood of Constants only Model = LL(0)
2*[LL(N)-LL(0)]
df
p-value
: -1539.913
:
94.420
:
7
:
0.000
Results from the logistic regression mirror those found for the earlier Ordinary Least
Squares (O.L.S.) regression model predicting how often a respondent thinks about sex. Being a
woman is associated with feeling guilty about sex as is being Black. How often a respondent
attends church is also associated with guilt feelings about sex. Whether a respondent grew up as
29
a Protestant, however, was not significant as it was with the earlier OLS regression predicting
thinking about sex.
The final model ran modeled whether a respondent had masturbated or not during the
previous year. If they had not masturbated they received 1 on this measure and 0 if they had.
Again, since this is a dichotomous variable, logistic regression is used to estimate the model. In
contrast to the other models, there is a significant interaction effect for Black women. This
means that Black women are have significant slope differences from the other racial gender
groups. In other words, Black women are different with respect to whether they had masturbated
in the past year. In short, Black women more than others are least likely to have masturbated in
the past year.
Table 3.1 Logistic Regression of whether Respondent Masturbated in Past Year Without
Interaction and With Interaction Estimating the Black Female Uniqueness
Parameter
Estimate
Z
p-value
0.461
0.030
-0.108
Robust Standard
Error
0.192
0.005
0.018
1 CONSTANT
2 AGE OF R(AGE)
3 HOW OFTEN R ATTENDS
RELIGIOUS
SERVICES(ATTEND)
4 NORC SIZE OF
PLACE(XNORCSIZ)
5 Dummy South SA ESC
WSC(SOUTH)
6 Respondent is Black(BLACK)
7 Respondent is Female(FEMALE)
8 Respondent Protestant at
14(PROTESTANT14)
2.396
6.488
-5.912
0.017
0.000
0.000
0.038
0.018
2.067
0.039
-0.013
0.101
-0.130
0.897
0.389
0.439
0.013
0.143
0.094
0.100
2.718
4.665
0.127
0.007
0.000
0.899
Log-Likelihood of Constants only Model = LL(0)
2*[LL(N)-LL(0)]
df
p-value
: -2223.566
: 265.567
:
7
:
0.000
30
Table 3.2
Parameter
Estimate Robust
Standard
Error
-1.604 0.156
0.012
0.003
0.038
0.014
1 CONSTANT
2 AGE OF R(AGE)
3 HOW OFTEN R ATTENDS RELIGIOUS
SERVICES(ATTEND)
4 NORC SIZE OF PLACE(XNORCSIZ)
0.082
5 Dummy South SA ESC WSC(SOUTH)
0.103
6 Respondent is Black(BLACK)*Respondent is -0.621
Female(FEMALE)
7 Respondent is Female(FEMALE)
0.962
8 Respondent Protestant at 14(PROTESTANT14) -0.054
9 Respondent is Black(BLACK)
1.168
Log-Likelihood of Constants only Model = LL(0)
2*[LL(N)-LL(0)]
df
p-value
Z
p-value
-10.298 0.000
3.418 0.001
2.676 0.007
0.014
0.081
0.210
5.734 0.000
1.268 0.205
-2.957 0.003
0.081
0.080
0.164
11.836 0.000
-0.672 0.502
7.105 0.000
: -2223.566
: 274.316
:
8
:
0.000
Conclusion:
I tested three different dependent variables representing possible sexual repression. The
first measured how often a respondent thought about sex. The second modeled a logistic model
predicting whether a respondent felt guilty about having sex. The final model predicted whether
a respondent had masturbated in the past year. All models found that Blacks and women were
more likely to reveal sexual repressiveness. However, only the model predicting masturbation
found an interaction between being a Black woman and sexual repressiveness. In other words,
the behavioral measure of sexual activity was associated with repression for Black women that
was different from other racial/gender groups. The attitudinal measures of thinking about sex and
feeling guilty did not distinguish them.
31
Key Findings
The outcome showed that attitudinal measures of thinking about sex and feeling guilty
did not distinguish that the frequency of attending religious services resulted in Black women
thinking about sex or feeling guilty affected Black women more than other groups of women.
The cognitive feeling of behavior contains three different meanings: women talking about their
sexual needs, feeling guilty, and not masturbating during the year. My hypothesis is built to
create three meanings: the greater the religiosity, the less likely a respondent would have sex; the
more religiosity, the less guilty a respondent would feel; and whether a respondent performed
masturbation in the past year, the more guilt the respondent would feel. The patriarchal structures
within the church continue to oppress and repress not just Southern Black women’s sexuality but
all women’s sexuality. Religiosity, having total control over a person’s sexual desires and sexual
pleasures, leads to sexual repression. Southern Black women are sexually repressed due to the
patriarchal powers within the Southern Black church. Their religiosity and connection with God
gives them the power to take an active role in fighting for respectability in an institution that
refuses to allow Black women to have their sexual identity.
Limitations of the Research
My main research was Black Southern women and their sexuality. I do not know if other
women in other cultural are facing some of the same issues with patriarchal control within their
religious affiliations as Black women. My thesis only addressed the question how often do Black
women think about sex and guilt feeling. The comparison of other women in the southern region
was not compared to see if patriarchal control in the church is causing women to suppress their
sexual desires. Using mixed methods research is an approach to inquiries that involves collecting
both quantitative and qualitative data that provides a more in-depth understanding of all women
32
sexual problems. The use of mixed methods are limited in comparison to the in-depth knowledge
they bring together.
Discussion
Baldwin (2000) explains that the Black church is a structure of sexual repression
provoking Christian women to engage in a tug-of-war against sexual desires. However, the
church has not taken into account the despairs Black women feel about wanting passionate
lovemaking, this gives meaning to their lives not guilt. Adam (2006) argues that masturbation
generates confusion and heightens one’s level of discontent and emptiness. I disagree with
Adam, masturbation brings much pleasure, especially, when the majority of Black men are
locked behind prison walls. Black women were taught to be sexually and morally clean at an
early age.
If Southern Black females were not sexually and morally clean, they was taught that their
penalty would be to lose God’s blessing and eternally burn in Hell Fire. Regardless of how
conservative or “Holy” a woman claimed to be, religious beliefs and religious ideologies impacts
the way her body is objectified according to the churches’ principles. Black female Hip-Hop
Artists are seen as wicked because of the movement of their bodies and their seductive music.
Their music were attacked, for example, and must be resisted, this is the stereotypic perception
that is clearly expressed when Black women entertainer expose their body (Spivak 1999).
However, very few Black female singers have awakened the sexual imagination of our nation
more than Josephine Baker who was characterized as the mythical bad girl, and the seductive
enticing lyrics of Janet Jackson who also dare to show her breast in public. The materialistic,
sexualized Black women has become an icon within hip-hop culture but the difficulty lies in
telling the difference between representations of Black women who are sexually liberated and
33
those who are sexual objects (Collins 2005). Whites were in disbelief that Janet Jackson would
allow a White man to expose her breast in public. Black women are embodied with natural
sexuality that is linked to the perception of promiscuity (Douglas 1994; West 1999:12).
Throughout America’s history social conduct, sexual behavior and attitudes of Black women are
still seen as submissive sex objects, that reinforces the gender hierarchy. Yes, Black women are
seen as submissive sex objects because the dominant ideology of the slave era fostered the
interconnected social construction of images that reflect the dominant group’s interest in
maintaining the subordination of them (Harris 1982).
Scott (1991) argues how socialization created a “double bind” for Black women, because
Black churches teach that Black women should accept a subordinate role to men and commit
themselves to being lifelong service providers to other people (Scott 1991:155). Although black
women are longing to talk about their sexual secrets and sexual violence, contemporary Black
women have an issue speaking out about their sexual abuse and violence at the hands of Black
men (Collins 2005:225). The challenge for reconstructing Black women’s sexuality is to change
their repressive landscape to emphasize liberation. However, Black women past experiences
under the dominant patriarchal cultural can be conceptualized as intersectional, because the use
of confinement made them sexual property, particularly subjects, to be control by white and
Black men (Crenshaw 1989; Harris 1993).
As an added insight, as to Black women being controlled is because a large percentage of
Black females more than Whites women are poor, and five times more likely to be on welfare,
and three times more likely to be unemployed than White women (Roberts 1997).
This predicament of Black women is signified as erroneous and persistent
characterization of Black women as Welfare Queens, the racialized and stigmatized nature of the
34
welfare policies (Wyatt 1997; Roberts 2002). Let us not forget, that Blacks’ incarceration
functions like a modern day Jim Crow caste system that permanently lock-up a large percentage
of Black women from mainstream society and keep them from economic benefits (Alexander
2010). Nagel (2003) argues that black women sexual history in the United States is intimately
connected with an organized system of social oppression. Whether a Black women experienced
oppression or learned by listening to other black women who have experienced oppression, they
have been encouraged by other black women to question the dominant ideologies and
contradictions that devalue Black women (hooks 2009).
The historical legacy of exploitation have created sexual expectations for Black women
that constructed and defined their sexual identity. Regardless of the stereotypes, and sexual
exploitations of the past, Black women have learned how to use “silence, negotiation, and
persistence” to express the “totality of self,” because silence is used as negotiation, and
persistence as strength that enable many, if not all Black Women (Collins 1990:93). Black
women’s struggle to exercise agency and self-definition concerning images such as Bartmann
known as the (Hottetot) may not have been aware of the power of the sexual stereotypes that was
created in her image and Josephine Baker entertained the French with unrestrained sexual body
dances (Collins 2005).
Conclusion: Sexual Scripts, Sexual Repression, and Religiosity
The Sexual scripts are learned through interaction with others. I take the position that
scripts are the most important interaction learned through the development of sexual discourse
between vocal, visual, and what is written about Black women’s sexuality. That is why the first
part of my analysis focus on the stories that Black women have told and tells about their sexual
experiences. Although black women are longing to talk about a well-kept secret in their lives,
35
their religious belief have kept them in silence about sex. It is the biggest taboo in the black
community. The second part of my thesis I am unable to capture the richness of these stories but
it allows generalization about Black women sexuality and its relationship to religious belief and
scripting. Although sexual scripts becomes meanings unique to Black women’s experiences, it is
important to look within a racialized and sexualized historical context to visualize the remnants
of the foundational jezebel, mammy, matriarch, and welfare mother images of Black
womanhood (Layli D. Phillips 2003:3). Capitalism and patriarchy together are a structures of
domination and they have worked overtime to undermine and destroy the unit of extended family
units; by segregation of nuclear families from the extended family (hooks 2000). The family is
another script that society objectify Black women as worthless and unfit to be mothers, this
negative images have been used to impress upon White society the undesirability of Black
women. Black women’s religious commitments extend still further because faith in God and
Christ is part of their identity. Black Sisters do not suppress sexuality but rather strive to
understand and embrace this wonderful gift from God. Sexuality is unique and is needed in all
our lives the same as air is needed to live. I invite Black women not to suppress their sexuality,
but rather to strive to understand and embrace this wonderful gift from God. Sexuality cannot be
accomplished if we continue to suppress our desires and pleasures, it is a gift, not a thing to be
associated with shame for thinking about your sexual pleasures. Shame must be replaced with
joy when we think of our sexuality. The late Maya Angelou wisdom, telling her story to Black
women:
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say, It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
36
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Black women’s sexuality can be set in opposition to their past, because they have the
knowledge of the false assumptions that has been communicated over generations about Black
women and their family.
37
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