Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Introduction: No Turning Back I. African Americans and the New Racism 1. Why Black Sexual Politics? 2. The Past Is Ever Present: Recognizing the New Racism 3.Prisons for Our Bodies, Closets for Our Minds: Racism, Heterosexism, and Black Sexuality II. Rethinking Black Gender Ideology 4. Get Your Freak On: Sex, Babies, and Images of Black Femininity 5. Booty Call: Sex, Violence, and Images of Black Masculinity 6. Very Necessary: Redefining Black Gender Ideology III. Toward a Progressive Black Sexual Politics 7. Assume the Position: The Changing Contours of Sexual Violence 8. No Storybook Romance: How Race and Gender Matter 9. Why We Can't Wait: Black Sexual Politics and the Challenge of HIV/AIDS Afterword: The Power of a Free Mind Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

About the Author

Patricia Hill Collins is Distinguished University Professor at University of Maryland. She is author of Black Feminist Thought, which won the C. Wright Mills Award of the American Sociological Association, as well as Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice. She lectures widely in the U.S. and abroad.

Reviews

"Patricia Hill Collins' brilliant and ground-breaking analysis of the urgency of a more progressive Black sexual politics among African Americans is nothing short of a 'tour de force.' This book is sure to be a foundational text in Black gender studies and a corrective to the continued erasure of gender and sexuality as important issues in mainstream African American Studies scholarship. Her foray into popular culture is particularly insightful as is her sophisticated theoretical approach to Black gender discourse around a number of issues including class dimensions of masculinity, violence against women, and HIV/AIDS. She demonstrates with extraordinary skill the bankruptcy of gender-blind anti-racist politics in the 21st century. Her wake-up call to Black America and the nation is heart-felt and piercing. No more business-as-usual is the loud message!."
-Beverly Guy-Sheftall, co-author of "Gender Talk
"A leading scholar in the field of black feminist studies, Patricia Hill Collins once again challenges readers to think differently, this time about sexuality in black communities. Collins argues for a new black sexual politics, focused on liberating black women and men and highlighting the role of culture in this struggle. This book is sure to spark needed and timely debate."
-Cathy J. Cohen, author of "The Boundaries of Blackness
"A pathbreaking exploration of complex intersections of racism, sexism, and heterosexism! Patricia Hill Collins shows how unhealthy sexual politics in black communities imbeds white-generated images of stereotyped masculinity, femininity and sexuality. A well-documented argument for countering and replacing the sexist-racist views ofhyper-sexual, too-strong black women and sexually irresponsible, too-weak black men both within and outside black communities."
-Joe R. Feagin, author of "Racist America
"Patricia Hill Collins has done it again! In her brilliant new book, Collins deepens her analysis of the intersections and hierarchies of race, gender, sexuality, and class, and extends her theoretical gaze with fresh and provocative interpretations of black popular culture. "Black Sexual Politics charts the subtle evolution of a new racism that often goes undetected - and unaccounted for - while grappling with the complexities and contradictions within black life. This book is at once a theoretical tour de force and a must-read for all who care about the lives of black folk in the twenty-first century."
-Michael Eric Dyson, author of "Why I Love Black Women
"Collins expands the horizons of feminist and anti-racist thinking about some of the most disturbing issues of the contemporary post-civil rights era. Her focus on historical specificity of African American conditions and struggles illuminates the contours of - and strategies for - social justice projects in global as well as local political contexts. This book makes a distinguished contribution to critical theory andto classroom resources."
-Sandra Harding, editor of "The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader