Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, an

by Shayne Lee

Why is there no 'pro-sex' contingency in black feminist scholarship? Why do so few African-American scholars expound on issues celebrating female sexual pleasure? Perhaps the answers to these questions reside within a discursive matrix of sexual repression commonly referred to as the politics of respectability, and its rein on black sexual politics. In Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, and Popular Culture, sociologist Shayne Lee steers black sexual politics toward a more sex-positive trajectory. Introducing feminist analysis to a conceptual mZnage ^ trois of scripting theory, media representation, and black sexual politics, Lee considers the ways in which the feminist quest for social and sexual equality can delve into popular culture to see the production of subversive scripts for female sexuality and erotic agency. Whereas most feminist scholarship underscores how sexual representations of black women in media are exploitative and problematic, Lee portrays black female celebrities like Janet Jackson, BeyoncZ, Karrine Steffans, Zane, Tyra Banks, Juanita Bynum, Sheryl Underwood and many more as feminists of sorts who afford women access to cultural tools to renegotiate sexual identity and celebrate sexual agency and empowerment. Erotic Revolutionaries navigates the uncharted spaces where social constructionism, third-wave feminism, and black popular culture collide to locate a new site for sexuality studies that is theoretically innovative, politically subversive, and stylistically chic.

Genres: Sociology, Theory, Sexuality

176 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Tia Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Book

This is the perfect mixture of understanding historical context of the 1st and third waves of Black womanism with the self pleasure and empowerment of third wave feminism.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't particularly enjoy this book. It sounds like all this dude did for a year was watch TV and YouTube videos and listen to women he finds attractive's CDs and wrote a book on what he saw/heard. Had to read it for his class though! I have to say the people he quotes are outrageously funny though, so it was mildly entertaining for a required read (at least towards the end). If you're reading this for fun or something, it's not. Also Beyonce is only touched upon so don't judge the cover too harshly.

[Saul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, but it does contain an interesting argument about possibility that the sexual nature of performance/music/dance is empowering to black women. I really don't know to what extent I buy this argument but it's interesting to think about.

[Simone Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting Insight