Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism

".... in the context of the new racism, men and women who rescue and redefine sexuality as source of power rooted in spirituality, expressiveness, and love can craft new understandings of Black masculinity and Black femininity needed for a progressive Black sexual politics." - Patricia Hill Collins (page 51)

Author: Patricia Hill Collins

I've decided to spend two weeks on this book, because so much of the content directly relates to the topic of this course and my eventual research project. Black sexual politics in many ways determine the spread of HIV/AIDS among black people. Going into this reading I assumed the term black sexual politics, referred to the ways in which black people related to and interacted with one another sexually. On one level I was right, but for Collins, sexual politics are somewhat more... political.

In the introduction and the first section of the book titled "African Americans and the new racism" Collins makes a case for a new type of racism that exists within American society. Her definition of the term seems to be something she is working through within the text, because she never explicitly states a clear one. Based on the black experience in America, from African colonialism, through slavery and into the post civil rights era Collin describes the development of a new type of racism that is a deeply imbedded ideological forms of societal slavery. Without stating it explicitly, the new racism that Collins refers to seems related to structuralist theories in that it is a less explicit racism that is deeply embedded in the consciouness of black and non-blacks alike and, more significantly, into the fabrics of contemporary American society. It exists within the structures of society.

The sexual politics that Collins addresses in the text stem from this new racism. She writes that "Black sexual politics occur at the particular intersection of gender, race and sexuality," (6). What Collins argues, essentially, is that gender issues, racism and other forms of social disparities or oppression among Black people in American society are all deeply linked. She explains that achieving social justice requires addressing all levels of oppression or inequality. In the introduction she uses a childhood anecdote about an experience of racism to enter the topic. She concludes that "knowledge and power are deeply linked, and achieving social justice requires attending to both," (3). From there she shows how gender and race issues are also linked.

While what Collins argues makes sense on a basic level, I find myself waiting for her to convince me of it completely while reading the text. I agree that addressing homosexuality among black communities and the struggles of black LGBTQ people is a key element of addressing larger race issues in America, really it only makes sense. But, Collins states it so adamantly that I need her to explain why. She does. She explains the reasons behind LGBTQ people historically having been ignored in a discussion about slavery and emancipation and why the issues the group faces need to be addressed now. What it comes down to for Collins, I think, is that nothing exists in isolation and to assume so will make it that much harder to find solutions to problems like racism and systematic inequities.

So this isn't just a book about black sexuality, but about the interconnectedness of sexuality gender and race. It is heavier on the politics but links them to sexuality and gender and race. Collins also discusses the fact that the black experience of racism and other forms of oppression are gendered, meaning that the black female experience of racism stems from different assumptions about her sexuality or gender and race than the black male's; this then means that how those assumptions play out are also different. For example, Collins explains how racial stereotypes about blacks differ for black men and women, wherein the women are seen as inherently promiscuous and the men naturally hyper-sexual and violent. Collins provides a good explanation for why this perception and others like it matter. It is a part of the foundation of what has become institutionalized racism in many sectors of American society.

One quibble I have with Collins after having completed the first section of the text is how much time she spends on the historical roots of racism towards blacks in America. It is a story that has been told and dissected to death. While her ideas are new and how she applies this history to her concepts are different there were points while the book where I found myself thinking that what Collins had to say was not particularly ground breaking. But as she continues to develop the concept of this "new racism" I expect to get a lot out of this reading.

I think this book will provide a foundation for my understanding of how the spread of HIV/AIDS among black women is occuring and what factors make black women as a group more vulnerable to contracting and or spreading the disease. The next part of the reading addresses female sexuality specifically and the issue of HIV/AIDS.

Being a black female I find myself very much invested in what Collins has to say about this topic. It is very easy to say that this issue (HIV/AIDS, American racism, black sexual politics, etc.) isn't about me because I don't have HIV/AIDS and I don't live in the United States. But the fact is that how black people and women as a group are perceived in the United States and around the world has a direct impact on my life. These issues also play a role in Canada, if only for how certain prejudices about blacks formed out of American history have been normalized and have migrated north of the 49th parallel. I am not separate from this and while Collins is subtle about it, she makes it very clear that this is a topic for every black person (and non-blacks). One can't remove his/her self from the conversations, luckily I don't particularly want to.