Prompts Filled: None
Tags: Asexual, Asexuality, Theory, Nonfiction, Queer Theory, Black Studies, Queer Studies, Queer, Queerness, Blackness, Social Issues, Feminism, Intersectionality, Sexuality, Compulsory Sexuality, Heteronormativity, Allonormativity, Queerphobia, Gatekeeping, Sexual Politics, Sex, Race, Gender, Capitalism, Marginalization, Dehumanization, Liberation, Chrononormativity, White Supremacy, Conversion Therapy, Corrective Rape
Sherronda J. Brown examines ideas about sex and sexuality through a queer, ace, and Black lens, challenging our assumption that everyone wants sex and that every relationship must feature sex. U.S. American society is obsessed with sex, and Brown dives into how that came to be and how it’s connected to capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy.
Sparked Joy: 5/5 There is so much to say about this book, and I have no idea how to say it. This book is fantastic. I think it should be required reading, at the very least for feminism and gender studies students, but also for everyone. It breaks down the way compulsory sexuality limits and controls our possibilities and our lives. It goes into how capitalism and white supremacy work hand in hand to control people’s behaviors and oppress people seen as less human. Just—holy shit. Read this book.
It’s a heavy read (even only at 180 pages), but it is necessary.
My only complaint? I wish there had been a chapter on ableism and disability, and their interactions with sexuality. There was one point where it seemed like Brown was building up to such a chapter, but then I turned the page and the subject changed.
Something I Learned: I learned so many things, but good god, how did I not know this before: “As the [Freedmen’s Bureau] attempted to rationalize African American sexuality by imposing heterosexual marriage upon the freedman through the rule of law and as a condition for citizenship, the racialization of blacks as pathologically nonheteronormative tightened the link between citizenship and a racialized heteronormativity” (Ferguson, Aberrations in Black: Toward a Queer of Color Critique). Many narratives frame the right to marriage granted after the 14th Amendment as something many freed African Americans desired, but there were also many on whom marriage was imposed.
“Marriage is an oppressive institution” gets another tick mark in its column.
Something I’m Inspired to Do: One thing I’ve noticed about the Bay Area ace community is that it is very white, and I’ve worried several times that the community would be alienating to Black aces. This is a problem with a lot of queer spaces, and somewhat especially ace spaces, because asexuality is so widely seen as a white Tumblr girl sexuality. I’d like to work harder to make the Bay Area ace group in particular more welcoming to Black aces.
Refusing Compulsory Sexuality was published in 2022. Support your local bookstore if you can, or visit your local library!
El's Reading Journal 