Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture by Sherronda J. Brown

9 reviews

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual harassment, Slavery, Biphobia, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Outing, Forced institutionalization, Acephobia/Arophobia, Body shaming, Medical trauma, Addiction, Racism, Violence, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Hate crime, Rape, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

peachani's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

Moderate: Medical trauma and Body shaming

Minor: Rape, Dysphoria, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Ableism, and Sexual assault

workingdaley's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

I feel like this is a deeply important read for every queer person, especially Black asexuals. It's deeply important for us to be able to understand asexuality in general, as it's a very misunderstood orientation, but I feel it's especially important to understand asexuality through a Black lens. This book managed to not only speak to some of the thoughts about my asexuality as a Black person that I was only partially able to articulate before reading this, but also speaks a lot to my disconnect with gender and my disconnect with the "human experience" as someone who is Black, asexual, aromantic, agender, and autistic. It also manages to speak to my frustrations with the realization that I've fallen out of the chrononormative structure that's been set out for me. And while my hesitations around marriage and children were going to cause this for me eventually, having it happen so early in my life forces me to really reflect on why life is structured in the way that it is, and what it means for me and my future that I've decidedly fallen off of my pre-determined path. This book has also given me tools to help better navigate consent and trying to work towards a world where we can break free of the allonormative assumption that we should all be desiring sex, and the racist assumption that as a Black person, I am always consenting to sex by my mere existence. I cannot recommend this book to enough people. I really do think that our understanding of queerness is improved when we can acknowledge and analyze the Black asexual lens.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexism, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Biphobia, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Ableism, Hate crime, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Colonisation, and Transphobia

maddramaqueen's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Racism, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Sexism, Rape, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Slavery, Outing, Physical abuse, and Colonisation

Minor: Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Biphobia, Classism, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative slow-paced

4.5

I'm really glad I read Ace by Angela Chen before this one just because this one was much drier and more academic. That took me out of it and the experience a bit, especially because the author is writing about such big parts of their identity but not really addressing their own experiences of those identifies much. I'm not at all saying this makes the book worse by any means, just that it would've made me feel more invested in it and see even more connections to myself than I did.

That being said, a lot did still resonate with me, and I saw myself in a lot of parts. But by far the most valuable part of this book is how it connects asexuality and compulsive sexuality in our society and cultures is connected to all of the other massive, systemic issues of our world, including white supremacy, cisgender, patriarchy, heteronormative, colonialism, etc. I had never made this connection, but the more this book spelled it out, he more undeniable it became. This also went a long way in reassuring me that asexuality is a queer identity and that it belongs in the LGBTQIA+ acronym and larger culture and world. I'm not a fake queer for having this identity. It's weirdly comforting to know that this part of my identity, especially when paired with my childfree identity, are so terrifying to the "normal" culture. *Punches fist into air triumphantly* All of this made the dryness well worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, and Homophobia

Moderate: Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

elwirax's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

"If we are not human, then surely we must be displaced gods."
 

This was an informative non-fiction book, written in a very straightforward and accessible manner that would work for those largely unfamiliar with academic writing. It provided relevant content warnings for each chapter which was great for those who require them and a timeline of asexulity in publication and media towards the end which was very interesting.

As an ace, this did not provide me with any new information in that regard though this is an invaluable resource for the Black asexual experience through its  discussions on the intersectionality of racism and (a)sexuality and which I admittedly hadn't considered in great detail before reading this book. While it is clear that the author researched this book extensively, particularly concerning historical context, perhaps it could have benefitted from being more scientifically based in other areas (though I acknowledge the sparsity of adequate data on asexuality). The author had a tendency to make big statements but not support them with any relevant referencing for example in the following quotation: "These are male supremacists who fail to form romantic and sexual relationships or connections, blame others for their social and sexual ineptitude, and believe that women should be required or forced to have sex with them. Several have even become mass killers because of their frustrations and misogyny". While I can't argue that this statement is untrue, it would have been good to get some examples when such statements were made to ground the argument. This is not to say that the author's own experiences and views (or the people she interviewed) are invalid as a member of both communities but that the arguments provided could have been stronger with supporting evidence and a more in-depth analysis/ examination of the impacts of the discussed ideas on individuals rather than just being surface level. Additionally, the author repeated many of the same points frequently and as it was often quite disjointed in terms of structure where I couldn't always grasp the connections/comparisons being made.

While this may seem like a largely negative review, I think that this is a great start for those who are unfamiliar with the topics discussed (the intersectionality of (a)sexuality and racism). It was informative and well researched, yet accessible and touched on issues I might not have considered as a white asexual. I really have no major faults with this book other than slight nitpicks which are just my personal tastes in terms of non-fiction. I'm really glad that books like this are being published more frequently as they can be very validating to individuals who are struggling with their ace identity, compulsory sexuality and racism. Overall, it is a really solid nonfiction, would recommend.



Personal highlights:

"Help not Wanted"
"Frigidity"
"Refusal"
"Histories"
"Black Asexual Insight"

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, and Medical trauma

tina94's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Review to follow

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, Slavery, Colonisation, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Police brutality and Sexual violence

mfrisk's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

This was an excellent read for those wanting to delve into the intersections of asexuality, race, gender, and a multitude of other identities which impact our lives and how we view ourselves and others. I highly recommend folks pick this up and use it as a pathway to keep learning. 

The only reason I’m knocking off a star is it can at times get to be hard to digest all the information as a vast number of topics are covered here and at times it feels more like a research paper than a book. However, I can only hope the author will continue to write and give more space to these topics in further depth. All the topics discussed are worthwhile but some could constitute their own books so it can be hard to absorb all we are learning. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Ableism, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Slavery, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Moderate: Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Transphobia, and Toxic relationship

alexxcp's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Classism, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Rape, Police brutality, and Colonisation