Reviews with content warning for Rape - Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture

Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

29 reviews

alexxcp's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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pipn_t's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This was a really good book, highly recommend to anyone. It was a bit of a tough read but worth the effort. I appreciate that it included a land acknowledgement. It included. Historical timeline of a sexuality mentions, which was really interesting, and had a really unique perspective that I hope other people check out. I appreciate also the trigger warning headers at the beginning of sections that warrant it.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Gave me a lot to think about.

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mmccombs's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was both a personal and scholarly exploration of not only asexuality, but human sexuality as a whole. This book covers compulsory heterosexuality, anti-Blackness and it’s intersections/similarities/differences with acephobia, how capitalism demands our sexuality to be “productive,” and how this harms us all. I felt that this book was very strong in the beginning, offering very compelling and thoughtful examinations on incredibly complex social structures. After about the halfway point, I began to feel like things started to slide out of focus. I thought the chapter on Octavia E. Butler and other possible ace ancestors was interesting but entirely out of place, it almost felt like it’s own thing. I guess I liked the more academic/ lit review aspect of this book, though I imagine others will be more drawn to the historical connections and stories! All in all I think this is essential reading that goes beyond “Ace 101” (which is largely white and geared towards allo folks). This book left me feeling a lot less lonely and much more valid in my asexuality in a way other works haven’t, and has challenged a lot of my own internalized white cisheteropatriarchal ideas about sexuality, so for that I will be forever grateful.

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lettuce_read's review against another edition

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5.0

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kirstenf's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

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elenushka8's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Thanks to North Atlantic Books for the free advance copy of this book.

- REFUSING COMPULSORY SEXUALITY not only digs deeper into how asexuality is viewed and why it is often rejected by allosexual people, it also shows clearly how acephobia is closely intertwined with many other social constructs, from racism to capitalism.
- This book is quite academic and took me awhile to get through, but it's more than worth it to devote a chunk of time to it. Brown has written a seminal work here, and I think scholars, educators, and thinkers will be referring to it for a long time to come.

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nightnurselit's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

Sherronda J Brown explores the oppression of asexuals through the eyes of a black cis female. She describes in depth the history of injustice asexuals have faced, while coinciding the fetishization and hypersexualization of black bodies since colonial times. Black female identifying ACEs as they often call themselves are faced with living in a heteropatriarchial society and are victim to both misogyny and misogynoir. America has historically simultaneously pleasured and profited from the sexualization of black bodies. This book gives examples from the plantation era Jezebel to modern trends on Pornhub. Black women have been demonized and seen as promiscuous to protect the real sexual predators, men.
Being asexual and black is not considered normative or natural. ACE women face being infantilized and dehumanized by acephobics who are not actually afraid, just disgusted by things not seen as normal to them. Research has gone into the psychological issues of not desiring sex until recently and have gone as far as individuals deciding corrective r*** was a solution. SA whether coerced or forced is common in ACE women to remedy their “problem”. Many ACEs even have sex to maintain relationships although it is not pleasurable to them. ACEs are neither fully accepted by the straight or LGBTQ communities which are both largely based on sexuality, although some ACEs identify as queer.
As a cis hetero black woman I found this work fascinating. I was intrigued to explore an internalized biases and ignorances I had about asexuality. I felt while the ideas aren’t revolutionary, they were ideas I had never considered before. In an oversexed society a woman’s worth can be based on her sexual desirability. I can’t imagine trying to navigate the world with my sexuality being constantly infantilized and dehumanized. I have a new found respect for the perils of living authentically asexual in a heteropatriarchial society.
At times this book could be wordy or drag but it it easily consumable. I would not recommend this work to anyone sensitive to SA, r*** culture or racism. This book gives fair trigger warnings but if you are sensitive to those subjects this book was not written for you.

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