Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

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

18 reviews

cedence's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Each chapter of the book has its own trigger warnings for content as it deal with mistreatment of black people, esp. black women and black (a)sexuality, and generally is informative on what constitutes acephobia and the narration of asexuality as "abnormal" and an illness thoughout history. I added some of them below. 

The book focuses in on asexual people who do not experience sexual attraction at all. 

The book focuses on US history and context. 

This book will show you the clear ties between white supremacy, the patriarchy and capitalism to  racism, queerphobia, and compulsory sexuality. It will share with you how black sexuality has been forced, shaped and willfully misinterpreted by white supremacy agendas. It will also contain testimonies of lived black asexual experiences. And it will end on a positive note on the futures of asexual people. 

Loved it. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Classism, Colonisation, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, and Slavery

beals's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Mental illness, Rape, Xenophobia, Slavery, Sexual content, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Violence, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, and Genocide

tina94's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Review to follow

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Police brutality and Sexual violence

mfrisk's review against another edition

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. 

---

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

literarycryptid's review against another edition

challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Colonisation, Slavery, Sexual harassment, and Acephobia/Arophobia

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Gave me a lot to think about. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Sexual content, Gaslighting, Rape, Fatphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Sexual violence, and Racism

Moderate: Slavery, Colonisation, and Medical content

Minor: Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, Animal death, Mass/school shootings, and Transphobia

White supremacy

caseythereader's review against another edition

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. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Slavery, Transphobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Biphobia, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Bullying, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

nightnurselit's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Acephobia/Arophobia, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Rape