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

3.0

Content elevated my already developing understandings of ACE spectrum and experience, as someone working toward better defining the self and processing harm caused by heterocompulsory sexuality, but I also felt unwelcomed by the delivery of the information. Part of that is the long-winded academic writing I often find destabilizes my confidence and brings up learning difficulties (lots of "why don't I know this word, why don't I understand this phrase, am I foundationally unfit to read this?" This is obviously a me problem, and not a book problem, but my experience reading it felt challenging. I wanted (badly) the information (as I explore ACE spectrum for myself), but the format kept me scraping by and wrestling with myself to go forward. I also found it to be drilling repeat information to the reader as opposed to flowing toward concrete analysis or ideas or further thinking. I struggle with this kind of repetition in nonfiction. I appreciate smaller reminders of where I've been in the text.