DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

PRISONS FOR OUR BODIES

, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
115
RBQDIES
MINDS'
xuality
L What ate some of the
specific problems that have resulred from seeing racism
and heterosexism as two distinct sysrems of oppression?
2. According to Collins
, what are some of the ways rhat racism and hererosexism
have been institUtionalized) Can you identify addirional means?
3. How does heterosexism impact hererosexual African
Americans?
4. How have rhe
interconnected systems of racism and heterosexism produced
gendet-specific consequences?
White fear of black sexuality is a basic ingredient of white racism.
Cornel \'V'esr
For African Americans
, exploring how sexualiry has
been manipulated in defense of racism is not
new.
Scholars have long examined the
ways in which
white fear of black sexuality
" has been a basic ingre-
dient of racism. For example
, colonial regimes rou-
tinely manipulated ideas aboUt sexuality in order to
maintain unjust power relarions.
' Tracing the his-
tory of contact berween English explorers and colo-
nists and West African societies
, historian Winthrop
Jordan contends that English perceprions of sexual
practices among African people reflected preexisting
English beliefs about Blackness
, teligion, and ani-
mals.
2 American historians point to the
significance
of sexuality to chattel slavery. In the United Srates
for example
, slaveowners relied upon an ideology of
Patricia Hill Collins
, "
Prisons for Our Bodies
, Closets for Our
Minds" from Black Sexual Politics.
Copyright (Q 2004 by Roudedge.
Reprinred wirh the permission of Roudedge
, a division of Taylor &
Francis Group.
Black sexual deviance to regulate and exploit enslaved
Africans;' Because Black feminist analyses pay more
attention to women
s sexualiry, they too identify how
the sexual exploitation of women has been a
basic
ingredient of racism. For example
, studies of African
American slave women routinely point to sexual vic-
timization as a defining feature of American slavery.
Despite the important contribUtions of this extensive
literature on race and sexuality, because much of the
literature assumes that sexuality means
heterosexual-
ity, it ignores how racism and hererosexism influence
one another.
In the United States
, the assumprion that racism
and heterosexism constitute rwo
separare systems
of oppression masks how each relies upon the orher
for meaning. Because neirher system of
oppression
makes sense withoUt the orher
, racism and heterosex-
ism might be better
viewed as sharing one history
with similar yer disparate
effects on all Americans
differentiated by race
, gender, sexuality, class
, and
nationaliry. People who are positioned at the margins
R AND SEXUALITY
ONS' THEORIZING SEX, GENDE ,
. RETHINKING
FOUNDATI '
APPING RACISM AND
d who ate harmed by both typI-
EROSEXISM: THE PRISON of both systems an
boUt the intersections of taCtsm
~~~
THE CLOSET cally taise questIons a
d/ot more forcefully
much ear let an
and hererosexlsm
ositions of privilege.
ded the struggle in prison as a mIctO-
Ie w 0 a
e tegar than those peop
racism and heterosex-
s a whole. We would
f intersectIons 0
m of the suugg e a
In the case 0
. bisexual, and ttansgendere
cos , '
fou ,ht oUtside, The tac- . m Black lesbIan
, gay,
ro uesrion fighr InSIde as we had
IS ,
mong the rst
' 1 would SIm-
(LGBT) people were a
re interconnected. As ism and repression were t e same
d hererosexlsm a '
fo rms
how raCIsm an
LGBT eople point oUt
, assum-
ply have to fight on d,
frent te
d I
African AmetIcan
I and that -
Nelson Man e a
lack eople
are heterosexua ,
ing char all B
hite distorts the experIences
all LGBT people are W
h comparisons
when it comes to
raCIsm m
of LGBT Black people. Moreover
, su
:ut sexualiry to
Like Nelson Mandelas v
~frican American women and the si nificance of Ideas ab
the Unired States, life fo
' Cerrainly the
mIStea
d to bemg m pnso . racism and race ro heterosexlsm.
alir in general
men can be compare
enca sulates the histOrical place- Until recently, questions of se
xu
reated as
metaphor of the prISO
e US. olirical economy. . ular ave e
f Af . AmerIcans I and homosexualIty In parnc
. hin antiracisr African
ment 0 nca
litical rights under chattel slavery an crosscutting, dIVIsive Issues Wlr
s issue of ensuring
The absence 0 po
. nand the use of police state powers
American politics, The c
~nse~:u allegedly crosscut-
Jim Crow segreg
~:ericans in urban ghetros have meant nit subordmate r
and aInst Afncan
ften with little
raCIa
b th sttatg r
Id be su Juga e , ting issue of analyzing sex
~a I
~' n ochallenged from
that Black peop e cou
sons are rarely run solely by force. gay alike. This suppression as
b e~ heterosexual and
recourse, Moreover
, pr
~ as strip searches, verbal abuse
cwo direcrions. Black women
, o
olirics of African
Routine practIces suc
le es and ignoring
physical and
esbian have criticized the sexua P
Inerable
restricting
basIC pnvi
g,
to control prisoners by
, .
' h leave women vu l
ong Inmates al American commUnItIeS t at al
assaulr. Black fern i-
sexual assau t am m Visiting his brother Robbie, who was
to single motherhood and sexu
halle ed Black
dehumanIzIng rhe
ntence in a Pennsylvania prIson,
. crs have c
d on a Ile se ' nist and womanIsr
prole
le standard that
mcarcertare
scribes this disciplinary process.
of a sexua ou
ohn I eman communIty norms .
h' h men are
aut or
n for behavIOrs m
IC
b' ed
punishes wome
and lesbians have also .
rced to become an inmate. Su lecr equally culpable, Black gay
tics that deny their
The VISIcor IS fa
humiliarion and depersonalization.
same sexua po I
he same SOrtS 0
. h f h
critiCIze r ese d
' h' churches, familIes
tOt
I s inrimidatedbythem,g ro r e right ro be fully accepte Wit I
:rganizarions. Borh
Made co feel power ::t
~d like both childten and ancient and other Black commu
~Ity .
n the hererosexism
state, VISIcorsare u
We experience a crash course that groups of critics argue tha
~ Ig:or
~ders the develop-
incorrIgIble sm
;ers. tic
unforgetrable fashion juSt how ~har underpins Black parnarc y
' As Cathy
reaches us in a
rama .
' .
. n s estimation, We also Black sexual po
IrICS.
, ner is in the msmuno ment of a progressIve
nd "Black people
Iowa pnso '
dl e can descend co the same depth. ... Cohen and Tamara Jones conte
under-
learn how rap' Y w
es prying machmes,
' liberatory politics that includes a
eep
of
We suffer the keepers prymg eY
, wirhour any
nee a '
erates as a system
d We let them loc us standing of how heterosex
:m ~: and in
conjunction
prying han hs. d ors will open when we wish co
leave.
oppression, both mdepen ,;~r
need a black liberarory
guarantee t e tl
~eit risoners until they release us. That with other such syste
lesbian ay, bisexual
, and
We are m fact To u
~nsform the visicor inco somerhmg h t affirms ac
was rei ea. polItICS r a "
'111 need a black liberatOry
, d d feared. A prisoner. cransgender sexualIrIes
ri : les sexuality and gen-
he despISe an
politics that unders
ran s t ero
sion rooted in many
. "
of the anti-civil rights der play in reinforcmg the oppres
rogressive Black
As direCt
reCIplentS
servarive Republican
"6 D velopmg a P
nder con black communIrIes. e .
how racism and
a vance u
African Americans living m al politics tequires exammmg
I tions
, contemporary sexu
mutUally construCt one anot 1er.
hererosexIsm
cities experienced the brunt of punitive
governmen-
tal policies that had a similat
intentY Dealing wirh
impersonal bureaucracies often subjected them to the
same sorts of " humiliarion and depersonalization
" that
Wideman felt while visiting his brother. Just as he was
made to feel powerless
, intimidated by the might of
the state," residents of African American inner-city
neighborhoods who deal with insensitive police officers
unresponsive social workers
, and disinterested reachers
report similar feelings.
African American reactions to racial resegregation
in the post-civil rights era
, especially rhose living in
hyper-segregared
, poor inner-city neighborhoods
resemble those of people who are in prison. Prisoners
that rum on one another are
much easier to manage
than ones whose hostility is aimed ar their jailers, Far
too often, African Americans coping with racial segre-
gation and ghertoization simply rum on one another
reflecting heightened levels of alienation and nihil-
ism. '" Faced with no jobs
, crumbling public school sys-
tems, rhe influx of drugs into rheir neighborhoods
, and
the easy availability of guns
, many blame one another.
Black yoUth are especially vulnerable.
" As urban pris-
oners, the predilecrion for some Black men ro kill others
over seemingly unimportant items such as gym shoes
jewelry, and sunglasses often seems incomprehensible
ro Whire Americans and ro many middle-
class Black
Americans. Privileged groups routinely assume that all
deserving Americans live in decent housing, attend safe
schools with caring reachers
, and will be rewarded for
their hard work with college
opportuniries and good
jobs, They believe that undeserving Blacks and Larinos
who remain locked up in deteriorating inner cities get
what they deserve and do not merir social programs
that will show them a
fUture. This closing door of
opportunity associated with hyper-segregation creares
a siruation of shrinking opportunities and neglect, This
is the exact climate drat breeds a cultUre of violence
that is a growing
component of "
street culture" in
working-class and poor Black neighborhoods,
Given this context
, why should anyone be surprised
that rap lyrics often rell the stOries of
young Black
men who feel char they have nothing ro lose
, save their
respeCt under a "
code of the screec
"" Ice Cube s 1993
rap "It Was a Good Day," describes a "
good" day for a
young Black man living in Los Angeles. On a "
good"
day, he didn
t fire his gun, he gOt food that he wanted ro
PRISONS FOR OUR BODIES, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
11'
eat, the cops ignored him and didn
t pull him over for
an imaginary infraction
, and he didn t have to kill any-
one. Is this art imirating life
, or vice vetsa? Sociologist
Elijah Anderson
s ethnographic studies of working-
class
and poor Black yourh living in Philadelphia suggests
thar for far roo many young African American males
Ice Cube s bad days are only roo reaL" Just as male
prisoners who are perceived as being weak encounter
relenrless physical and sexual violence
, weaker mem-
bers of African American communities are preyed upon
by the strong. Rap artist Ice T explains how masculin-
ity and perceived weakness operate:
You don t understand anyone who is weak. You look
at gay people as prey, There isn
t anybody in the
gheuo teaching that Some people
s sexual preferences
ate predisposed, You
re just ignorant. You gOt to get
educated, you gOt to get our of rhat jail cel! cal!ed the
ghettO to real!y begin to understand. Al! you see is a
sissy. A soft dude. A punk.
Women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
people, children, people living with HIV
, drug addictS
prostitUtes, and others deemed ro be an embarrassment
to the broader African American community or a drain
upon its progress or simply in the wrong place at the
wrong time become targets of silencing, persecution
and or abuse. This is whar prisons
do-they breed
intolerance.
The experiences of people in prison also shed light
on the myriad forms of African American
resisrance
ro the srrictures of racial
oppression. No matter how
restrictive the prison
, some prisoners find ways ro resist,
Often within plain sight of their guards
, people who
are imprisoned devise ingenious ways ro rejeCt prison
policies. Nelson Mandela tecounts the numerous ways
that he and his fellow prisoners outwitted
, undermined
rricked, and, upon occasion
, confronted rheir captors
during rhe twenty-seven years that he spent as a poliri-
cal prisoner in South African prisons. Craving news of
the political struggle oUtside
, prisoners communicated
by writing in milk on blank paper
, letring it dry to
invisibility and
, once the note was passed on
, making
the words reappear with the disinfectant used ro clean
their cells. They smuggled messages ro one another in
plastic wrapped packages hidden in food drums. '6 In
the case of solitary confinement where an inmate could
118
. THEORIZING SEX, GENOER
, AND SEXUAlITY
. RETHINKING
FOUNDATIONS.
offered by Northern states. But just as gender
r -three hours a day in a dark
freedom lor
and class affeCt the contours of oppres be locked up for twen y
red n act of resistance. As age
, skIn
me cate ories shape strategies of
constIrU
. '
tsel r eseve
cell, just surVIVIng
" '
son is designed to break ones
slOn I
African American women
s slave nar~a-
Mandela observes, ~n
Ive To do this, the authori- resIstan
~e. As
en and young people could more easIly spirit and destroy one s res
~ ~eakness demolish
every tives pOInt :ut, m ning away than women
, mothers, and
ties attempt to expl
~lr ev
:/of individ~aliry-all with
break out / r
;~en as now, African American women initiative, negate a
SIg hat spark that makes each of
older peop
to leave their families, and many sac-
the idea of stampIng our r
"17 Mandela and are often re ucrant
dom in order to sray behind
h f us w 0 we are.
h ' persona ree
us human and eac 0 '
d the function of actUal
nfice t elr own
and for others who depend on his fellow prisoner
~ reco
;::~: and of apartheid polic
ifs and cate ~or ChII
~::w segregation
, very light-skinned prisons under raCIa apar
them, n er ,1m
difficulr choice of "
pass-
rIson.
Amencans face t e
as an extenSIOn 0
. s resemble
ncan
behind. More recent y,
, .
theIr every ay
Ive
. " d I ' ng their love ones
RecognIzIng r at
politicizes individu-
Ing an eavl
' .
the antidiscrimination an
' '
nmates 0 ten
bene CIarIeS
those 0
prIson I
frican Americans who were
as prIme .
olicies of the civil rights movement
also AutObIOgraphIes by A
olirical beliefs, for exam-
affirmatIve aCtIon p nd affluent African Americans have
imprisoned beca
~se of theIr ~ Shakur
, or who became
many mlddle-clas
;hire suburbs. Such
acrions certaInly pie, Angela DavIs and Assat .
nment for example, moved to dIStant
e the problems associated with
politicized during their
lmpnso
o :he si nificance reflect a desire
:o escap
ack nei hborhoods. If one
e Jac son, pOln
d wor Ing-c ass
Malcolm or
eor
I st for resistance. In rhe
poor an "
, f d m as Nike ads proclaim, why not
of actual incarceratIon as a c
~~a ~class African
American can "buy one s ree o
~ce 'and " just do ir
1980s, many poor and
work g ban
ghettos and facing
exerCIse personal ch
African Americans have recog-
youth who were locke up In ~r refused
to turn their
In other sItUatIon
;, he rison and, through unruly, the closing door of opportUnIty
an chose to rap
nized the confines 0 r
~hrou h organized political
rage upon one another. Insread
, m Y
d them and in
spontaneous UprISIngs or rh
~t jailers. A series of
about the violence and into
lerance
culture rhar protests, have tUrne~ U
h as New York
, Detroit
d n In uentIa
. '
s In CIne
rhe process, create a
C f d' n the SoUth
ur an UprISl
(1992) and CincInnatI
~;~~=~
:::~:~ ~a:~s
:~~;~~~~~~i
~ ;~:~:o
::~
~~:i r
~~;y
~he
~~p
~~:::i
:~~~n
~ ~
~~a
;:h
;~~: :::
by virtUally everyone
, Afncan
break dancing, tag- working-
class Afnca
little money, and dwindling
Afro-Caribbean yoUth created rap,
reations.
18
rible hoUSIng, no )0 s, .
II the same-
police
t: h' sand other cu tura c
The catalyst IS usua y
, .
ging (graffitI), as IOn .
d da represents the rip prospects.
I ck African American
CItizens. Ice Cube s rap about hIS goo
other ub- brurality agaInst un u
Iso eflect rhis process
berg It Jew
. d Black prorests
of an immense hIp- op ICe
that had More organIze
. ,
and refusing to
h . rage at a soCIety
lailers 0
raCIS
lic forums to sha
:e r el~ out off Black youth used rap
of tUrnIng upon r
:st laws and custOms.
HistOrically, so thoroughly wrItten t em
. '
f 0 ortUnity cooperate WIth un)
f ican Americans impov-
and hip-hop to protest the cl
;~g
~:::n~ty ~;: the face
social formations t
~at ~;;r
chatrel slavery, labo(
in their lives and to claIm t e
. nand ghet-
erished and vIrtua y p
thern agriculrure
, and of the dehumanization of
raCIal segregatIo
uch exploitation of the JIm Crow
ou
s-all S arke4
f noncooperatIon '
h of ur an g er
tOization. :'~ho
::~~e
:la and his colleagues and
the cont
;~i
;:~w
:merican political prorest
A16~)i
as those ex lite
f resistance such as hip- organIze
t the formation of the N
without developIng new forms 0
vived
abolitIOnIst movemen ,
(1910) the size of Marc
l15i'
hoP
;~:~~s~:~:~~~7:~~;:0:~:r ~f ;:i~~~; TYPi
~ll
f ~~:~;;~I
:~: ~~::n~~~~~nired ~egrO
::fc
Iy come oUt '
h anyorganIZatIO
cc.
incarcerated people cannot v
untarI "
Under chat-
AssociatIon (192 . s ,
tern d
Black Power movemen
tfv fi d way to brea our.
. rhe CtvII rIghts an
prison but must n
d R ilroad cer-
Ipare m
f Black youth tro"
h' r of the Undergroun a
d h increased VISI I Ity 0 c
tel slaver
~~~~:d ~~~ ~spirations of enslaved Africans to
; cultUre reflect resisrance to racism.
tam y re
d to flee to the quasI
break out of the prISon 0 savery an
Racism may be likened to a prison
, yet sexual oppres-
sion has more often been portrayed using the metaphor
of the "closet."'" This metaphor is roUtinely invoked to
describe the oppression of lesbian
, gay, bisexual
, and
transgendered people, Historically, because religion
and science alike defined homosexuality as deviant
LGBT people were forced to conceal their sexualiry,
2I'
For homosexuals
, the closet provided some protec-
rion from homophobia thar stigmatized LGBT sexual
expression as deviant. Being in the closet meant rhar
most hid their sexual orientation in the most important
areas of rheir lives, With family, friends
, or ar work
many LGBT people passed as "
straight" in ordet to
avoid suspicion and exposure. Passing as straight fos-
tered the perception that few gays and lesbians existed.
The invisibility of gays and lesbians helped normalize
heterosexuality, fueled homophobia
, and Supported
hererosexism as a system of power.
Because closets are highly individualized
, situated
within families
, and distributed across the segregated
spaces of racial
, erhnic, and class neighborhoods
, and
because sexual identity is
rypically negotiared later
than social identities of gender
, race, and class
, LGBT
people often believe thar rhey are alone. Being in the
private, hidden, and domestic space of the closer leaves
many LGBT adolescents to suffer in
silence. During
the era of racial segregation
, heterosexism operated as
smoothly as it did because hidden or closeted sexuali-
ties remained relegated to the margins of
society within
racial/ethnic groups. Staying in the
closer stripped
LBGT people of rights. The absence of political rights
has meant that sexual minorities could be fired from
their jobs, moved from their housing, have their chil-
dren raken away in custody battles
, dismissed from
the milirary, and be targets of random street violence
often with little recourse, Rendering LGBT sexualities
virtually invisible enabled rhe
system of heterosex-
ism to draw strength from rhe seeming naturalness of
heterosexuality.
Since the 1980s
, gay, lesbian, bisexual , and transgen-
dered people have challenged heterosexism by coming
our of rhe closet. If the invisibility of sexual oppression
enabled it to operare unopposed
, then making herero-
sexism visible by being "
out" attacked hererosexism
at irs core. Transgressing sexual borders became the
hallmark ofLGBT politics. The individual decision to
come out to one
s family or friends enabled formerly
PRISONS FOR OUR OODlES
, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
closeted LGBT people to live openly and to unsettle
the normalizarion of
heterosexuality. Transgression
also came to characterize one strand of gay group poli,.
tics, moving from the gay and lesbian identiry politic,
of the first phase of "
gay liberation
" to more tecem
queer politics,
" Gay pride marches rhat embrace drag
queens, cross-dressers, gay men who are flamboyantly
dressed, individuals with indererminate gender identi-
ties, and mannish lesbians push rhe envelope beyond
accepting the LGBT people who are indistinguishable
from everyone else
, save for this one area of sexual ori-
entation. Through public
, visible, and ofren oUtrageous
acts
, "
queering" normal sexuality became anorher hall-
mark of LGBT politics, The phrase
, "
re queer, we
here, ger used to it
" embraces a clear stance of defi-
ance. Ar rhe same rime
, another strand of gay politics
strives to be seen as "
good gay citizens
" who should be
entitled ro the same tighrs as everyone
else, Practices
such as legirimating gay martiages and supporting
adoptions by gay and lesbian couples consritUte another
expression of rransgression. By aiming for the legiti-
macy granted heterosexual couples and families
, gay
and lesbian couples simultaneously uphold family yet
profoundly challenge its meaning.
Racism and heterosexism
, the prison and the closet
appear to be
separate systems
, bUt LGBT
African
Americans point out rhat
both systems affect their
everyday lives. If racism and heterosexism affect Black
LGBT people
, then these systems
affect all people
including heterosexual African Americans. Racism and
heterosexism certainly converge on certain key points.
For one, borh use similar srate-sanctioned insritutional
mechanisms to maintain racial and sexual hierarchies.
For example
, in the United States
, racism and hetero-
sexism both tely on segregating people as a mecha-
nism of social COntrol. For racism
, segregation operares
by using race as a visible marker of group member-
ship that enables the State to relegate Black people to
inferior schools
, housing, and jobs. Racial segregation
relies on enforced membership in a visible community
in which racial discrimination is
tOlerared, For hetero-
sexism, segregation is enforced by pressuring LGBT
individuals to temain closeted and thus segregated
from one another. Before social movements for gay and
lesbian liberation
, sexual segregarion meant rhat refus-
ing to claim homosexual identities vitrually eliminated
any group-based political aCtion to resist heterosexism.,-
DEli AND SEXUALITY
, .
' TIONS: THEOlllZING SEX,
GEN "
l\ETHINKIN(' I.
OU"DA
sitional categones of Whites
ace through rwo oppo
f men h ed a very important ro e
nder through tWO
caregorIes 0
For anotber
, th~ St ~ h
~to?oppression. In support of
and Blacks, :~d
sexuality rhrough twO oppositional in sancnonlUg ot
or
ws that regulated where
and wo.men,
exuals and homosexuals, A mas- racism, the state sancno.ned la
' and atrend school. In
caregones of hetero
~ d deviant overlays and bundles
Black people co.uld live
, Wo
; maintained laws that
ter binary of norm
~:r lesser binaries, In this contexr
support ofbererosexlsm
, the
LGBT people
tOgether these and
teness which ironically, sh hate CrImes agalUSr '
. bout "normal race WI refused to punt '
LGBT people were
I eas a I
) "
normal" gender (us
lUg
that failed to
o.ffer protectIon W
nerall sent a
masquerades as race
essness '
d "normal" sexuality d h' ld en an oat ge
s the norm, a sttipped of jobs
n T c I
~e ~ho came oUt of the closet rnale experIe
~ces :hich o.perates in a similar hegemonic
messa e thar L
peo
hererosexua Ity,
rher In essence
, to be
. k 's
, h I bun e
tOge .
did so at rheit own tIS .
on set
fashion) are tIg t Y
White masculine also s are a co ,
I" one must Racism and hererosexlsm "
la- completely norma,
. White mascu- I' d to disCIplIne t le popu
I rhe core hegemo.nlC
, '
of ptactices that are c eslgne
uo These disciplinaty and hererosexua
. I norm is hard to see because It tion intO acceptIng the statUS q
e enotmous amount of
liniry, ThIs mythlca Irs antithesis, its Other
, would
practices can best be seen In rh
d o.r anized reli-
so taken-
for-granted
n a fact that Black lesbian
, '
d b th by the
stare a
b BI k female
, an es I , arrenno.n pal
arria " e, If marriage were e
, ac ,
L de ointed out some time ago. gion ro the Inst
;rut
:1 occ~rrence between het- fem
;Is~ ~u
:~s :;posftional logic
, the core binary of
in taCt a natura an '
f 'r occurred natUrally wirhlU
It I
becomes ground zero for juStIfYIng rac- erosexual couples and I I
need to regulate it,
normal/deviant ,
e deviancy assigned to race there wou
e no
d heterosexIsm. racial categorIes,
f the opposite
Ism an
becomes an Important
Peo le would natUrally choose partners 0
laws have and that assigned to sexua
Ity
systems Racism and d a setles 0
b ween t e cwo
sex and the same race. nst
:e 'ulare marriage, For
point of contaCt et e uire a concept of
sexual deviancy
been passed
, all desIgned 0
has rewarded
beteroseXIsm both t q
eviance takes within the tax system
t the lorm t la example, for many years
been denied
fot meaning, ye
the oint of deviance . I ' rh taX breaks t lar lave
m differs. For raCIsm marrIed coup es WI
s The message
each sysre
White heterosexl/abty
that
r unmarne coup
. '
d by a no,-ma lZe ro single taxpayers 0
od financial sense to get mar-
IS cteate
deviant Black
heterosexl/ality
ro give It
is clear-
It makes go
marr witbin depends on a
oint of deviance IS cre-
, .
coura e peop e
r heterosexIsm, r ried. SimIlar y, to en
d laws ban-
mean lUg. 0
' d \Y/hite heterosexl/a Ity merous stares passe
h' vety same
no"na lze their assIgne race, nu
Tl ese restrictions lasted
ated y t
IS d
deviant White homosexl/abty.
Just
nin interracial marrIage. 1
' .
n 1967
that now depen s on a
srl marizarion of the k S e Court
eCISIO
requIteS t e until the land mar l
;rrem The srare has also passed
as racial no.rma 1
7 Black people, hererosexual normal- that overtUrned state awS,
arr In sexual practIces 0
of the sexual prac- LGBT peo.p e rom
the stIgmatIza I laws designed to eep
d I Federal Defense of
ity relies upon
I both cases
, installing WhIte
1996, the US. Congress passe r le
legal union
rices of ho.mosexuals, n
and ideal requires d fi d marrIage as a
I' norma narura, Marriage Act thar e ne
" In all of these cases,
hererosexua Ity as x
:,alities as abnormal
, unnaru-
between one man and one woman.
. nterest in
stigmatizing altemare se
, h r has a compe Ing I
' f I tbe srare perceives t ar I
d to marry the rat
, an SlU U .
. . g the sexual practices 0
disciplining the population to marry an
The purpose of stIgm
';;~T eople may be similar,
26
I. -
pie and rhose 0. ' correct partners. '
manufacture ideolo-
B ac peo
f I xual deviance assigned ro eac Racism and hererosexIsm a so
When ideologies that
bur the content 0 t le se
the stigma of
promisCllity
or:
gies that defend the statUS quo.
become taken-
for- differs, Black peo.ple c
:~~ererosexual desire. This is the defend racism and he
~erosexI
:: and inevirable
, they exceSSIve or unrest
;alU
~as borh been assigned to Black granted and appear ro e natU
hem and the social
sexual devIancy t lat
onstrucr racism. In contrast,
become hegemonic. Few
d qu
;StIon t and hererosexism
people and been use h
:o s
~igma of ejecting hererosexu-
hierarchies they defen,
aClsm
that uses
LGBT people carty t
ed homosexual desire, nltlve ramewo
lU unteSrral both share a common co
, '
d I gies. Such
aliry y engagl
' red wirh promiscuItY
binary thinking ro produce
hegemonIC I eo 0. lr
views
Whereas tbe
devIancy assoCI
thinking relies on oppositional
categorIes.
(and, by implication, with Black people as a
race) is
rhought ro lie in an
exm:r of heterosexual desire
, rhe
parhology of homosexuality (the invisible
, closeted
sexuality that becomes impossible within heterosexual
space) seemingly resides in the
abse",' of it,
While analytically distinct
, in praCtice, these two
sites of construcred deviancy work tOgether and both
help creare the "sexually repressive culture
" in America
described by Cberyl Clarke.
'" Despite their significance
for American society o.verall
, here 1 confine my argu-
ment ro the challenges that confront Black people.'9
Both sets of ideas frame a hegemonic discourse of
Black
sexuality rhat has at its core ideas about an
assumed
promiscuiry among hererosexual African American
men and women and rhe impossibility of homosexual-
ity among Black gays and lesbians,
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE
RACIALIZATION OF PROMISCUITY
Ideas about Black promiscuity that produce contem-
porary sexualized speCtacles such as Jennifer Lopez
Destiny s Child
, Ja Rule, and the many young Black
men on the US. ralk show circuit have a long
histOry,
HistOrically, Western science
, medicine, law, and popu-
lar culture reduced an African-
derived aesthetic con-
cerning the use of the body, sensuality, expressiveness
and spitituality to an ideology
abour Black sexl/ality.
The distinguishing feature o.f this
ideo.logy was its reli-
ance on the idea of Black promiscuity. The possibil-
icy of distinctive and worthwhile African-
influenced
worldviews on anything, including sexualiry, as well as
the heterogeneiry of African societies expressing such
views , was collapsed into an imagined
, pathologized
Wesrern discourse of whar was thought to be essentially
Aftican.
'o To varying degrees, observers from England
France, Germany, Belgium, and other colonial powers
perceived African sensuality, eroticism
, spirituality,
and/or sexuality as deviant
, our of control , sinful , and
as an essential featUre of racial difference.
Western religion, science, and media took over 350
years to manufactUre an ideology of Black
sexual-
icy thar assigned (hererosexual) promiscuity ro Black
people and then used it to justify racial discriminatio.n.
The racism of slavery and colonialism needed ideologi-
cal justification. Toward this end
, preexisting British
PRISO"S FOR OUR BODIES
, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
perceptions of Blackness became reworked to frame
notions of racial difference that
, over time, became
fOlded into a broader primitivist discourse on
race.
Long before the English explored Africa
, the terms
black" and "white" had emotional meaning within
England, Before co.lonizarion
, whire and black con-
nored opposites of purity and filthiness
, virginity and
sin, virtue and baseness, beauty and ugliness
, and God
and rhe deviL" Bringing this preexisting framework
with tbem, English explorers were especially taken by
Africans' color. Despite aCtual variations o.f skin color
among African people
, rhe English described rhem as
being black, an exaggerated term which in itself sug-
gests that the Negro s complexion had powerful impact
upon their perCeptio.ns.
"" From first contaCt
, biology
matrered-racial difference was embodied, European
explorers and the rraders
, colonists, and setders who
followed were also struck by the
differences between
their own culrures and those of continental Africans.
Erroneously intetpteting African culrures as being
inferior to rheir o.wn
, European colonial powers rede-
fined Africa as a "primitive" space, filled with Black
peo.ple and devoid of the accoUtrements of mOte civi-
lized cultures. In this way, rhe broad erhnic diversity
among rhe people of continental Africa became reduced
ro more generic terms such as "
primitive
" "
savage
and "native. " Wirhin these categories
, one could be an
Ashanti or a Yoruba
, but each was a savage
, primitive
native all the same, The resulting primitivist discourse
redefined African societies as inferior.
Western natural and social
sciences were deeply
involved in constructing this primitivisr
discourse
that reached full fruition in the nineteenth and eady
twentieth centuries
Through laboratory experi-
ments and field reseatch
, Western science attempted
to undersrand these perceived racial differences while
creating, through its own praCtices
, those very same
differences. For example
, Sarah Barrmann s dissection
illustrates this fascination with biological diffetence
as rhe site of racial difference
, with sexual difference
of women further identified as an important
tOpic o.f
srudy
.'6 Moreover
, this perception of Africa worked
with an important idea within nineteenth-century
science, namely, the need ro classify and rank objeCts
places, living things, and people, Everything bad
its
place and all places were ranked..
" With its primitive-
ness and alleged jungles
, Africa and its peoples marked
. RETHINKING
FOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX
, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
the bonom, the worst place ro be
, and a place ripe for
colonial conquest. Yet at the same time
, Africa was
dangerous, different, and alluring, This new
caregory
of primitive siruared Africans just below Whites and
right above apes and monkeys, who marked rhis bound-
ary distinguishing human from animals. Thus, wirhin
Western science
, African people and apes occupied a
fluid border zone between humans and animals.
Wirh all living
crearures classified in this way,
Western scientists perceived African people as being
more natUral and less civilized
, primarily because
Aftican people were deemed ro be closer ro animals and
natUre, especially the apes and monkeys whose appear-
ance most closely resembled humans. Like African peo-
ple, animals also served as objects of stUdy for Wesrern
science because understanding rhe animal kingdom
mighr reveal important insighrs abour civilization
, cul-
tUre, and what distinguished the human "
race" from
its animal counterparts as well as the human "
races
from one another. Donna Haraway
s stUdy of prima-
rology illustrates Western scientists
' fascination with
identifying how apes differed from humans: "
the stUdy
of apes was more about humans, Moreover
, the close
proximity ro apes and
mopkeys that Africans occu-
pied within European derived taxonomies of life such
as the Grear Chain of Being worked ro link Africans
and animals through a series of overlapping construcrs.
Apes and Africans both lived in Africa
, a place of wild
animals and wild people. In both cases, their source of
wildness emerged from their lack of cultUre and their
acting oUt of instinct or bodily impulses.
"'" This fam-
ily tesemblance between African people and animals
was not benign-
viewing Africans and animals alike
as embodied creatures ruled by "
insrinct or bodily
impulses
" worked ro humanize apes and dehumanize
Black people.
In this context
, stUdying the sexual
practices of
African people and animals rook on special meaning.
Linking African people and animals was crucial ro
Western views of Black promiscuity. Geniral sexual
intercourse or, more colloquially, the acr of "
fucking,
characterized animal sexuality. Animals ate promis-
cuous because they lack intellect
, cultUre, and civili-
zation. Animals do nor have erotic lives; they merely
fuck" and
reproduce. Certainly animals could be
slaughtered
, sold, and domesricated as pets because
within capitalist political economies
, animals were
commodities that were owned as private property. As
the hisrory of animal breeding
suggests, the sexual
promiscuiry of horses, cattle
, chickens, pigs, dogs
, and
other domesticared animals could be profitable for
their owners. By being classified as proximate ro wild
animals and
, by analogy, eventually being conceptUal-
ized as being animals (chattel), the alleged deviancy of
people of African descent lay in their sexual promiscu-
ity., a "
wildness
" that also was believed to characterize
inimal sexuality. Those most proximate ro animals,
those most lacking civilization, also were those humans
wh~ ' came closest ro having the sexual lives of animals.
Lacking the benefits of Wesrern civilizarion
, people of
African descenr were perceived as having a biological
narure thar was inherently more sexual than that of
Europeans, The primitivist discourse thus created the
category of "
beasr" and rhe sexuality of such beasts
as "wild." The legal
classification of enslaved African
people as chattel (animal-
like) under American slavery
that produced controlling images of bucks,
jezebels,
and breeder women drew meaning from this broader
interpretive framework.
Hisrorically, rhis ideology of Black sexuality rhat
pivoted on a Black heterosexual promiscuity not only
upheld racism but it did so in
gender-specific ways. In
the context of U.
S. society, beliefs in Black male pro-
miscuity rook diverse forms during distinctive hisrori-
cal periods. For example
, defenders of chanel slavery
believed that slavery safely domesticated allegedly dan-
gerous Black men because it regulated rheir promiscu-
ity by placing it in the service of slave owners. Srrategies
of control were harsh and enslaved African men who
were born in Africa or who had access ro their African
past were deemed ro be rhe most dangerous. In con-
trast , the controlling image of the rapist appeared after
emancipation because Southern Whites
' feared that the
unfettered promiscu
ity of Black freedmen constitUted
a threat ro the Southern way of life. In this sitUation,
beliefs about White
womanhood helped shape the
mythology of rhe Black rapist. Making White women
responsible for keeping the purity of the White race
White men "
cast themselves as protecrors of civiliza-
rion, reaffirming not only their role as social and famil"
ial ' heads,' but their paternal property rights as
well:'4O
African American women encountered a parallel
set of beliefs concerning Black
female promiscuitY.
White Americans may have been repulsed by a Black
PRISONS FOR OUR BODIE
sexuality rhat they redefin
. . . .
s, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
. 1'
as unclvllIzed" ~ k' " -
ut the actions of White men d
uc Ing, natives) belong in
simultaneously were fascinat
onstrared rhat they
recrion) unassi
ature preserves (for rheir Own pro-
WIt t e Black
ate , undo
w 0 t ley thought engaged in it
. women working-
class Afr'
. mestIcated poor and
II
' n er menca
I an mencans b I
ery, a hIre men wirhin a slave-ow
f: . n s
av- segregated neighborhood
e ong In racially
treat enslaved African women wirhi
~ir
amIlY could
This belief in Black s
~omi '
lIes as sexual property, The m th rha
' own faml- take gender-specific for
:S
scUlry also continues to
sIble to rape Black women bec
~u t
It was Impos-
with the ideological I
. Afncan American men live
promiscuous helped mask rhe se
: r~ey were already
hererosexualiry throu
tacy that constructs Black male
enslaved Black women by their own
~: ~plottatIon of nals, and rapisrs. A c~lli
~mages of wIld beasrs
, crimi-
Black women for med'
. SIng enslaved by the m
g case was provIded in 1989
lea expenmentat'
e la coverage of a
anorher form of control A
. '
Ion constltured rhar came to
n espeCIally brutal crime
In IVI uals who
e nown as th "
to warch, dissect and
. .
are traIned panic. In th'
entral Park Jo
east a crItICal e
b"
IS case, a WhIte
cal and . social phenomena, scientists b
:: on IOlogl- jogging in Central Park w
:oman Investment banker
extraordrnatre of Black W
ame voyeurs and left for de
. s raped, severely beaten
mens 0 les F
. t r e tIme h
etween 1845 and 184
or example she had been
' t e po Ice believed rhat
anon SIms
gang-raped by
ered variously as the Father of A .
' now temem- and Larino adolescents Th
:s many as twelve Black
the Father of Modern Gynecolo men
~n Gynecology, is
not in question fo . h' e
orror of the crime itself
of the Vagina, conducted sur :~tn
the Architecr Bur as African A
~s ar~ack ~as . truly ~ppalling.
slave women in his backyard ho
~xpenments on Baker points out wh
cu tUfa crItIC Housron A.
Alabama. Aiming to cure sPI
~al In Montgomery,
case was the way i a
~was also noteworthy aboUt the
from hard or extended chil
fistulas resulting gender
, class and n
~ It crystallized issues of race
' lms ISCO d
ua lty In the
way to peer Inro Black women
vere a assault occurred dur
mass medIa. The
a slave woman into knee-ches
: vagInas. Placing Lucy,
and hip-hop cultu Ing a tIme
when young Black men
tion, Sims inserted a ewter s
pOS1tIon for examina-
ible in urban ubl.
re were becomIng increasingly vis-
'"
poon Into her va
IC space. Lacking
recounts, Inrroducin the be
Ina an recreation rooms an
spacIOUS basement
an e 0 rhe
we -rended soc
fi
saw everything, as no man ha
poon American and Latin
cer e s, African
Ii
ever seen befo Th
0 your set U th .
StU a was as plain as rhe nose
reo e streets and in ub!'
' elr eqUIpment on
Th
on a man s face ,"'
IC par s, creattn bl'
e events rhemselves may b b
rheaters. Graffiti bre kd
g pu IC hIp-hop
persisr under rhe new racism T
e over, . ur their effects boxes blastin rh~ an a ancIng,
and enormous boom
ent Black promiscui
' his belIef In an inher- "
blackened" g
gry lyncs of gangsta rap effecrivel
reappears toda
ur an spaces B k
depicting poor and working-
class
or example space became a site of con
~ a er
. ,
~scnbes how public
Inner-city neighborhoods as
dan
Afncan Amencan of the late rwentierh
roversy. Urban public space
gerous ur an
-century (be
were SUV-driving White subu b
Jung es audiovisual Contest It
. came. .. spaces of
drugs or locate prosritures also
r i ~~~t~s come to score boards and neon a~d :a
~~~ethIng like this: ' My bill-
racIal and sexual conquest H es
. a hIstory of television advertis
Ills and hlgh-decibel-level
wirh danger, and understa~din
: ~;x:alIty IS linked Your boom boxes :~~ a
::~~,
reIY fo~ the public good.
hlstOncal imagery of Africa a
. oth draw upon rhem
, shUt them do
~'.2 I
are evIl pollUtants. Erase
a ContInent repler
. h
wn.
anger and peril to the White ex I
e WIt The atrack in Central P
who penetrated it. usr as Contem
p orers and hunters cal
, social and Cultural
ar occurred in this politi-
poraty safar
COntext Th"
rIca creare an ima ned
I tours In followed th
. e par panic" rhat
rnca as t e "Wh"
I ent rew
playground" and mask its economi ,
. Iremans Black men in ublic
upon t IS fear of young
language masks social relation C
t;toItatIOn
, Jungle loudness, their ~ap m space
, as evidenced by their
thar leave working-
class Black Sc 0 ype
~segregation order (graffiti). In doin US1C
, ,
and their disrespect for
Impoverished, and dependent o
~~munItI~s Isolared ist ideology of Blacks g
~ It referenced the primitiv-
;tate and an illegal internarional drug ~~~:tI
~ ;elf~re such as "roving bands" and ,
:~;lIStI " ~edia phrases
OgIC
, Just as wild animals (and th
. . n er t IS to describe young urban Bl
k I
Jac t at were used
e proxImate AfrICan
this
ac an LatIno males dur-
peno were on!y comprehensible became
24 .
RETHINKING FOUNDATIONS: THEoRIZING SEX
, GENDER, AND sExuALITY
of long-
standing assumptions of Black promiscu-
icy. Drawing upon the histOrical
discourse on Black
promiscuity, the phrase "
to go buck wild" morphed
,,'intO the new verb
of "wilding
" that appeared virtU-
ally overnight. Baker is
especially insighrful in his
analysis of how the term "
wilding" sounded very much
like rapper Tone-
Loc s hit song "
Wild Thing," a song
whose content described sexual intercourse. "
Wilding
and " Wild Thing
" belong to the same nexus of mean-
ing, one that quickly circulated through mass media,
and became a plausible (at least as far as the media
was concerned), explanation for the brutality of the
crime.
" Resurrecting images of Black
men as preda-
tOry and wild
, rape and "
wilding" became inextricably
linked with Black masculinity.
The outcome of rhis
case shows how
deeply
entrenched
ideologies can produce
scenarios that
obscure the facts. Ironically, twelve
years afrer five
young Black males were convicted of the crime
, doubts
arose concerning their guilt. A convicted murderer and
serial rapist came forward
, confessed ro the rape, and
claimed he had acted alone. After his
stOry was cor-
roborated by DNA testing, the
evidence againsr the
original "
wolf pack" seemed far less convincing than in
the cIimare created by "
wilding
" as the natUral state of
young Black men. In 2003, all of the reenagers origi-
nally convicted of rhe crime were exonerated
, unforru-
nately, after some had served lengrhy jail terms.
African American women also live with ideas about
Black women
s promiscuity and lack of sexual restraint.
Reminiscent of concerns wirh Black women
s fertility
under slavery and in the rural SoUth, contemporary
social welfare policies also remain
preoccupied wirh
Black women
s fertility, In prior eras, Black
women
were encouraged ro have many children. Under slavery,
having many children enhanced slave owners
' wealth
and a good "
breeder woman
" was less likely ro be sold:
In rural agricultUre after emancipation
, having many
children ensured a sufficient supply of workers. But in
the global economy of today, large families are expen-
sive because children musc be educated. Now Black
women are seen as producing roo many children who
contribure less ro society than they take. Because Black
women on welfare have long been seen as undeserving,
long-standing ideas abour Black women
s promiscu-
ity become recycled and redefined as a problem for the
state.
In her important book
Killing the Black Body: Race
Reproduction
, and the Meaning of Liberty,
legal scholar
Dororhy Roberrs claims that the "
sysrematic, denial
of reproductive freedom has uniquely marked Black
women s histOry in America:~7 Believing the unques-
tioned assumption of Black female promiscuity influ-
ences how poor and working-
class Black women are
treated. The inordinate attention paid ro the sexual
lives of adolescent Black women reflects this ongoing
concern with an assumed Black female promiscuiry.
Rather than looking at lack of sex education
, poverty,
sexual assault
, and orher faCtors that catalyze high rares
of pregnancy among young Black women
, researchers
and policy makers often blame the women themselves
and assume that the women are
incapable of making
their own decisions. Pregnancy, especially among poor
and working-
class young Black women, has been seen
as evidence that Black women lack the
capacity ro
control their sexual lives. As a visible sign of a lack of
discipline and/or immorality, becoming pregnant and
needing help exposes poor and working-
class women
to punitive state policies.'9 Arguing that Black women
have been repeatedly denied reproductive autOnomy
and control over their own bodies
, Roberts surveys a
long list of current violations against African American
women. Black women are denied reproductive choice
and offered Norplant, Depo-
Provera
, and similar forms
of birth control that encourage them ro
choose sreril-
ization. Pregnanr Black women with drug addictions
receive criminal sentences instead of drug treatment
and prenatal care. Criricizing cwo
controversial ways
in which the criminal
justice sysrem penalizes preg-
nancy, Roberts identifies the
impossible choice that
faces women in these
sitUations. When a pregnant
woman is prosecuted for exposing her baby to drugs
in the womb
, her crime hinges on her decision to have
a baby. If she has an abortion she can avoid prosecu-
tion, bUt if she chooses to give birth, she risks going ro
prison. Similarly, when a judge imposes birth control
as a condition of probarion, for example, by giving a
defendanr the choice between Norplant or jail, incar-
ceration becomes the penalty for her choice to remain
fertile, These practices theoretically affect all women,
but , in actUality, rhey apply
primarily to poor and'
working-
class Black women. As Roberts points out,
prosecutOrs and judges see poor Black women as suit"
able subjects for these reproductive penalties becaUSe
PRISONS FOR OUR BODIES rL
society does not view th ..
, - OSErS FOR OUR MINDS
ese women as suitabl
In the first place:""
e mot ers In a naturalized, normal h
Black people effeCtively ~~~ir
~:te ~sexualtty am~ng
th' I
omosexualIry
I ~n a OglC rhar construCted race itself fr
iVi::'~~~~l
~~~~ AND THE
:~:;:::: :::,
~""I;ry CO"";,""". ;~o
;:~~~
SEXUALITY
Contemporary African A
. .
Depicting people of African descent as b I f
some teal contradictions her
~~ polItIcs ~onfrom
embodied, natUral sexuality rhat " fucked
::m 0 s 0 srruCts Black people as rhe n~tUral :course t at con-
mals and produced babies installed Bl
lIke anI- hererosexuality and White p I
ssence of hyper-
essence of nature
ac people as the homosexualit
eop e as rhe source of
. oreover, r e conc ' h
In ers evelopIn
fertility linked perceprions of promisc ern
WIt Black analysis of Black sexualiry rhar g ak comprehensive
tions of hererosexualiry. Within thi
~lt
~c as
mp- of straighr and gay Black people :t~e s
needs
sexua Ity was
0- merIcan h
rIcan
people b
assume ro be impossible among Black Black h s w
o Internalize racist ideologies that link
in repro
:~:~~::~ame-sex sexual praCtices did not result can pro
:~:r- :;osexualtrY with racial authenticiry
ematlC so unons to adolescent
nancy, rape, sexual violence and ,
preg-
Among the m t
of HIV/AIDS a
the troublIng growth
Af .
Y hs Europeans have creared about
mong AfrIcan Americans. Such bel' f'
, rIca, the myth that homosexuality is absent
generate strategies designed to te ulate ti
Ie s
incIdental is the oldeSt
or sexual praCtices of Bla
ghtly rhe
an most endurIn F
c peop e as the f
Europeans, black Africans-of all the n
g. or task of Black sexual polirics Thi
' un amental
f h
arIve peoples
posItIon Inadver-
ate world-most epitomized " primitive man
~ent y acc~pts racIst views of Blackness and ad
Since prImItJve man is supposed to be close ro n
an antIraClst politics rhar advocares co in
~ocates
ruled by insrinCt , and cultUrall
.. arure erosexisr norms associated with
o py g
t e het-
h d
P "ncate he b I' ..
Ite norma Ity 5
a to be heterosexual, his sexual energies and ~ur-
e lets also foster perceptions of LGBT Black
' uc
lets demoted exclusively ro their "nat lIr
as beIng less aUthenticall Blac
. people
b' I .
purpose'
aut entlC Bla k
10 oglCal reproduction, If black A
' ,
peop e (according to the le
.-
mans were the
sClentIhc racIsm) .
most prImitive people in all humanit - f eterosexual
, rhen LGBT Black
are
indeed, human, which some debated'::"t
~~:;::~
tically Black because they engag
~:~P
:~:~;;s ~en
ro be the most heterosexuaL"
sexual practIces. This entire syste
Ite
rion is rurned on its head
m 0 sexual regula-
w en eterosexual Af '
'h,
~~~~"
:;";';.~T;OO' of BI
~k poom.,";" ,,
:::::'
H;W prom;,";" '" ""roc"" '" ,
~:;
mals " th
ac people to breed like ani- I
en Black sexual praCtices that did nor dh
n asImdarfashIOn, visible, vocal LGBT Bl
to these assumptions challenged
ere who come out and claim an
. ac peop e
~::~:r k peoPle could nor b ~~:::x::~~: t
::~
~~:ed upon heterosexualiry e
~~c ~~~~;; :~~~::d
were omosexu I
me system The h'
, ..,.
Black" BI k
a were nor aurhemically Af ' A .
IstOrIca Inv1SIbdIty of LGBT
homo~exu ~Ct p
~oPle were allegedly nor threatened by bo
~~c
th.
~cans reflects this double containment,
a I y ecause rhey were protecred b
I In r e prIson of racism that se re at
~I' ho':=""Ii'" 10 oom~', Wh'~ :~h
::
poopl. iop'" d,. CO ,ho', .lkgcd "" :1 :,,
::~~~
suc natural protection and rhus had t
promIsCuity and within the closet of h
at
woe ar er to h I
erosexIsm ue
proVIng t eIr heterosexualiry. By a c
tea ege sexual deviancy of homo
~:;~;~:h
;:"
~ ~mmp';om .""", :;' ~::d'
::;;; ~~::
~'::"':' h.rero.,;,m
~. ;",;';" :'::.:
it
In a promIscuouS hetetosexual-
mmunItles as oUtsIde them. For exam-
~ helped ~efine Whiteness as well. In rhis context ~e
, the BlackChurch, one of the mainsrays of African
mosexua Ity could be defined as an internal thr
mencan reSISrance to racial oppression fostere
to the Integrity of the (Whire) nuclear famil Bel
~t deeply religious ethos within African Amer:can
c d
leiS culrure.'" The Bla k Ch
Ie an
urch remaInS the linchpin of
RETHINKING FOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
African American communal life, and its effecrs can be
seen in Black music
, fraternal organizations
, neighbor-
hood associations, and politics,
" As religious scholar
C. Eric Lincoln points out
, "
for African Americans, a
people whose tOtal experience has been a sustained con-
dition of multiform stress
, religion is never fat from the
threshold
of consciousness
, for whether it is embraced
with fervor or rejecred with disdain
, it is the focal ele-
ment of the black experience.
"56
At the same time, the Black Church has also failed
to challenge arguments abour sexual deviancy, Insread
the Black Church has
incorporated dominant ideas
aboUt the dangers
of promiscuiry and homosexuality
within its beliefs and practices,
" Some accuse the Black
Church of relying on a double standard according to
which teenaged girls are condemned for out-
of-wedlock
pregnancies but in which the men who
farhered rhe
children escape censure. The girls are often required to
confess their sins and ask for forgiveness in fronr
of the
entire congregation whereas the usually older men who
impregnate rhem are excused.
" Others argue that rhe
Black Church advances a hypocrirical
postUre about
homosexuality that undercuts irs anriracist postUre:
Just as white people have misused biblical textS to
argue that God supported
slavety, and that being
Black was a curse
, the Bible has been misused by
African Ameticans to justify rhe oppression
of homo-
sexuals, It is ironic that while they easily dismiss the
Bible s problematic refetences to Black people
, they
accept without question what they perceive ro
be its
condemnation ofhomosexuals.
One reason that the Black Church has seemed
resistant to change is char it has long worried about
protecting the community
s image within rhe broader
society and has resisted
any hints of Black sexual devi-
ance, straight and gay alike. Recognizing the toll thar
the many histOrical assaults against African American
families have taken
, many churches argue for traditional
patriarchal households
, and they censure women who
seemingly reject marriage and the male authority that
creares them. For women
, the babies who are born out
of wecH.ock are irrefUtable evidence for women
s sexual
transgression. Because women carry the visible stigma
sexual transgression-
unlike men
, they become preg-
nant and cannot hide their sexual histories-churches
more often have chastised women for promiscuity. In
a sense, Black churches historically preached a politics
of respectability, especially regarding marriage and
sexuality because rhey recognized how claims
of Black
promiscuity and immorality fueled racism. In a similar
fashion, the Black Church'
s resisrance to societal srig-
matization of all African Americans as being sexually
deviant limits its ability to take
effective leadership
within African American communiries concerning all
iinarters of sexualiry, especially homosexuality. Black
Churches were noticeably silent about the spread
HIV/AIDS among African Americans largely because
rhey wished to avoid addressing the sexual mechanisms
of HIV transmission (prostitution and gay sex).
Within Black churches and Black politics, rhe main
arguments given by African American intellectUals and
community leaders that explain homosexuality
s pres-
ence within African American communities show how
closely Black political rhoughr is tethered to an unex-
amined gender ideology. Backed up by interpretations of
biblical teachings
, many churchgoing African Americans
believe thar homosexuality
reflects varying combina-
tions of: (1) the loss
of male role models as a consequence
of the breakdown
of the Black family structUre
, trends
that in turn fosrer
weak men, some
of whom tUrn to
homosexuality; (2) a loss
of traditional religious values
that encourages homosexuality among those who have
turned away from the church; (3) the emascularion
Black men by White oppression; and (4) a sinister plot by
White racists as a form
of popularion genocide (neirher
gay Black men nor Black lesbians have children under
this scenario).
" Because these assumptions validate only
one family form, rhis point
of view works against both
Black srraighrs and gays alike. Despite testimony from
children raised by Black single mothers
, families headed
by women alone routinely are seen as "
broken homes
that somehow need fixing. This seemingly pro-
family
stance also works against LGBT African Americans. Gay
men and lesbians have been depicted as rhreats to Black
families, primarily due to rhe erroneous belief thar gay,
lesbian, and bisexual African Americans neither want
nor have children or that they are not already part
family networks.
62 Holding fast to dominant ideology,
many African American minisrers believe that homo-
sexuality is unnatUral for Blacks and is actUally a "
whire
disease." As a result, out LGBT African Americans are
seen as being disloyal to rhe race.
HistOrically, this combination raCla segregatIon
and IntOlerance within African A
erIcan communmes
that Influenced Black Church activities explains the
deeply close red natUre ofLGBT lack expenences, The
taCIal segregatIon of
Jim Crow in the rural SoUth and
soCIal InstItutIons such as the Black
urc t lar were
creared In rhis COntexr made living as openly gay virtu-
ally ImpossIble for LGBT African Americans. In small
tOwn and rural settings of the South it nlade sense or
le ma)otIty of LGBT Black people to remain deeply
closeted. Where was the space for OUt Black
A' .,
es lans In
nIta HilI s close-knir se ated mmunIty 0 Lone
Tree In wll1ch generations of wom
rounne y gave
Irth to thIrteen children ) Would comIng out as gay
or bIsexual Black men make any difference in resisting
rhe threat of lynching in the late nineteenth century
In these contexts, Black homosexuality mighr have fur
rher derogared an already sexually stigmatized popula-
tIOn. Faced WIth this situarion, many African American
gays, lesbIans, and bisexuals saw heterosexual pass
as the only logical choice.
Ing
Prior to , early-twenrieth-century migration ro
Norrhern cmes, Black s lesbian and
. .
Isexuas
ound It very dItficulr to reject heterosexuality out-
nghr. Cmes provided more O tions but lor ncan
, mencans residential housing segregation further lim-
Ited the OptIons that did exist, Despite these limita-
tIons, gay and lesbian Black urban dwellers did manage
to carve OUt new lives that differed from those
rhey left
behInd: Fot example, rhe 1920s was a critical period
for Afncan American gays, lesbians, and bisexuals who
;ere able to mIgrate to large cities like New York.
YPIC
ally, the arr and lIterary traditions of the Harlem
RenaIssance have been analyzed through a race-onl
Black cultural nationalist framework
LGBT
r '
. Ut sexu-
a mesmay have been far more imporrant within Black
urbanlzanon than formerly believed. Because the major-
Ity of Harlem Renaissance writers were middle-
class, a
common assumption has been that rheir
response to
claims of Blac~ promiscuity was ro advance a politics
respecrabilIty, ' The artists of the Harlem Renaissance
appeared to be criticizing American tacism
, bUt they
also challenged norms of gender and sexuality thar
were llpheid by the politics of respectability.
Contemporary reteadings of key texrs of the
Harlem RenaIssance suggest that man
bad a homo-
rotIC or queer content. For example, new analyses
PJUSONS FOR OUR BOOIES
, CLOSETS FOR OUO MINDS
locare a lesbian subtext wirhin Pauline Hopkins
s novel
Contel1d/~g Form a homoerotic tone within the shorr
stOnes ot Black lIfe detailed in Cane a
altffM~
sexua Ity expressed in the corpus
of Lan ston Hugh
work6' hfi
ess
tItIS lmmaket Isaac Julien s 1989 .
ning short film Lookin -
pnzeWIn-
. .
g 01 Lang.rton created controversy
VIa It~ assoCIatIon of Hughes with homoetOricism
JulIens Intent was nOt to criticize Hu ' ur rat er
to ' e-essentlalize black identities
" '
In ways r ar creare
space tor mOte progressive sexual politics. Ar a confer-
ence on Blackpopular culture
, Julien explains this pro-
cess of recognIZIng different kin
h"
ac I entItIes: ' I
t Ink blackness IS a term used-in t
rk '
e way t1at terms
I e rhe black communit ' or ' blac olk
d'
tI are usua y
an led about-tO exclude
others who are part of thar
communIty... ro create a more pluralistic
interreac-
tIon (sllj In rerms of difference, borh sexual and racial
one has to start with deessentializing the nor ion of th
black s b
""5 B .
Bl k u
ject. . asICally, rejecting the erasure
of gay
ac male Identmes
, Julien s project creates a space in
whICh Hughes can be both
ac an queer.
MIddle-class African Americans may have used lit-
erary devIces to confront gendered and sexual norms
but workIng-class and oor Afri can
, ' . .
mencans In
~~~:s also challenged these sexual polirics
, albeit via
erenr mechanIsms. During rhis same decade work-
Ing- class Black wo men ues sIngers also expressed
gendered and sexual sensibilities r
hat
. .
eVIare rom
t e polItics of respectabilit
66
ne n s In t e lyr-
of the blues singers explicir references to gay
les-
~, and bIsexual sexual expression as a natural
parr
of lIved Black ex
' '
nence. y proclaIming that "
wild
women don t get no blues " rhe new blues singers tOok
on and, reworked long-standing ideas about Black
women s sexuality. Like most forms
of popular music
Black blues lyrics talk aboUt love B
, w 1en com-
pare to other American popular music
of the 1920s
and 1930s, Black women s blues were distinctive. One
sIgnIficant dIfference concerned rh
blue
' "
provoca-
tive and pervasive sexual-includin homo
"67
xua-
Imagery, The blues took on themes char were
banIshed ftOm o I pu ar musIC-extramarital affairs
domestIc vIOlence, and the shorr-lived natur ove
re atIOns IpS all appeared in Bla men s ues.
The theme o~ women loving women also appeared in
Black women s blues, giving voice ro Black lesbianism
and bisexuality.
RETHINKING FOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX
, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
When it came to rheir
acceprance of Black gays
, les-
bians, and bisexuals, urban African American neighbor-
hoods exhibired contradictOry
rendencies. On the one
hand, Black neighborhoods wirhin large cities became
areas of racial and sexual boundary-crossing that sup-
ported more visible lesbian and gay aCtivities. For exam-
ple, one community srudy of the lesbian community in
. Buffalo, New York
, found racial and social class differ-
ences among lesbians, Because Black lesbians were con-
fined to racially segregated neighborhoods
, lesbians had
more house parties and social gatherings within their
neighborhoods. In contrasr
, Whire working-
class les-
bians were more likely to frequent bars that
, ironically,
were typically located near or in Black neighborhoods,
In her autObiography
Zami, Audre Lorde desCtibes the
racial differences framing lesbian acrivities in New York
City in the 1950s where
interracial boundaries were
ctOssed, often for the first rime
'" These works suggest
that African American lesbians constructed sexual iden-
tities within African American communities in mban
spaces. The strictUres placed on all African American
women who moved intO White-controlled space (the
threat of sexual harassment and rape)
affeCted straight
and lesbian women alike. Moreover
, differences in male
and female socialization may have made it easier for
African American women ro remain
closeted within
African American communities, Heterosexual and les-
bian women alike value intimacy and friendship wirh
their female relatives, their friends
, and their children,
In contrast
, dominant views of masculinity condition
men to compere wirh one another. Prevailing ideas abour
masculinity encourage Black men ro rejecr close male
friendships that come
tOO close ro homoeroric
bonding.
On the other
hand, the presence of Black gay,
lesbian, and bisexual activities and enclaves within
racially segregared neighborhoods did nOt mean thar
LGBT people experienced
acceptance. Greatly influ-
. enced by Black Church teachings
, African Americans
may have accepted homosexual individuals
, bur they
disapproved of homosexuality itself. Relations in the
Black Church illustrate this stance of grudging accep-
tance. While censuring homosexuality, Black churches
have also nor banished LGBT people from rheir congre-
gations. Wirhin the tradition of some Church leaders
homosexuality falls under the rubric of pastoral care
and is nor considered a social justice
issue. Ministers
often preach
, "
love the sinnet but hate the sin."
-o This
posture of "
don t be toO out and we will accepr you
has had a curious effect on churches themselves as well
as on African American anriracisr politics. For exam-
ple, the Reverend Edwin C. Sanders, a founding pas-
ror of the Metropolitan Intetdenominational Church
in Nashville, describes this contradiction of accepting
LGBT Black people
, just as long as they ate not roo
visible. As Reverend Sanders points our: "
the unspo-
, ken message. .
says its all right for you ro be here
" just don r say anything, just play your little role. You
can be in the choir, you can sit on the piano bench
lt don t say you re gay."" Reverend Sanders describes
how this policy limited the ability of Black churches ro
deal with rhe spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic. He notes
how six Black musicians within Black churches died of
AIDS, yet churches hushed up the cause of rhe deaths.
As Reverend Sanders observes
, "
Nobody wanted ro deal
with the faCt that all of these men were gay black men,
and yet they
d been leading the music for them.
The dual challenges ro racism and heterosexism in the
post-civil rights era have provided LGBT Black people
with both more legal rights within American society (rhar
hopefully will translate inro improved levels of
securiry)
and the potential for greater acceptance within African
American communities. As a resulr, a visible and vocal
Black LGBT presence emerged in the 1980s and 1990s
that challenged the seeming separateness of racism and
heterosexism in ways that unsettled heterosexual Black
people and gay White people alike. Rejecting the argu-
ment that racism and heterosexism come tOgether
solely
or even more intensively for LGBT African Americans,
LGBT African Ametican people highlighred the con-
nections and contradictions thar
characterize racism
and hererosexism as murually constructing systems of
oppression, Working in this intersection between these
twO systems
, LGBT African Americans taised important
issues about the workings of racism and heterosexism.
One issue concerns how tace complicates the closer-
ing process and resistance ro it. Just as Black people
ability ro break out of prison differed based on gender,
class, age, and sexuality, LGBT people
s ability to come
our of the
closer displays similar heterogeneity. As
LGBT Aftican Americans point out
, the contours of the
closer and the costS arrached ro leaving it vary accord:
ing ro race, class
, and gender. For many LGBT Whites,
sexual orienrarion is all that disringuishes them from
the dominant White population. Affluent gay White
men, for example, may find it easier ro come out of the
?set because they still maintain many of the benefir
ot WhIte masculinity. In contrast, in patt because o
a multIplICIty of Identities Africa n men can gay les-
bIan, bisexual , and transgendered individuals see~ less
lIkely than theIr White counterparts to be openly gay
or ro consId~r themselves completely out of rhe closet.
Race , complIcates the coming-our process, As Kevin
BoykIn recalls
, "
coming out to my family members, I
found, was much more difficult tha com
f'
Ing out to my
rIends. Because my famil had know
. ,
n me onger rhan
my frIends had, I thought they at least deserved to heat
the words 'I'm gay' from my own lips. . , . On the orher
hand, preCIsely because my family, had known and
loved me as one person, I wotried that they might not
accept me as another. Would they think I had d
. , '4
ecelve
t em or years?' Gender and age add f h I
of com lexit
urt er ayers
. p
y to rhe comIng-out process, as the dif-
ficulnes faced by African American lesbians and gay
AfrIcan Amencan hIgh school yoUth suggest.
" Anot~er telated issue concerns 'the endorsement of
paSSIng and/or assimilarion as possible solutions to
raCIal and sexual discriminarion, Black LGBT people
pOInt ro the contradiCtions of passin in whi
Af .
' among
ncan mencans, racial passing is roUtinely casti-
gared as denYIng one s true self, yet sexual passing as
heterosexual is encouraged. Barbara Smith
, ,
' a ~ Jan
aCtiVISt who refused to remain in the Closet
l'
' expresses
Itt e tolerance for lesbians who are WI Ing ro reap the
benefits of others' Struggles , bur who take few risks
rhemselves:
A handful of out lesbians of color have gone into the
wdderness and hacked through the seemingly impen-
etrable jungle of homophobia. Our closeted sisters
come upon the wilderness, which is now nOt nearly
as frightening, and walk the path we have cleared
even pausing ar rimes to comment upon the beauri
ful view: In the meantime, we are on the other side of
rhe conrlOenr, hacking through another jungle, At rhe
vety least, people who choose to be closeted can speak
nut agaInst homophobia. . . . (Those) who ptorect their
closers never rhink about... how their silences con-
mbure to the silencing of Others,
in Eve
~ if the "wilderness" is not neatly as frighten-
g as It once was, the seemin benefi remaInIng
PRISONS FOR OUR BODIES, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
closeted and passing as strai ht ma e more I usory
t 1an teal. Because of the abiliry of many LGBT indi-
vIduals to pass as srraight, the encounter
.,
6 '
IstIncttve
orms ot prejUdICe and discrimination. Here racism
hererosexism differ, Blackness is clearly identifiable an
In ke ' h
' an
epIng Wit assumptions of color blindness of the
new raCIsm, many Whites no longer express derogatOry
racJaI belIefs In publIC especially h' l'
of Blacks. Th
w I e In t 1e company
ey may, however, express such beliefs in
prIvate or behInd rheit backs. In contrast
ety s assumptIon of heterosexualiry along with its toler-
ance of homophobia imposes no such publ IC censure on
straIghr-men and women to refrain from homophobic
comments In public. As a result , closered and openly
LGBT people may be exposed ro a much higher degree
of Interpersonal Insensirivity and overt prejudice in
publIc rhan rhe raCIal prejudice experienced by Blacks
and other racial/ethnic groups
Black , churches and African American leaders and
~rga~Izanons thar held fast in the past to the view of
don t be roo oUt and we will accept you" faced hostile
external racial di~ates thar led (them) ro suppress differ-
ences among AfrICan Americans, ostensibly in the name
of raCIal solIdarIty. This version of racial solidarity also
drew upon seXIsr and heterosexisr beliefs to shape politi-
cal agendas for all Black peo le. For exa
.,
p~ yo~~
nIZIng the histOric 1963 March on wTash
M .
w, Ington were
I artIn Luther King, Jr. gave his legendary "I Have a
Dream S h" Afi eec rIcan Amencan civil rights leader
Bayard Rustin played a ma or role in the
. '
CIVI ng rs
movement. Yet becallse Rusrin was an out gay man, he
was seen as a potential rhrear ro the movement itself.
Any hInt of sexual improprier was fear
d .
. 0 usnn
sraye , In the ba~kgro~nd, while Martin Luther King,
Jr. maInraIned his posItion as spokesperson and figure-
head for the march and the movement B the questIon
or ro ay IS whether holding these views on race, gen-
der, and sexualIty makes political sense in the grearl
changed contexr of the post-civil ri era. n a context
where oUt-of-wedlock births, poverty, and the spread of
STDs threaten Black survival , preaching abstinence ro
teens who define sexuality only in terms of genital sexual
Intercourse or encouraging LGBT people ro renounce the
Sin of homosexuality and " ust be straight Impy miss
t e mark. Too much is ar stake for Black antiracisr proj-
eCts to Ignore sexuality and its connections to oppres-
SIOns of race, class, gender, and age any longer.
30 .
RETHINKING fOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX
, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
RACISM AND HETEROSEXISM
REVISITED
On May 11, 2003, a manger killed fifteen-
year-old
Sakia Gunn who
, with four friends, was on her way
home ' from New York'
s Greenwich Village. Sakia and
her friends were wairing for the bus in Newark
, New
Jersey, when rwo men gor out of a car
, made sexual
advances
, and physically attacked rhem. The women
fought back
, and when Gunn tOld the men that she ~
was a lesbian, one of rhem stabbed her in rhe chest.
Sakia Gunn
s mutdet illustrates the
connections
among class
, race, gender, sexuality, and age. Sakia
lacked the prorection of social class privilege. She and
her friends were waiting for the bus in the first place
because none had
access ro privare autOmobiles rhat
offer prorection for those who are more
affluent. In
Gunns case, because her family inirially did not have
the money for her funeral
, she was scheduled to be
buried in a potter
s grave. Community acrivisrs rook
up a collection ro pay for her funeral. She lacked the
gendered protection provided by masculiniry. Women
who are perceived ro be in the wrong
place at the
wrong time are routinely approached by men who feel
entitled ro harass and proposirion them. Thus, Sakia
and her friends share with all women the vulnerabili-
ties that accrue ro women who negotiare public space.
She lacked rhe protection of age-
had Sakia and her
friends been middle-aged
, they may nor have been
seen as sexually available. Like African American girls
and women, regardless of sexual orientation, they were
seen as approachable. Race was a factOr
, but nor in a
framework of interracial race relations. Sakia and her
friends were African American, as were their atrack-
ers. In a context where Black men are encouraged to
express a hyper-
heterosexuality as the badge of Black
masculinity, women like Sakia and her friends can
become important
players in supporting
pattiarchy.
They challenged Black male aurhoriry, and they paid
for the transgression of refusing ro participate in scripts
of Black promiscuity. But the immediare precipitaring
caralyst for the violence rhat rook Sakia's life was her
openness about her lesbianism. Here, homophobic vio-
lence was the prime factor. Her death illustrates how
deeply entrenched homophobia can be among many
African American men and women, in this case
, beliefs
that tesulted in an atrack on a teenaged girl.
How do we separate out and weigh the
various
influences of class, gender
, age, race, and sexuality in
this particular incident/Sadly, violence against Black
girls is an everyday evenr. What made this one so spe-
cial? Which, if any, of the dimensions of her identity
got Sakia Gunn killed? There is no easy
ansWer ro
this question
, because at! of them did. More impor-
rant , how can any Black political agenda that does
not take at! of these sysrems into account, including
sexuality, ever hope adequately ro address the needs
of Black people as a collectivity? One expects racism
ill the press to shape the reports of this incident. In
contrast ro the 1998 murder of Marthew Shepard
, a
young, White
, gay man in Wyoming, no massive pro-
tests, narionwide vigils
, and renewed calls for federal
hate crimes legislation followed
Sakia's death. BUt
what about the response of elecred and appointed offi-
cials? The African American mayor of Newark decried
the crime, but he could not find rhe time ro meet
with community activists who wanted programmatic
changes ro retard crimes like
Sakia's murder. The
principal of her high school became part of the prob-
lem. As one activist described it
, "
srudents ar Sakia's
high school weren
t allowed ro hold a vigil. And the
kids wearing the rainbow flag were being punished
like they had on gang colors.
Other Black leaders and national organizations spoke
volumes through their
silence. The same leaders and
organizarions that spoke out against the police bearing
of Rodney King by Los Angeles area police
, the rape of
immigrant AbnerLouima by New York City police
, and
the murder of Timorhy Thomas by Cincinnari police
said norhing about Sakia Gunn
s death. Apparently, she
was just anorher unimportant litrle Black girl ro them.
BUt ro others
, her death revealed the need for a new
politics that takes the intersecrions of racism and het-
erosexism as well as class exploitation
, age discrimina-
tion, and sexism intO account. Sakia was buried on May
16 and a crowd of approximarely 2
500 people atrended
her funeral. The turnout was unprecedented: predomi-
nantly Black
, largely high school students, and mosrly
lesbians. Their presence says that as long as African
American lesbians like high school srudent Sakia Gunn
are vulnerable
, rhen every African American woman is
in danger; and if all Black women are ar risk, then there
is no way rhat any Black person will ever be truly safe
or free.
NOTES
1. The field of postcolonial stUdies
contains many wotks
~har examIne how ideas generally, and sexual discourse
In partICular, was essential to colonialism and to
nationalIsm. In this field, the wotks of French philoso-
pher MIchel Foucault have been pivotal in challenging
prIor frameworks heavily grounded in Marxism and in
FreudIan psychoanalysis. Here 1 rely on two m
' '
from the corpus of Foucaulr s work T
aIn leas
. h'
. 1e est, expressed
In IS clasSIC w~rk Discipline and Ptmish concerns the
straregles that InstItutions use to discipline populations
and get them to submit under conditions of oppression
(Foucaulr 1979). The second idea concerns the normal-
IzatIOn ~f such power through the use of hegemonic
IdeologIes. Volume 1 of Foucault The History of Sex/ialit
uses sexualIty to illusttare this normalization of power
(Foucault 1980). Despite the enotmous impact that
Foucaulr has had on studies of power
, few works anal ze
hIS rr~atment of race. Ann Staler Race and the Edtlca~on
of DeSIre IS exemplaty in this regatd (Sroler 1995).
Staler examInes how Foucault's ana yses a sexualIty
10 European societies can be tead also as an analysis of
tace. In thIs chapter, 1 rely on many of Stoler s insights.
For a comprehensive overview of works on Foucaulr and
sexualuy that do nor deal with race
, see Staler 1995
19, n. I. For a description of the S eci fic
. '
anIpu atIOn
0 sexual dIscourse within colonialism se
McCl
995
Intoc
, I man 1985; and Young 1995, 90-117
2. Jordan 1968, 3-43.
3. Jordan 1968, 136-178.
4. See, for example, White 1985a.
5. Despite the marginality of all LGBT B ac peop e, sub-
popularIons did nor place issues of sexualiry on the pub-
lIc agenda at the same time or in the same way. Black
lesbIans raIsed I~sues of hererosexism and homophobia
In the 1980s, fairly early in modern Black feminism.
For classIC work in this tradition
, see Combahee Rivet
CollectIve 1982; Lorde 1982; Smith 1983; and Clarke
1983. For a representative sample of more recent works
see Clarke 1995; Gomez and Smith 1994; Moore 1997'
Gomez 1999; Greene 2000; Smith 1998. In contrast
works by gay Black men achieved greater prominen
later. See, for example, Hemphill 1991; Riggs 1992.
~ngtles Utltted, the documentary by the late Marlon
RIggs, reptesents an important path bteak'
Black a
Ing wor In
. g y mens stu les In the United States (Tong/ies
Untied 1989). More recently, work on Black mas
. .
that anal
cu mIty
yzes homosexualIty has gained greater visibil-
Ity. See HutchInson 1999; Riggs 1999; Thomas 1996'
Carbado 1999c; Hawkeswood 1996; Simmons 1991. '
PRISONS FOR OUR BODIES, CLOSETS FOR OUR MINDS
6. Cohen and Jones 1999, 88.
7. Mandela 1994 ' :J . oucault suggests that rhe rison
serves as an exemplat of moder w,
. p
(F
western sOCIety
~cau t 1979). The techniques used to discipline and
punIsh deviant populations conStitute a punishment
Ind~~try. PrISons operate by controlling
populations
;a IscIplmIng the body. Foucault
s work on sexuality
a so emphaSIzes tegularizarion and d'
ISClp Ine, only thIS
tIme vIa creating discourses of sexuality that also aim
ro control the body (Foucault 1980
I '
. or an analysIs
oucau t s treatment of race, sexualit and
StOler 1995.
' er, see
8. Wideman 1984, 52.
9. FOt rks that derail the effects of welfare state policies
on . rIcan AmerIcans, see Quadagno 1994; Brewer
1994, Neubeck and Cazenave 2001 F
on stare policy and African A
. . or genera works
erIcan economIC well-
bel ng, see Squires 1994; Massey and Denton 1993'
OlIver and Shapiro 1995. For analyses of jobs and ~rban
economies, see Wilson 1996; 1987.
10. West 1993.
11. In the 1980s, homicide became one of the leading
causes of death of young Black men (Oliver 1994).
For work on the vulnerability of Black youth in inner
cItIes, see Anderson 1978; 1990; 1999; Canada 1995'
Kaplan 1997; Kitwana 2002.
12. Anderson 1999.
13. Anderson 1999.
~4. Anderson 1978; 1990; 1999.
5. As quoted in Cole and Guy-Shefrall 2003 139
16. Mandela 1994, 367-368.
17. Mandela 1994, 341.
18. Ros: 1994 21-61; George 1998, 1-21.
19. SocIOlogist Steve Seidman traces the emergence and
declme of the closet as a meta hor descr
. .
I Ing contem-
porary LGBT polItIcs (Seidman 2002). Seidman dates
the closet as reaching its heyday in the 1950s and early
1960s durIng the early years of the cold war. In his
research, he was surprised to find tha
many contempo-
ary gay AmerIcans live outside the social framework
of the closet. Seidman sug ests that t two maIn ways
r at gay lIfe has been understood since 1969
comin
' name y, t e
Out narrarIve or the mIgration to gay ghettOes
may no longet be accurate: "as the lives of at least so
gays look more like those of straights, as gays no Ion
feel compelled to migrate ro urban enclaves ro feel secure
~drespected, gay identity is often approached in ways
sImIlar ro heterosexual identity-as a thread" (Seidman
2002, 11). UnfortUnately, Seidmans methodology did
not allow hi ,,:, ro explore the ways in which Black LGBT
people have simIlar and different experiences.
RETHINKING FOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
20. Both science and religion advanced different jusrifica-
tions for' stigmatizing homosexuals, Until recently,
Western medicine and science viewed sexuality as being
biologically hatdwited inro the human species and
obeying natUral laws. Hererosexual sexual practices and
teproduction wete petceived as the "
natUral" state of
sexualiry, and all orhet forms of sexual expression wete
classified as deviant. Religion offeted similar jusrifica-
rions, Promiscuity an? homosexuality emerged as
impottant categories of "
unnarural" sexual activity that
normalized monogamous heterosexuality within the
context of marriage and fot purposes of reproduction,
21. This is Foucaulr
s atgument about biopower
, the norma!-
ization of practices that enable society ro discipline inc
ii- '
vidual bodies, in this case
, sexual bodies, and gtOUPS
, in
chis case, srraighrs and gays, as popularion groups that
become comprehensible only in the context of discourses
of sexuality, This view prevailed until shifts wirhin the
stUdy of sexuality in rhe 1980s and 1990s,
22, Seidman 1996, 6.
23. The tetm
queer orren serves as an umbtella term for
lesbian, gay, bisexual
, rransgendered
, and anyone
else whose sexualiry transgresses the sratUs quo. Nor
everyone claims rhe term as an identity or statement of
social location, Some argue that the rerm etases social
and economic differences among lesbians and gay men,
and others consider ir ro be derogarory. Srill orhets use
the tetm to acknowledge the limitless possibiliries of
an individual'
s sexuality. They see terms such as
gay,
lesbian and bisexual as misleading in that they suggest
srable sexual identities, Beyond these ideological differ-
ences, 1 do not use the term
queer here because LGBT
African Ametican people do not prefer this term.
When participantS in the
National Black Pride Survey
2000 were asked which label from a very extensive list
came closest ro describing their sexual otienrarion, 42
petcent self-
identified as gay, 24 percent chose lesbian
11 petcent chose bisexual
, and 1 percent marked
rransgendered, In contrasr ro high levels of agreement
on gay and lesbian, "
queer" was one of the lease populat
options (1 percent), As the survey reportS, "
Black
(~'
LBT people do nor readily, or even temotely, identity
as ' queer'" (Bartle et al. 2002, 19).
24, LGBT politics and the "
queering" of sexuality has been
one important dimension of the post-
civil rights era
and Seidman contends that the posrclosered world of
the posr-civil tights era has shown greater acceptance
of LGBT people. Yet
, suggests Seidman, acceptance
may come with a price. Today, LGBT people are under
intense pressure ro fit the mold of the "
good gay citi-
zen" ro be monogamous and ro look and act notmal.
This image may he safe, bur '
it continues ro justify
discrimination against those who do not achieve this
ideal (Seidman 2002),
25. Here 1 use the framework of "
domains of power
" to
examine the convergence of racism and hererosexism.
Btiefly, race, sexuality, gender
, class, and other sysrems
of opptession are all otganized through four main
domains of power. The StructUral domain of power
(institUtional policies), the disciplinary of powet (the
,. rules and regulations char tegulate social intetaction),
" the hegemonic domain of powet (the belief systems
that defend exisring power arrangements), and the
interpersonal domain of powet (parterns of everyday
social interaCtion) are organized differently for different
systems of oppression. Here 1 use this model as a heu-
ristic device to build an argument about the intercon-
neCtions of racism and heterosexism, For a discussion of
the framework and its applicability in Black feminist
politics, see chapter 12 of
Black Feminist Thought
(Collins 2000a
, 273-290).
26. For a discussion of the
Loving decision and its effecrs on
interracial marriage, see Roor 2001. For the full defini-
tion of the Defense of Marriage Acr,
see u.S. Census
Bureau 2000,
27. Racism and heterosexism share this basic cognitive
ftame, and ir is one shared by other systems of power,
28. Clarke 1983.
29. Both sets of ideas also
setve as markers for consrructing
both heterosexuality and homosexuality within the wider
society, Prior ro the social movements of the civil rights
era that called incteased arrent ion to both racism and het-
erosexism, racial proresr was contained wirhio the prisons
of racially segregated neighborhoods and LGBT protest
within the invisibility of individual closets.
30. Mudimbe 1988; Appiah
1992.
31. Young 1995,
90-117; McClintock 1995.
32. Jordan 1968,
33, Jordan 1968, 5, Jordan
suggeStS that the teacrions of
the English differed ftOm those of the Spanish and the
PortUguese who for centUties had been in close contact
with North Africa and who had been invaded by
peoples both darker and mote civilized than themselves.
The impact of tolor on the English may have been more
powetful because England'
s printipal conracr with
Afticans came in West Africa and the Congo, areas with
very datk-skinned Africans. Thus, "
one of the fairest- '
skinned nations suddenly came face ro face with one of
the darkesr peoples on earrh" Uotdan 1968,
6),
34. Torgovnick 1990, 18-
20.
35, Hisrorically, stientific tacism has made important
contributions ro creating and sustaining myths of
Black promiscuity as well as construCting a normal'
heterosexuality juxtaposed to the alleged devianc '
~ed
White homosexuality Th
biolo
' e sCIent I c racism of medicine
, gy, psychology, anthropology, and other social
SCIences construCted borh Bl k .
homosexuality and then S
C promlsculty as well as
lOOt mare time a ' ,
state and religious insritUtions that aimed t ss
;'Clng
these practices. For general discussions of ra
~::~~ ate
nce, see GOuld 1981; Harding 1993; Zuberi 2001
SCI-
ausro- tet 109 1995,
37, Foucault 1979.
38, Harawa 198
,-
. n t IS context srudy' '
wete clearly nor human bur close to
' .
ng anIma s that
I mlg t reveal what
grante Europeans theit humanit and Af '
mat ' be' .
ncans t elf
Ive stIal1ty. Here the interest in animal beh
form fh be
avlQt as a
W' h
o uman havlor uninterrupted by culture appears
. 10 pnmato ogy, monkeys and apes have a ptivile ed '
relation to narure and culrure in that '" SImIans occupy the
or er zones (Haraway 1989, 1). "In Aftica
erarure was tod db
' the prImate lIt-
" p
uce y white colonists and western forei
sClentisrs under no ptessure until w e a tet In ependence
. evelopscienrific, collegia! relations with black Ali .
AtClcan prImates, including the people imagined as
Clcans,
wIldlIfe, modeled the ' origin of man lor uropean-detlved
cu cure,. ,. Afnca became a lace ofd ar ness, one lackm
teenlghtenmentoftheWestlnd' h b
model not the ' ori in of m
" la , as een used to
Both are fi
/ ,
, but the ongm of civilization.'
orms 0 othenng fur western symbol' '
but rheir differences marrer" (Haraway 1989 ?
~~~peraClons
39. Collins 2000a, 69-96.
' - ) .
40. Wiegman 1993, 239,
41. Quoted in Ka I' 1 psa IS 7 37. Understandings of Black
womens promIScuity also build upon a dee
cal theme ' h'
IStOfl-
Wlf 10 Western societies that links deviant
sexualIty with disease The h
' '
portion of Bla k
ypervIsI e; pathologized
t women s sexualIty centered on the
Icon 0 the whore, the woman who demands mone
lor sexual favors. This image is pathologized in th
prostItutes were associated with ideas about disease and
polluClon that bore stark resemblance
th h f
I eas a Out
f e treat 0 racial pollution
so central to conceptions
o Whlteness grounded in purity (Giddin s 1992 419)
. a er 1993, 43,
43. Baket 1993, 33-60,
44. Dwyer 2002. This case also resembles che well-known
case of the ScortSbotO bo s in wh a group 0 Black
men were convICted of allegedly raping White women
They too were eventually exonerated
5. White 1985a.
46. Gould 1981; Zucchino 1997' Amort 1990' B
1994; Neubeck and Cazena;e 2001.
' rewer
PRISONS FOR oua BODIES, CLOSETS FOR oua MINDS
47, RobertS 1997, 4.
48. In a context in which the United Srates has the I ' I
esr teen pregnanc
1Ig 1-
h'
y rate In the Western world, the eve
Igher rates of reen pregnancy among African A
. n
adolescents IS a cause for alarm
Ii
. mencan
high tates of
' any actors Influence
ptegnancy among young Black wo
example, adult men, some of whom ma h
men. or
girls to have
y ave coerced
sex WIth them, father most of the b b'
to teen mothers, Srudies show that as man
a Ies om
girls are viCtims f
y as one In four
9 S
0 sexual abuse (RobertS 1997 117)
q . ~e Gould 1981; Lubiano 1992; Zucchino 1
997' .
eu eck and Cazenave 2001.
50. Robem 1997, 152.
51. As quoted in Cole and Guy-Shefrall 200" 165
52, For a dIScussion of the ty e of rac la reasonIng that
generates Ideas of racial aUthe t
' .
The p' Ii 11 "
n ICIty, see Cornel West
It a s of RaCIal Reasoning" (West 1993 21- 0
)3. These same pressures fosteted views ofh
. , 3-
inv
' '
bl
omosexuals as
ISI e, c oseted, and assumed to be Wh'
Whit h
Ite. ormalIzed
, etetosexualiry became possible and hegemonic
54 only
withIn the logic ofborh tacism and hetetosexism
. The general use of the term "rhe BI k
to BI k Ch' .
ac utch refers
ac nstIan churches in rhe U . d S
includes any Black Christian who wo
~;~~ps ~~~~~ :hiS
:ember of a Black congregation. The formal use of
t e term tefers to independent, histOtic, and Black-
controlled denominations that were founded f
Free African Society in 1787 Fo 1"
a ter t e
1998 29
. r a Istmg, see Monroe
, 7, n. 1. For a general histOry of the BI
~urch see Lincoln 1999. For analyses of Blac
~c wom-
en s partiCIpatIOn 10 the Black Ch
1999' G' lk
. urc , see Douglas
, I es 2001; Higginbotham 199"
55, See, Patillo-McCoy 1999
56
especIally Patillo-McCo
InCO n 1999, XXIV.
57. Douglas 1999.
58. Cole and Guy-Shefrall 2003, 116.
59, Cole and Guy-Sheftall 2003, 120.
60, Cohen 1999, 276-288,
61. Simmons 1991.
62. Fot adiscussion of the family networks of BI k
men 10 H 1
ac gay
ar em, see Hawkeswood 1996 Al
Bartle et al. 2002, 13- 17.
' so, see
63, Higginborham 1993, 185-229.
64. Somerville 2000,
65, Julien 1992, 274.
66. Davis 1998,
67. Davis 1998, 3.
68, Kennedy and Davis 1994.
69, Lorde 1982.
70. Monroe 1998, 281.
71. ComstOck 1999, 156.
34 .
RETHINKING FOUNDATIONS: THEORIZING SEX
, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
72. ComstOck 1999, 156.
73. Boykin 1996, 90.
74. Boykin 1996, 19.
75. Moore 1997; McCready 2001.
76. Smith 1990, 66.
77. Boykin 1996
, 81.
78. "Skeleron in Newatk'
s Closer: Laquetta Nelson Is
Forcing Homophobia Our inro the Open
" 2003.
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