"Whose Pussy is this" (Talking Back by bell hooks)

Today during a book talk about Talking Back: thinking feminist, thinking black by bell hooks, chapter 19 quickly brought up a truth. Black women have never had control over their sex. Since our introduction to America, our lives have been filled with rape, subjugation, and abuse. It was not that long ago in our history that black women and men were simply put together in baby mills like the mating of wild animals. It is no shock that this particular chapter struck a chord in the group.

The chapter mentions two films, She's Gotta Have It and The Color Purple. Both depict sexual relationships, but one is told from the viewpoint of a female and the other from a male. Both depict rape, but in She's Gotta Have It, once the rape occurs, the main character continues a monogamous relationship with the one who coerced her. And she takes the responsibility of the act on herself. In The Color Purple, consensual sex between two women is depicted in such a way that empowers the main character and raises her self esteem. The question that came up in the group, is which depiction holds value? Which relationship is better?

"Yet it is the absence of compelling liberatory reconciliation which undermines the progressive radical potential of this film. Even though nude scenes, scenes of sexual play constitute an important imaging of black sexuality on screen since they are not grotesque or pornographic, we still do not see an imaging of mutual, sexually satisfying relationships between black women and men in a context of non-domination. It does not matter if the woman is dominating and a male submitting --- it is the same old oppressive scenario." (bell hooks)

After tonight's talk, we all left with the need to continue the conversation. We all felt the need that this book reminded us of the many conversations that Black women forget to have. The controversy of Gabby's hair, young girls twerking at picnics, designers refusing to clothe Black and Latina female entertainers, talking too "white" and the reminder that many of us have emulated the words and feelings of the oppressors by taking to social media and running each other through the mud and muck. Repeating the hatred of white supremacy by way of words and actions.

This is why this conversation must continue until we are ALL liberated from our tenuous past.