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Title: Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities by Johnnetta B. Cole, Beverly Guy-Sheftall ISBN: 0-345-45412-X Publisher: One World/Ballantine Pub. Date: 04 February, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Uninspired, Unenlightening
Comment: How can a book about gender struggle written by two esteemed feminist intellectuals miss the boat entirely in examining such an important issue? Doctors Cole and Sheftall waste numerous pages explaining and analyzing the actions of black males within the dynamic of male/female relationships. How about analyzing the actions of women and shedding insight into their psyche? The book is written in an almost apologetic tone to explain male mis-steps. Even worse, it coddles black men, panders to them and persistently excuses their damaging behaviors by blaming their actions on the ever present perpetual myths of racist economics and the legacy of slavery. Historical quotes and antiquated interviews are plentiful especially by Black scholars Cornell West and literary master Essex Hemphill. They even give rapper turned actor Ice T a chance to explain away macho male behavior in an interesting yet un-enlightening chapter on the degradation of women in the lyrics of much HipHop music. But they fail over and over again to tap into real women and real problems that women face and the role that women's lack of self esteem and identity plays in the disintegration of relationships. Although a few notable women were quoted, specifically Audre Lorde and Essence's Susan Taylor, their contributions were not impactful because they were not given nearly as many pages. While I am glad that the sisters brought the subject to the forefront, I am dismayed that (as usual) so much time is spent on understanding why men cheat, beat and are in jail only to come up with the same lame conclusion - slavery, racism and poverty - while totally ignoring the women who "hold up half the sky". Very, very disappointing.
Rating: 5
Summary: A text for women
Comment: Unfortunately my review may never be seen because I am not reviewing the text, rather I am reviewing the review. Once again a male person is determining what women should write about, how they should write it, and making general assessments about how women should receive a text written for women. I am saddened that this text did not meet the expectations of this male person, but I do not think that is why Cole and Guy-Sheftall wrote it--they wrote it for us sistahs. And berating Collins and hooks doesn't help either. I am ordering the text because it is important for me to read the words of black women written for (mainly) black women. Categorizing the text in terms of feminist or womanist demeans those women who are the everyday readers.
Rating: 4
Summary: Black folks, gender matters!
Comment: This book is written by two feminist, African-American scholars. Either one or both have connections to Spelman, the nation's only college specifically for black women. In this book, the authors want to show how antiracist struggle could not have been successful without the black women visionaries who played a part in the movement, even if they wouldn't have called their ideas feminist. The chapters cover the authors' biographies, other black scholars talking about how they learned to embrace feminism and gay rights, the either/or bind between civil rights and women's rights, the black church, black silence on intraracial sexual assaults, black gays and lesbians, and rap music.
This is a positive text; the authors discuss where they would like to see black activists go, rather than just rehashing old schisms. Further, it recounts history to show that there have always been black feminists and black gay rights activists, thus negating fallacies which say these two groups are white-created by-products. Too often, even in progressive black literature, "race, class, and gender" are deemed of primary importance, but sexual orientation must take a backseat, even if authors are not homophobic. Here, almost every chapter says something about gays and combatting homophobia. I was loving it.
This book would make a great contribution for professors trying to put together courses about black feminism or about gay issues in African-American communities. The bibliography of each chapter could basically be a syllabus for many cool courses. Unfortunately, in many ways, the book is just a review of the literature rather than a new analysis of these matters. The chapters remind me both of papers I wrote and papers I read while an undergraduate student.
Still, this was an important black feminist book. Sadly, many readers may find Patricia Hill Collins too high-level and bell hooks too repetitive and paranoid, so this book would be a great look into black women's issues for more everyday readers. Regardless, this text was a great addition to studies of intersectionality and womanism (though the latter term is never brought up here).
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Title: Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought by Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Johnnetta Betsch Cole ISBN: 1565842561 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Longing to Tell: Black Women's Stories of Sexuality and Intimacy by Tricia Rose ISBN: 0374190615 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 11 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Shifting : The Double Lives of Black Women in America by Charisse Jones, Kumea Shorter-Gooden ISBN: 0060090545 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 02 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance by Beverly Bell, Edwidge Danticat ISBN: 080148748X Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment by Patricia Hill Collins ISBN: 0415924847 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
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