Erotica » Books; Sex & Society » Acceptance, Sex positivity: "Coming in Colors: The Landscape of African-American Erotica, Part 2"
EdenFantasys Store

Coming in Colors: The Landscape of African-American Erotica, Part 2

  •    
  • Print
  • E-mail
From launching the niche to going mainstream, black writers are finding their market—and it's not necessarily defined by color lines.

  Sex In God's House

While business is booming, Knight reports they did meet with some resistance from conservative religious quarters. The church is a powerful voice in the African-American community. “With guidance that came directly from [Bryant-Woolridge],” says Knight, “we changed our pitch, moving toward a message of empowering women by helping them to unleash their sensuality. It saved the day!”

Erotica can be a tough sell in the religious segment, the author admits. “On the surface, sex is a huge no-no, but we all know that after church, it’s a whole different story! The push into this community has to be quiet and dignified and largely word of mouth. It has to stand out as something that is not raunchy or vulgar.” In fact, one of her collection’s pieces, “Bubble Music,” was specifically chosen “to address the issues of the church sanctifying sex to the point of making it a sin instead of the joyous gift from God that it is.”

There’s a misguided notion, reports Cal State East Bay’s Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Ethnic Studies, Nicholas Baham, Ph.D., that the sex lives of African-Americans are conventional or conformist, when really they’re no different than anyone else’s. “There’s a sheen of social conservatism that’s put on you because of your history, a fear of how you’ll be perceived—and also because of the black church,” which, he points out, is rife with members from all manners of the alternative-lifestyle community.

“There are plenty of black ministers who are gay, plenty of gay men and women in the black church,” he says. “Any black gay man will tell you that when he’s in his element there are plenty of black purportedly straight men in the mix—not just in bourgeois settings, but in places you would find very dangerous to be in the middle of the night, a whole ‘homo thug’ thing that these men can’t talk about.”

Riley says that despite its oft-religious roots, his is an audience wanting change and progress as well. “The church has done some wonderful things for black people. Some of our greatest leaders have come from that institution, but much work has to be done to demolish barriers of intolerance that are destructive to the community.” Even the church itself has a place in the universe of spicy fiction, “an urban Christian genre where the stories are yarns of old-fashioned faith with dashes of hot erotica,” he says.

  Beyond the Boundaries

Meanwhile, fans of African-American erotica will have plenty to consume, says Knight. Cleis Press alone (which publishes genres as specific as military, biker and vampire/paranormal) will be serving up a minimum of six offerings annually. And readers of all colors are welcome.

“What’s necessary to engage the audience is good writing and relatable characters going through an interesting journey,” says Bryant-Woolridge. “Regardless of race, women are all dealing with the same basic issues,” she notes. “Publishers do readers—black and white—a huge injustice by dumping all African-American literature into the genre du jour and characterizing all black people as urban, hip hop, round-the-way folks.

Bryant-Woolridge’s tome is Cleis’s best-selling book on college campuses right now, and Baham says that he’d consider using either of the anthologies as texts. The bottom line turns out not be one of color, but one of a more universal appeal.

“Black readers cross the literary color line to pick up books written by white authors. You don’t believe they become bestsellers without us, do you? There are plenty of white readers who would cross that line as well if publishers didn’t insist, through cover design, marketing and store placement, on making it appear that there is nothing between the covers of our books of interest to them.”

Baham believes no topic should be taboo; that people regardless of race, possess the ability to evolve to a point where we appreciate one another’s differences. “I remember being young and negotiating these things,” he recalls. “You didn’t know if you were supposed to get offended if a European-American woman asked if she could touch your hair. Was she being racist? Or just appreciating the difference?”

“Appreciating the difference,” he says, “is always going to be a turn-on … One would hope we wouldn’t always have to be in a society where everyone has to fuck themselves.”


To purchase the Naked Reader Book Club selections, visit the Naked Reader Book Club Store.

The Naked Reader Book Club Selections for July 2010
Frenzy. 60 Stories of Sudden Sex, edited by Alison Tyler Can't Help The Way That I Feel, edited by Lori Bryant-Woolridge
Making The Hook-Up Edited by Cole Riley

Comments

Subscribe to comments

Forum

No discussions yet.