Customer Reviews

Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women's Equality in African American Communities

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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.

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).

I appreciated Cole and Guy-Sheftall's book, being a black woman (and a Spelman student!) myself, but I must agree with the first featured reviewer: the book does tend to excuse black men a lot without focusing on *real* gender issues. I expected to see the accomplishments of black women highlighted, and the female psyche explored, and most especially the relationship between black men and black women explored. The book spent a lot of time explaining that while black men did abuse women and call (...) it is the 'white man's fault' because they 'emasculated' black men in slavery's days; also, that part of the reason black females are in a rut is because they were excluded from white feminism (once again blaming their position on white America). There were some good points highlighted, however, like the exclusion of black women from the Million Man March (without apology to black men for barbing them). Overall, the book brought up some good points, but it was too redundant and too apologetic.

This is a phenomenal book! Its written more in the male perspective and more about the African American male and his role in the subjugation of African American women. Although at times its it really repetitive, it gets the point across and keeps you turning the pages. The only downfall is the authors are trying to make the argument that all actions within the African American community, especially male actions, can be traced back to slavery. While that may be true (or not), it makes you think about whether that argument really is valid in 2010. All together though a great read and worth the Amazon price.

Happy Reading!

I agree with the other reviewers but I think it is a step in the right direction....