Customer Reviews

The Greatest Taboo: Homosexuality in Black Communities

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Does Homosexuality remain the greatest taboo in black culture? Is homosexuality a European cultural imposition on Africans? Are you black first or queer? These are the important questions that Delroy Constantine-Simms, the editior of The Greatest Taboo, sets about to answer by compiling twenty-eight essays from such heralded authors as Bell Hooks, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Seth Clark Silberman, Gregory Conerly, and Gloria Wekker.

The interesting thing about this collection, other than the fact that it is long overdue, is that it examines homosexuality in both men and women are far back as slavery times. If one is a fan of non-fiction, thought-provoking reading, then The Greatest Taboo is definitely one for the collection. There has long been a stigma surrounding homosexuality, mostly from those who fear something they cannot understand. I think this is an important book for everyone to read and I highly recommend it.

Zane, RAW Reviewer

I chose this book because I thought it was a chronicle of stories. Stories of black gay and lesbians, not an analytical outlook on the community. Delroy Constantine-Simms mentions in the introduction that this book was supposed to be an "anthology of Black perspective that was either sympathetic to or antagonistic toward the subject of homosexuality". I wish it was, instead the reader gets several essays that read like textbook stuff.

If you're looking to read thought provoking essays then this is the book to read. You won't, however find comments from those who have a hostile point of view regarding the homosexual community.

Reviewed by Missy