Between Silence and Skin: Black Women's Reflections on Sexuality and Identity

This study investigates the sexual socialization of Black women and girls within predominantly white settings and institutions. This research centers the voices of 12 young Black women, ages 20-28, who grew up in predominantly white areas where they were less than 20% of the population. Using a Black feminist, intersectional analysis throughout each stage of development (childhood, family life, secondary school, institutions of higher learning, and early adulthood), this project explores the various social and cultural mechanisms that perpetuate "cultures of silence" in Black women and girls' lives. This research demonstrates how Black women disrupt iterations of cultural silence, through a rejection of sexual scripts, respectability and desirability politics, and sexual passivity. Participants also reiterated the need for dismantling cultures of silence, particularly within the Black community.