Studying Sex: Not Just for Whitey
23 March 06 in Commentary
ColorLines magazine, via AlterNet, has a story up about a course in African-American sexuality being offered at a university in California. I thought the article was enlightening in terms of some of the issues that have been brought up here on ethnorotica:
Race “hasn’t been dealt with very well” in sexuality studies, Melendez says. Despite the fact that many people of color are interested in the topic, “there has been mainly a large group of white men and women in the field of sexuality. A lot has to do with the word ‘sexuality’; it gets associated with white people.” Melendez finds that when the word “sexuality” gets added to a course title, people of color don’t enroll.
As has been amply demonstrated in the world of erotica, even where people of different races and ethnicities are included, their sexuality is defined in terms of the “white gaze.”
Another reason for the low numbers of students of color in sexuality studies courses may have to do with the way race plays out in the mostly white classroom. “I spend all day talking about sexuality. I can say anything in my classes, and nobody will be shocked. But when [I] start talking about race, it often becomes a sensitive subject for my students,” Melendez says. “When we really start talking about what race means, we get uncomfortable. Students tend to think that if you know somebody’s race, you know a lot about them. I think that’s not true. Everybody experiences race and ethnicity differently. If you’re white, does that mean we can presume to know everything about you? It’s really important to de-teach [my sexuality studies students] about race. [I] constantly try to bring race and ethnicity into the conversation.”
Race, like money, is still very much a taboo subject, even among those who let it all hang out so to speak. Have a look and, ahem, try to ignore the trolls in the comments section.
[Props to Viv]
More: Sexuality, Academia, Racial Bias, Stereotypes
