ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how a sample of low-income heterosexual Black women living in New York City resist the interlocking oppressions of race, class, and gender through expressions of sexual autonomy and pursuit of sexual enjoyment. An intersectional analysis contextualizes the experiences of participants who live at the center of interrelated inequalities. Black women have historically experienced inequalities in ways that highlight their unique positionality within the matrix of domination. Black women’s narratives of their sexual decision making and the different ways they seek sexual pleasure represent empowerment and contestation of interconnected inequalities. An unexpected finding was the high rate of same-sex behavior among women who self-identified as heterosexual. Pleasure and sexual satisfaction were motivations for having sex with women. Mainstream feminist research on pornography has focused historically on debates over the extent to which sexually explicit media content objectifies women, incites male violence against women, and should be legally proscribed or heavily regulated in order to protect women.
