ABSTRACT
Before expounding the present sexological theory, it is important to establish the rationale for why it matters to study race along with sexuality. In examining the history of racialized people in the United States, one begins to clearly see how established ideas about race have run concurrently with those about sexuality, with African American and other people of color deemed particularly sexually immoral in nature. It is this conceptualization and the subsequent treatment of African American people (established here as anti-Blackness) that have informed most facets of American life—including but not limited to sexological research and educational initiatives. In fully acknowledging this history, the opportunity emerges to further explore and address how it permeates the present landscape of African American life. This present work seeks to achieve just that by engaging in grounded theory study with nearly 100 African American people on the subjects of sexuality and race. This chapter reviews all heretofore named ideas before introducing the data collection and analysis process through which the emergent theoretical model, Black Sexual Epistemology, appears.
