Exploring differences in Black heterosexual and queer women’s sexual experiences through a Black queer feminist lens

References

• Adams-Santos, D. (2020). “Something a bit more personal”: Digital storytelling and intimacy among queer Black women. Sexualities, 23(8), 1434–1456. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363460720902720
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Barnett, M. D., Maciel, I. V., Van Vleet, S., & MarsdenIII, A. D. (2019). Motivations for faking orgasm and orgasm consistency among young adult women. Personality and Individual Differences, 149, 83–87.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bowleg, L., Lucas, K. J., & Tschann, J. M. (2004). “The ball was always in his court”: An exploratory analysis of relationship scripts, sexual scripts, and condom use among African American women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 28(1), 70–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2004.00124.x
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Bowleg, L. (2008). When Black + lesbian + woman ≠ Black lesbian woman: The methodological challenges of qualitative and quantitative intersectionality research. Sex Roles, 59(5), 312–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9400-z
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brown, A. M. (2019). Pleasure activism: The politics of feeling good. AK Press.
   Google Scholar
• Carney, C. J. (2019). Centering pleasure and anti-respectability in black studies. American Quarterly, 71(1), 135–139. https://doi.org/10.1353/aq.2019.0006
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Chadwick, S. B., Burke, S. M., Goldey, K. L., Bell, S. N., & van Anders, S. M. (2017). Sexual desire in sexual minority and majority women and men: The Multifaceted Sexual Desire Questionnaire. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46(8), 2465–2484.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Clarke, C. (1981). Lesbianism: An act of resistance. In This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color (pp. 128–137). Bath, United Kingdom: Persephone Press.
   Google Scholar
• Clarke, C., & Smith, B. (1983). The failure to transform homophobia in the black community.
   Google Scholar
• Cohen, C. (2019). The radical potential of queer? Twenty years later. GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 25(1), 140–144. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/712687 https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-7275334
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Collins, P. H. (2020). Defining black feminist thought (pp.278–290). Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Combahee River Collective. (1977). The Combahee River Collective Statement (pp. 15-27). Chicago, IL: Haymarket BooksThe Combahee River Collective Statement (pp. 15-27). Chicago, IL: Haymarket Books.
   Google Scholar
• Cooper, B. (2017). Disrespectability politics: On Jay-Z’s bitch, Beyonce’s “fly” ass, and Black girl Blue. In B. C. Cooper, S. M. Morris, & R. M. Boylorn (Eds.), The crunk feminist collection (pp. 181–184). Feminist Press.
   Google Scholar
• Cooper, B. (2018). Eloquent rage: A Black feminist discovers her superpower. St. Martin’s Press.
   Google Scholar
• Dogan, J., Hargons, C., Meiller, C., Oluokun, J., Montique, C., & Malone, N. (2018). Catchin’ feelings: Experiences of intimacy during Black college students’ sexual encounters. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 5(2), 81–107.
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Douglas, C. (2018). “No one wants us for real”: How college-educated Black women understand dating opportunities, define priorities, and cope with structural cultural vulnerabilities [Doctoral dissertation]. University of North Carolina, Chapel-Hill.
   Google Scholar
• Ekholm, E., Lundberg, T., Carlsson, J., Norberg, J., Linton, S.J., & Flink, I. K. (2021). “A lot to fall back on”: Experiences of dyspareunia among queer women. Psychology & Sexuality. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.2007988
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fahs, B. (2014). Coming to power: Women’s fake orgasms and best orgasm experiences illuminate the failures of (hetero) sex and the pleasures of connection. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 16(8), 974–988. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2014.924557
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fahs, B., & Plante, R. (2017). On ‘good sex’ and other dangerous ideas: Women narrate their joyous and happy sexual encounters. Journal of Gender Studies, 26(1), 33–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2016.1246999
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fine, M., Torre, M. E., Oswald, A. G., & Avory, S. (2021). Critical participatory action research: Methods and praxis for intersectional knowledge production. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68(3), 344–356.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Gilbert, T. Q. (2021). Black and sexy: A framework of racialized sexuality. London, UK: Routledge.
   Google Scholar
• Goldey, K. L., Posh, A. R., Bell, S. N., & van Anders, S. M. (2016). Defining pleasure: A focus group study of solitary and partnered sexual pleasure in queer and heterosexual women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(8), 2137–2154.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hammonds, E. (1994). Black (W)holes and the geometry of Black female sexuality. Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 6(2-3), 126–154. https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-6-2-3-126
   Google Scholar
• Hargons, C. N., & Thorpe, S. (2022). #HotGirlScience: A liberatory paradigm for intersectional sex positive scholarship. Journal of Positive Sexuality, 8(1), 3–11.
   Google Scholar
• Hargons, C. N., Mosley, D. V., Meiller, C., Stuck, J., Kirkpatrick, B., Adams, C., & Angyal, B. (2018). It feels so good”: Pleasure in last sexual encounter narratives of black university students. Journal of Black Psychology, 44(2), 103–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798417749400
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J., Malone, N., Thorpe, S., Mosley, D. V., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2021). Balancing the sexology scales: A content analysis of Black women’s sexuality research. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 23(9), 1287–1301. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1776399
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Harris, L. A. (1996). Queer Black feminism: The pleasure principle. Feminist Review, 54(1), 3–30. https://doi.org/10.1057/fr.1996.31
   Google Scholar
• Higginbotham, E. B. (1992). African-American women’s history and the metalanguage of race. Signs: Journal of Women in culture and Society, 17(2), 251–274. https://doi.org/10.1086/494730
   Google Scholar
• Hine, D.C. (1989) Rape and the inner lives of Black women in the middle west: Prelimiary thoughts on the culture of dissemblance. Signs, 14(4), 915–920.
   Google Scholar
• Jackson, S., & Scott, S. (2007). Faking like a woman? Towards an interpretive theorization of sexual pleasure. Body & Society, 13(2), 95–116.
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Johnson, E. P. (2005). Quare’ studies, or (almost) everything I know about queer studies I learned from my grandmother. In E. P. Johnson & M. G. Henderson (Eds.), Black queer studies: A critical anthology (pp. 124–157). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780822387220-009
   Google Scholar
• Lane, N. (2016). Bringing flesh to theory: Ethnography, Black queer theory, and studying Black sexualities. Feminist Studies, 42(3), 632–648. https://doi.org/10.1353/fem.2016.0032
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Jones, B. S. (2021). Mouths of rain: An anthology of Black lesbian thought. The New Press.
   Google Scholar
• Lorde, A. (1984). Sister outsider: Essays and speeches. Crossing Press.
   Google Scholar
• Mahar, E. A., Mintz, L. B., & Akers, B. M. (2020). Orgasm equality: Scientific findings and societal implications. Current Sexual Health Reports, 12(1), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-020-00237-9
   Google Scholar
• Mark, K., Herbenick, D., Fortenberry, D., Sanders, S., & Reece, M. (2014). The object of sexual desire: Examining the “what” in “what do you desire?” The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 11(11), 2709–2719. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsm.12683
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McPhillips, K., Braun, V., & Gavey, N. (2001). Defining (hetero) sex: How imperative is the “coital imperative”? Women’s Studies International Forum, 24(2), 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-5395(01)00160-1
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Meiller, C., & Hargons, C. N. (2019). “It’s happiness and relief and release”: Exploring masturbation among bisexual and queer women. Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education, 1(1), 3–10.
   Google Scholar
• Meuwissen, I., & Over, R. (1991). Multidimensionality of the content of female sexual fantasy. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29(2), 179–189.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Meston, C. M., & Buss, D. M. (2007). Why humans have sex. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(4), 477–507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9175-2
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Miller-Young, M. (2014). A taste for brown sugar: Black women in pornography (1st ed.). Duke University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Morgan, J. (2015). Why we get off: Moving towards a Black feminist politics of pleasure. The Black Scholar, 45(4), 36–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2015.1080915
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Muehlenhard, C. L., & Shippee, S. K. (2010). Men’s and women’s reports of pretending orgasm. Journal of Sex Research, 47(6), 552–567.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Nash, J. C. (2018). Black feminism reimagined. In Black feminism reimagined. Duke University Press.
   Google Scholar
• Nimbi, F. M., Ciocca, G., Limoncin, E., Fontanesi, L., Uysal, Ü. B., Flinchum, M., Tambelli, R., Jannini, E.A. & Simonelli, C. (2020). Sexual desire and fantasies in the LGBT+ community: Focus on lesbian women and gay men. Current Sexual Health Reports, 12(3), 153–161.
   Google Scholar
• Opperman, E., Braun, V., Clarke, V., & Rogers, C. (2014). “ It feels so good it almost hurts”: Young adults’ experiences of orgasm and sexual pleasure. The Journal of Sex Research, 51(5), 503–515. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.753982
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Pascoal, P. M., Sanchez, D. T., Raposo, C. F., & Pechorro, P. (2016). Initial validation of the sexual pleasure scale in clinical and non-clinical samples of partnered heterosexual people. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 13(9), 1408–1413.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Potts, A. (2000). Coming, coming, gone: A feminist deconstruction of heterosexual orgasm. Sexualities, 3(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1177/136346000003001003
   Google Scholar
• Roberts, C., Kippax, S., Waldby, C., & Crawford, J. (1995). Faking it: The story of “Ohh!.” Women’s Studies International Forum, 18(5–6), 523–532. https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(95)80090-C
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rusticus, S. A., & Lovato, C. Y. (2014). Impact of sample size and variability on the power and type I error rates of equivalence tests: A simulation study. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 19(1), 11.
   Google Scholar
• Safron, A. (2016). What is orgasm? A model of sexual trance and climax via rhythmic entrainment. Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology, 6(1), 31763. https://doi.org/10.3402/snp.v6.31763
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Salisbury, C. M., & Fisher, W. A. (2014). "Did you come?" A qualitative exploration of gender differences in beliefs, experiences, and concerns regarding female orgasm occurrence during heterosexual sexual interactions?” Journal of Sex Research, 51(6), 616–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2013.838934
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schick, V., Dodge, B., Van Der Pol, B., Baldwin, A., & Fortenberry, J. D. (2015). Sexual behaviours, sex toy and sexual safety methods reported by women who have sex with women and men. Sexual Health, 12(4), 287–299.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smalls, S. P., & Powell, E. H. (2019). Introduction: An impossibility: Black queer and trans* aesthetics. The Black Scholar, 49(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1080/00064246.2019.1548054
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Smith, M. R. (2014). “Or a real, real bad lesbian”: Nicki Minaj and the acknowledgement of queer desire in hip-hop culture. Popular Music and Society, 37(3), 360–370. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2013.800680
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Stewart, M. R. (2013). “Getting Freaky”: Perversion and promiscuity within alternative relationships and sexual modalities among people of color [Thesis]. Georgia State University. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_theses/40
   Google Scholar
• Sullivan, M. J. (2019). Black queer feminism. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.78530
   Google Scholar
• Sullivan, M. J. (2021). The poetics of difference: Queer feminist forms in the African diaspora (D. C. Hine & D. A. McBride, Eds.). Crossing Press/Penguin Random House.
   Google Scholar
• Thorpe, S., Dogan, J. N., Townes, A., Malone, N., Jester, J. K., & Hargons, C. N. (2021a). Black women’s pleasure mapping. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 7(4), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2021.0008
   Google Scholar
• Thorpe, S., & Kuperberg, A. (2021). Social motivations for college hookups. Sexuality & Culture, 25(2), 623–645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09786-6
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• Thorpe, S., Malone, N., Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J. N., & Jester, J. K. (2022). The peak of pleasure: US Southern Black women’s definitions of and feelings toward sexual pleasure. Sexuality & Culture, 26(3), 1115–1117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09934-6
   Google Scholar
• Thorpe, S., Nichols, T. R., Tanner, A. E., Kuperberg, A., & Foh, E. P. (2021b). Relational and partner-specific factors influencing black heterosexual women’s initiation of sexual intercourse and orgasm frequency. Sexuality & Culture, 25(2), 503–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-020-09780-y
   Google Scholar
• Townes, A., Thorpe, S., Parmer, T., Wright, B., & Herbenick, D. (2021). Partnered sexual behaviors, pleasure, and orgasms at last sexual encounter: Findings from a US probability sample of Black women ages 18 to 92 years. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 47(4), 353–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2021.1878315
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Thorpe, S., Malone, N., Hargons, C. N., Dogan, J. N., & Jester, J. K. (2022). The peak of pleasure: US Southern Black women’s definitions of and feelings toward sexual pleasure. Sexuality & Culture, 1–17. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09934-6
   PubMedGoogle Scholar
• van Anders, S. M. (2012). Testosterone and sexual desire in healthy women and men. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41(6), 1471–1484. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9946-2
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vowels, L. M., & Mark, K. P. (2020). Strategies for mitigating sexual desire discrepancy in relationships. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(3), 1017–1028.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Vowels, L. M., Rosenkrantz, D. E., Brown, H. M., & Mark, K. P. (2020). Ebbs and flows of desire: A qualitative exploration of contextual factors affecting sexual desire in bisexual, lesbian, and straight women. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 46(8), 807–823.
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Walker, A. (1982). The color purple (Vol. 1). Open Road Media.
   Google Scholar
• Ware, S., Thorpe, S., & Dyson, Y. D. (2020). “Knowing that you’re pleasing the other person makes it even better": Perceived pleasure and motives for condom use among heterosexual Black college men in the South. Journal of Black Sexuality and Relationships, 6(3), 49–69. https://doi.org/10.1353/bsr.2020.0000
   Google Scholar