Black Women’s Sexual Communication: Retrospective Accounts of Messages from Male and Female Family Members

ABSTRACT

The study used Black feminist theory and methods to examine messages about the composition of, and potential differences in the sexual health that Black women received from male and female loved ones. Black feminist theory grounded the study by ensuring Black women were involved in research team composition, design, recruitment, and data analysis. Our inductive thematic analysis of focus group data from 24 Black women revealed seven themes: Indirect Communication, Absence of Communication, Messages to Shield, and Prepare from male figures. The themes from female figures included: Absence of Communication, Open Communication, and Empowerment, Pleasure, and Judgment-Free Communication. A seventh theme that connected across gender focused on Objectification and Gender Stereotypes. Findings of the study suggest that there is a need for greater focus on improving family communication about sex for Black women and the need to center communication that empowers Black women to engage in healthy sexual practices.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

“The project described was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health, through Grant Award Number UL1TR002489. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.”