Correction

Annotated Bibliography

Name

Institution

Annotated bibliography

Bailey, M. M., & Stallings, L. H. (2017). Anti-Black racism and the metalanguage of sexuality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 42(3), 614-621.

Bailey and Stallings explore the concept of sexuality in all dimensions that can be used to understand it. Sex is first denoted as the act of being male or female. The concept of sexuality has been both problematic and helpful in understanding the complexities of this subject. This is because it is quite wide and refers to various subjects. Apart from the idea of being male or female, the quality of being sexual is also covered under sexuality. This means being homo, hetero or bisexual. Through this research, the authors have analyzed the sexuality and the keywords that define sexuality (615).

According to this research, authors have for a long time avoided discussing sex openly. Black sex is particularly one subject that cannot be discussed openly. Many factors have been attributed to this, the major one being the painful story of slavery and rape that the African women have had to endure for a long time. The black bodies have been subjected to so much sexual violence that they find it hard to discuss sex openly. Many authors have addressed this issue and have been able to change the African mentality about sexuality.

This research looks at the origin of the word sexuality and how this concept has been constructed over the years to what it is today. It also addresses the many factors that have been used to construct sexuality for example medical, scientific, religious among many other factors. It borrows largely from the work of Foucault who analyzed the history of sexuality to understand how sexuality has been shaped over the years. It goes ahead to show how sexuality has compelled studies to redefine and expand the concept so that it can be more understandable (618).

This research implicates that sexuality shapes our morals and consequently determining our humanity. For us to be able to understand sexuality, we must liberate our minds and be free to view this subject in all dimensions. It is important to rethink black sexuality and move away from the white theories that tend to define black sexuality because most of them are stereotypes. The understanding of sexuality requires a revolution and decolonization that will ensure that black people will not continue to live according to the definitions of whites.

The theory of sexuality in Africans has been constructed through imagination. Colonization, slavery, and imperialism have been greatly used to define sexuality and it is time to break this imagination. This research will help us understand how the concept of African sexuality has been defined and how it has been constructed over time. This will enable us to reconstruct this concept by getting rid of the stereotypes that are associated with black sexuality. This will, in turn, help us understand how racism and sexuality are interconnected (620).

Carby, H. V. (1987). Reconstructing Womanhood: The emergence of the Afro-American woman novelist. Oxford University Press on Demand.

Carby's book addresses the ideologies of womanhood during the time of slavery. It focuses on the black woman's sexuality and the stereotypes that are associated with her. To understand the ideologies of the black woman's sexuality, it is also important to understand the ideologies of the white woman's sexuality. This is because the two ideologies are interdependent with the white woman's sexuality ideologies shaping the black woman's sexuality ideologies. Carby, therefore, produces the opposing definitions of motherhood and womanhood for black and white women through the representation of slave and mistress. The main focus of this research is to understand how black women writers addressed these ideologies (25).

This research analyzes both dominant ideologies and literary conventions to understand the stereotypes associated with the black woman. These ideologies and conventions indicate that stereotypes do not actually a reality or social relationships. It also analyzes how racism and black sexuality leave the black woman writer with the dilemma of whether to write about her experiences or to write about only what is within the beliefs about the black woman's sexuality. There are basic characteristics that defined the African woman and by which she was supposed to abide. These were domesticity, submissiveness, purity, and piety.

Carby's work focuses on the struggle of women to gain relevance since as early as 1820. The distinguished rights of men and women are clearly represented and were well defined since the woman was young. Men were entitled to much more than women were. The image of womanhood is not adequate to describe the typical woman because of the many stereotypes that are associated with it. The notion of the slave and the mistress describe the black and white woman respectively. The black woman had to go through a lot to get over these stereotypes. It has taken many feminists and female writers to clear the stereotypes associated with the black woman's sexuality. This research may be helpful to understand the struggles of the black woman with sexuality and every traditional aspect that was used to define them. The evidence provided in the research is adequate to understand the concept of reconstructing womanhood as presented by Carby. It will help us understand how and why sexuality is a form of racism (36).

Chopin, K. (1893). Desiree's Baby.

In her fictional story, Chopin addresses the concepts of both sexuality and racism. She tells the story of Desiree who falls in love with Armand. The story begins with Madame Valmonde on her way to see her daughter Desiree who has just given birth. She recalls how Desiree was left behind as a child by travelers and how she had seen that as God's way to give her a child since she could not conceive. She is marveled at how fast the baby has grown and Desiree announces that her husband is the happiest man especially since the baby is a boy. This shows how male children were held in high regard, unlike female children (1).

Things are good between Desiree and her husband until the husband begins to notice that their baby is not white. Armand notices this before Desiree and starts treating her coldly. By the time Desiree notices that her baby is not white, her husband is already mad at her for bringing shame to him. He accuses her of not being white. She calls her mother who asks her to take her baby back to her home. This she does because even she is not certain if Desiree is white since she is not her biological child. Nobody dares think that Armand could be the problem. When Desiree asks her husband if she should leave, he asks her to leave (4).

Later when going through his letters Armand comes across a letter that his mother had written to his father of how proud she was that Armand would never realize that she was from the cursed race. So Armand had been the course of their son's color after all yet he sent his wife away. There is an extreme representation of racism in this work in that black people are seen as cursed. It also helps us understand the issues that women had to go through and how sexuality was so much programmed to exploit women. Nobody dared think or accuse men of making a mistake and any mistake was a woman's doing (5).

Chou, R. S. (2012). Asian American sexual politics: The construction of race, gender, and sexuality. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

In his book, Chou addresses sexual issues in Asian America. He talks of how villains use cultural stereotypes to choose their victims. He gives an account of an occurrence two white men and one white woman kidnapped, raped and sodomized Japanese women intending to videotape the whole thing. The perpetrators tortured two different groups of Japanese women in this way where one of the groups was made up of students. They claimed to always go for Japanese women because women are known to be submissive. This shows how racism has been used by villains to pick their targets (56).

The Asian woman has been constructed as a docile human who is vulnerable to sexuality. This book, therefore, looks at how these constructions affect the lives of Asian Americans. Feminists have for a long time argued that the sexuality of women is shaped in such a way that it pleases men. Asian American sexuality is shaped in such a way that it holds the whites especially white men in high regard. Chuo examines how the sexuality of Asians is stereotyped to ensure that the sexuality of the Americans remains relevant.

African American men and women have been stereotyped as hypersexual but for Asian Americans, the case is different. Asian American women are seen as docile and submissive while their men are seen as sexually inactive. It is important to control these stereotypes about Asian Americans to ensure that we see things as they are in reality. Sex and sexuality have become so intertwined that it is difficult to tell the difference. Although race does not have to play any part in defining sexuality, it has become so much a part of sexuality that one has to understand race first before they can understand sexuality (99).

By studying the sexual politics that revolve around Asian Americans, we can understand the role that racism plays in matters of sexuality. The stereotypes attached to the Asian bodies are a new form of racism that needs to be countered just like black people's sexuality stereotypes. The feminist theory about sexuality should be broadened to incorporate the use of racism to define sexuality. This research will help us understand a new form of racial sexuality and how we can reconstruct the idea.

Foucault, M. (1990). The history of sexuality: An introduction, volume I. Trans. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage, 95.

This article analyzes the history of sexuality from as early as the seventeenth century. According to Foucault, during this time sexuality had not been well defined and people could talk frankly about matters sexuality and there was no illicit. But then this evolved and in matters of sexuality, secrecy and silence became most important. The decency of words started being encouraged. A person who discussed sexuality openly was seen as abnormal and all efforts would be done to curb those traits. The subject of sex still remains regressed and prohibited. In this regard, the act of speaking about it is seen as transgression (6).

This research shows the connection between sex and power in that a person who talks about sex openly defies the law. This is an ideology that has been planted in us for a long time such that even our tone when speaking about sexuality can tell that we are doing the wrong thing. Foucault, therefore, analyzes the relationship between sexuality and power. The connection is seen as repressive and that it is historical. In his research, he raises three doubts concerning this repression that he terms as repression hypotheses. One of the doubts is whether social repression is an established historical act, the second one is whether power belongs to the category of repression and lastly does the regression act as a roadblock to a hitherto unchallenged mechanism? By exploring these three hypotheses, Foucalt can analyze in detail the history of sexuality and its repression (31).

The research outlines the four operations that were covered in the concept of power concerning sexuality. One of them was the condemnation of adultery and the subordination of sexuality in children. The other operation was the definition of the acts of sexuality that were punishable for example sodomy and homosexuality. These were unacceptable sexual behaviors. Thirdly, the concept of power demanded constant and insistent observation. The last operation was to apply a hierarchy to the concept of sexuality. This research provides a broad history of sexuality which is very helpful to understand the concept of sexuality. By learning about the connection between sexuality and power, we can understand why matters of sexuality are treated the way they are (43).

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