Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and the New Racism

Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and the New Racism. By Patricia Hill Collins. New York: Routledge. 2004. 374 pp. 26. 00. To a large extent, scholarship on black politics often focuses primarily on institutions, rule of law, processes, political actors, and citizens but with very little attention to issues of gender and sexuality. In contrast, the principal aim of this book is to explore what the author sees as the inextricable links between racism and gender. The basic thesis of this well-written, important, and provocative book is that the fight against racism, especially the “new racism, ” can never be won without first challenging sexism, which simultaneously oppresses African-American men and women.