Black Female Sexual Identity: The Self Defined

Abstract

The findings of a questionnaire survey distributed to 153 female university students in Barbados and Jamaica in 2008 reveal the attitudes to diverse female sexualities in the Caribbean. The participants in the survey discussed changing beliefs about sexuality in Caribbean society. The findings show that slowly, as a consequence of globalization and the mass media, people are increasingly open-minded about sex. Women are confidently expressing and increasingly asserting themselves as equal partners. There is greater debate in Caribbean society about female same-sex relationships, and deeper awareness of sexual harassment is evident. Nevertheless, for some respondents, the same degrading notions of women as sex objects and promiscuous beings continue to exist. Through the survey, the respondents appear to have created independent sexual self-concepts that counteract racist, sexist, heterosexist, and elitist myths. They describe the ways that Western stereotypes of Black Caribbean women as being promiscuous influence how Caribbean women perceive themselves, make sense of and give meanings to their own sexual identities, practices, and relationships. Participants maintain that they defy attempts to regulate their sexuality.