Reading between the lines: A review of Dark Juices and Afrodisiacs: Erotic Diaries Vol 1

Abstract

abstract Dark Juices and Afrodisiacs: Erotic Diaries Vol 1 kicks in the little opened door of feminist erotica written by Lesbian, Bisexual, Queer, Trans* (LBQT*) and non-binary African women and people. An offering of HOLAAfrica! which continues to be an important space for sex-positive expression and erotic exploration by and with African women and LBQT*/Non-binary people, invite us to imagine, remember and explore both our surface and deeper lying feelings and ideas of sex and sexuality in this publication. This review is an invitation to a dialogue between the offerings contained in Dark Juices and Afrodisiacs: Erotic Diaries Vol 1 and the ideas of feminist thinker and writer on the erotic, Audre Lorde who provokes, “This is one reason why the erotic is so feared, and so often relegated to the bedroom alone, when it is recognised at all. For once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of“ (Lorde, 1984/2007:57). I pose the questions: have we or can we even expand our queer and feminist ideas of the erotic beyond our bedrooms when in fact our very bedrooms remain battlefields for pleasure over pain? How are queer imaginations and memories of sex and sensuality pushing back against normative ideas of Black and African women and queer people’s bodies, and how is this too, part of an emancipatory erotic? Why do we need more eroticism in our feminist movements, what can they look like, how can they be more inclusive of different bodies/politics/iterations of sex, sensuality, lust and desire?