Gender Talk: the Struggle for Women's Equity in African-American Communities.

by Johnnetta B. Cole, Beverly Guy-Sheftall One World/Ballantine, February 2003 $24.95, ISBN 0-345-45412-X

Perhaps best known for her tenure as president of Atlanta's Spelman College, Professor and Bennett College President Johnnetta B. Cole has teamed up with Professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall to produce Gender Talk, a multigenerational look at black women and their struggles to achieve gender equality within African-American communities.

After more than three years of exhaustive research, Cole and Guy-Sheftall have assembled sources dating back to slavery, as well as the opinions, words and writings of some of black America's most prominent writers, educators, clergy people and activists. At just over 200 pages, Gender Talk is an ambitious project that aims to introduce, explain and help advance the cause for gender equality among African Americans.

In the first chapter, "The Personal as Political," the authors discuss the role that gender has played in their lives, revealing intensely personal struggles within families, marriages and other intimate relationships. Two of the most enjoyable chapters are "Having Our Say," which features conversations with black men and women regarding the forces that shaped their views and experiences concerning gender and "Black Liberation vs. Women's Liberation," where the authors discuss, among other things, the failure of the Civil Rights Movement to assign women to leadership positions.

Though there is little discussion about black women who perpetuate sexism, another chapter explains how black women have been silent about their own mistreat ment by black men, even while fighting for racial equality.

Though some of the women interviewed described lives marred by physical and emotional violence, others provided stirring examples of households that promoted what can be described as feminist values--where women were equally valued, supported and encouraged to succeed. Still, others described the connection between the subjugation of black women and heterosexism in their lives and society at large.

The chapter titled "The Black Church" presents an examination of how the most influential institution in the black community has colored gender norms, including views of homosexuality. The authors present the views of several black ministers on what Rev. Michael Eric Dyson terms "ecclesiastical apartheid" and they do a good job of explaining the tension between spiritual teachings and societal pressures, as well as the gap between instruction and practice. However, they also tend to dismiss the genuine concerns that ministers face when negotiating issues of gender, race and equality.

Cole and Guy-Sheftall acknowledge that the chapter on women and hip-hop was difficult for them to write, in part because of their distance from the culture. Yet they do an admirable job of identifying misogynistic themes in African-American music and literature across the generations, using quotes from Joan Morgan, Kevin Powell and others. But while their criticism of hip-hop music and its treatment of women are legitimate, the authors fail to explore the most recent trends in hip-hop culture and music. A final chapter, "Where Do We Go From Here," offers useful strategies for men, women and community organizations.

Throughout the book, Cole and Guy-Sheftall speak both as individuals and as a unit, making frequent shifts from first person to third person--which can be disconcerting. Accordingly, the text often moves from the personal to the impersonal in the space of a single page. The authors also announce their intentions from chapter to chapter, much like a tour guide would, instead of jumping in and trusting the readers to follow along.

Each chapter tends to stand on its own and there is no clear link between any of them. Rather, the authors have taken the theme of gender equity, divided it into subsections, and have explored both historical and contemporary approaches to the issues within each area.

Although the scope of the book feels too broad, one would be hard pressed to find a more valuable introduction to the study of gender, and particularly, the ongoing problem of gender discrimination within black communities. In the end, Gender Talk serves more as an overview or survey than as an analysis of the many issues surrounding sexism in the black community. Most importantly, however, it proves that for black women, gender has always been, and continues to be, relevant.

--Denise Simon is a frequent contributor to BIBR.