sexuality
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Giants: A YouTube Series That Tackles Mental Health and Masculinity in the Black Community
Issa Rae’s YouTube channel recently launched Giants, a new series written and directed by James Bland and starring Vanessa Baden, William Catlett and Bland himself. The series is about “three millennials determined to live life on their own terms, no matter the cost, [who] quickly learn that when life starts to kick your ass, you…
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Reclaiming My Body During the Month of My Rapist’s Birth
January is usually a time of celebration. It’s a time when people can revisit goals from the previous year, create new ones, craft vision boards and determine our course for the year, all while anticipating some unexpected hurdles along the way. I, too, can always appreciate how important celebrating the new year is—a time with…
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Be a ‘Real’ Man: Black Gay Man Shares Homophobic Experience in Nail Salon
I love everything about manicures: the soaking of my nails, the clipping of my stressed-out cuticles, the massaging of my hands, the polishing and drying—and the lotion that people can never seem to find anywhere else. The nail salon has been my home away from home since my undergraduate years in northeastern Ohio. It provided…
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‘Selling Hot P–sy’: Strippers Talk Sexuality, Misogyny and Stereotypes
Strip clubs have dominated the black pop-culture scene for decades, with Atlanta being the central hub. So much of what we see in television, film and music, particularly as it pertains to black women and femme representation, is distilled from the lived experiences of dancers who sell sex or the illusion of sex. In her…
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Raven Labels Self "Colorless and American." World Replies "Colorless And American' Is NOT A Color, Raven"
Raven-Symoné recently waxed poetically about labels on Oprah’s “Where Are They Now?” special, and has (old) Black America in a tizzy. Raven expressed her dislike of labels, stating that she would not like to be labeled “gay” or “African-American.” She confirmed she is simply American, colorless, and human. Which are all labels, by the way. Colorless,…