Black Issues NonFiction Reviews
September/October 2004
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No Secrets, No Lies: How Black Families Can Heal From Sexual Abuse
by Robin D. Stone
Broadway Books, April 2004
$23.95, ISBN 0-767-91344-2
Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism
by Patricia Hill Collins
Routledge, February 2004
$26.00, ISBN 0-415-93099-5
The theme that binds two new nonfiction works is silence: the silence that shrouds the topic of childhood sexual abuse in the black community, leaving many of its victims to suffer alone; and the deadly quiet that belies the existence and debilitating effects of gender bias and heterosexism among African Americans people.
In an era when many self-help books offer road maps for attaining professional success and finding a husband, it is commendable that No Secrets, No Lies by Robin D. Stone deals with an issue as violent, ugly and hidden as childhood sexual abuse.
Stone, a journalism professor at New York University and a former editor for Essence and The New York Times, eases the journey of those in need of her book by writing in plain yet powerful prose. Stone tells those who have suffered such assaults that they must face their experiences in order to heal. She takes the reader by the hand, interspersing “fast facts’’ about sexual abuse in our community with poignant stories from survivors and practical exercises on how to recover from the trauma, be it writing in a diary, going to a therapist, or incorporating African–centered rituals into your life.
Just as important, Stone speaks to how abusers behave and how they can be stopped. She tells those adults in whom a child confides that it is not enough merely to listen. You must make sure the child knows that he or she is believed. It is not enough to report the abuse to child-welfare and legal authorities. One must ensure the child’s safety and make other family members aware of the suspected abuse.
Of course, while sexual abuse happens throughout society and discussing it is never an easy conversation, the backdrop of racism has made it a particularly taboo topic in the black community. Stone also addresses the fears that reporting such violence will stoke stereotypes about black sexuality and expose our families to the scrutiny of social workers, police and other outsiders who historically have been hostile to us.
Stereotypes and their insidious toll on our psyches also figure prominently in Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Sexual Politics, a fascinating treatise on what she deems the “new racism” in which old myths and bigotries change in form but not in impact.