Synopses & Reviews
A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of black womenand#39;s sexuality in the porn industry. It is based on Mireille Miller-Youngand#39;s extensive archival research and her interviews with dozens of women who have worked in the adult entertainment industry since the 1980s. The women share their thoughts about desire and eroticism, black womenand#39;s sexuality and representation, and ambition and the need to make ends meet. Miller-Young documents their interventions into the complicated history of black womenand#39;s sexuality, looking at individual choices, however smallandmdash;a costume, a gesture, an improvised lineandmdash;as small acts of resistance, of what she calls andquot;illicit eroticism.andquot; Building on the work of other black feminist theorists, and contributing to the field of sex work studies, she seeks to expand discussion of black womenand#39;s sexuality to include their eroticism and desires, as well as their participation and representation in the adult entertainment industry. Miller-Young wants the voices of black women sex workers heard, and the decisions they make, albeit often within material and industrial constraints, recognized as their own.
Review
andquot;A Taste for Brown Sugar is a game changer, a courageous and bold book that shifts the discourse on the contested history of race and porn. Mireille Miller-Youngand#39;s rigorous historical and ethnographic research disrupts the and#39;good versus badand#39; binary that has dogged debates about pornography for decades.andquot;
Review
andquot;A Taste for Brown Sugar is a thorough and compelling look at a subject steeped in societyand#39;s anxiety and imagination: black women in pornography. Mireille Miller-Young dives head first into a thorny topic with clear, nuanced thinking. This book tackles complicated issues of race, sex work, feminism, pleasure, and representation in a rigorous, thoughtful way. Finally: scholarship that centers black womenand#39;s labor and ideas in both academia and the sex industries and gives crucial voice to underrepresented workers and feminist thinkers. Miller-Youngand#39;s approach is intersectional, engaging, and, above all, accessible to scholars and general readers alike. This book will enrage you, enlighten you, and make you rethink everything you know about race and sex.andquot;
Review
andldquo;This much-needed volume reminds scholars of the need to deepen porn studies and strengthen its interdisciplinary possibilities through various theoretical lenses and critical approaches. and#160;Supporting her book with abundant images, Miller-Young thoughtfully exposes readers to concepts both visually and intellectually. andhellip; and#160;A necessary volume for academics as well as those interested in popular culture studies that have a dialogue with race and/or women. Essential. Graduate students/faculty.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;Reading A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography on a New York subway train will earn you some very interesting looks. Adorned with a cover photo featuring the beautiful porn star Jeannie Pepper topless in a white fur like something out of Superfly, and the customary wall of text that comes with academic books on the back, it brings out New Yorkand#39;s best double takes. andhellip; A Taste for Brown Sugar offers fine scholarship, done with the utmost respect of the subject and the workers chronicled.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research on dozens of women who have worked in adult entertainment since the 1980s, A Taste for Brown Sugar boldly takes on representations of black womenandrsquo;s sexuality in the porn industry.
About the Author
Mireille Miller-Young is Associate Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is a coeditor of
The Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure.
Table of Contents
Preface. Confessions of a Black Feminist Academic Photographer vii
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction. Brown Sugar: Theorizing Black Womenand#39;s Sexual Labor in Photography 1
1. Sepia Sex Scenes: Spectacles of Difference in Race Porn 23
2. Sexy Soul Sisters: Black Women in the Golden Era 66
3. Black Chicks: Marketing Black Women in the Video Era 104
4. Ho Theory: Black Female Sexuality at the Convergence of Hip Hop and Pornography 142
5. (Black) Porn Star: Aspirations and Realities in Porn Work 180
6. Behind the Scenes: Confronting Disempowerment and Creating Change in Black Womenand#39;s Porn Work 226
Epilogue. Behind the Camera: Black Womenand#39;s Illicit Erotic Interventions 263
Notes 283
Bibliography 315
Index 355