Gender Talk: Sexism, Power and Politics in the African American Community. (Briefs).

Stephens, Charles

Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Johnetta Cole One World. 298 pages, $24.95

The co-authors of this book, Beverly Guy-Sheftall and Johnetta Cole, both of Spelman College, have written an important critique of gender politics in the black community. Gender Talk charts the convoluted nature of gender and power relations as they operate in this community both historically and at present. The authors are particularly critical of the way in which the agenda for racial liberation has been conducted mostly in the narrow interests of black heterosexual men. They point out how black women are frequently criticized from within the black community when they speak out against sexism at the hands of black men. They boldly reexamine the issue of racial solidarity, discussing the ways in which black women, black gays and lesbians, and other doubly and triply oppressed groups have been left out of the conversation about black liberation. Guy-Sheftall and Cole have produced a book that's accessible to the general reader without sacrificing depth or insight. If the book's title was intended to get peop le talking about gender, then Gender Talk deserves to succeed in this endeavor.