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Sex and Racism in America
As remarkably and chillingly pertinent today as when it was first published in 1965, this now classic study dissects the intersecting myths of sex and race as they are played out in America. No one concerned with issues of race relations in the United States can overlook the conclusions of this book.
- GenresNonfictionRaceSexuality
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First published June 1, 1966
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March 17, 2014I'm not going to give this one a rating, mostly because I don't have enough knowledge of the way these issues play out in the current day to evaluate whether or not it's still in the least bit accurate. I can say, however, that it was an engaging read that was never dry, and for my purposes (historical research) it was extremely useful and eye-opening.
May 20, 2024
A PROVOCATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON BLACK AND WHITE PEOPLE
Calvin Coolidge Hernton (1932-2001) was an American sociologist, poet and author, who was Professor of African-American Studies at Oberlin College until his retirement in 1999.
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1965 book, “The white man, especially the Southerner, is overtly obsessed with the idea of the Negro desiring sexual relations with whites. The Negro man is secretly tormented every second of his wakeful life by the presence of white women in his midst, whom he cannot or better not touch. Despite the severe penalties for associated with white women---lynching, castration, electrocution---Negroes risk their lives for white flesh, and an occasional few actually commit rape. On the other hand, the white man, especially in the Couth, cannot seem to adhere to his own laws and customs prohibiting interracial intercourse---he insults, seduces, and rapes negro women as if this were what they exist for.
“A preponderance of racial violence takes the form of sexual atrocities against not only black women but black men as well. In the North, Midwest, and West… many Negroes and whites suffer social ostracism and castigation for engaging in interracial relations. What does all this mean? It means that the race problem is inextricably connected with sex… no facet of our psyches, can escape the all but total sexualization of American life… there is but one incessant symbol: the naked or half-naked white woman... [which is] the ubiquitous sex symbol of our times. Sex pervades everything.” (Pg. 4-5) Later, he adds, “In fact, there is a sexual involvement … connecting white and black people in America that spans the history of this country from the era of slavery to the present… that all race relations tend to be, however, subtle, sex relations.” (Pg. 7)
He states, “If… the system of racism and white supremacy in the South has twisted the white man’s concept of both Negro sexuality and his own, God only knows that agonies and demons this same system has wrought in the sexuality of the white female… The southern white woman, reared and nurtured in the tradition of ‘sacred white womanhood,’ has had to deny and purge herself of every honest and authentic female emotion that is vital to being a healthy woman… One fact is certain, this myth was not created by the Southern white woman, and it was not propounded by the black woman nor the black man… the southern white man… invented it to salve his own guilt.” (Pg. 15)
He suggests in his chapter ‘The White Woman,’ “Frequently when a white women becomes friendly with a Negro woman or a Negro man, she may be either giving in to latent homosexual tendencies or fighting them. In either case, ‘black’ seems to be the summit of masculinity---it takes blackness to bring out the ‘femininity’ in otherwise frigid or near-frigid white women. Meanwhile, white men find it incomprehensible that some of the ‘whitest’ Caucasian women choose some of the ‘blackest’ Negroes in the spectrum!” (Pg. 43) He concludes the chapter, “I submit---because of … an ABNORMAL society---that the very hostilities of the outside world sometimes tend to weld together… a white woman and a black man more tenaciously than most of us are wont to surmise.” (Pg. 54)
In the chapter on ‘The Negro Male,’ he asserts, “Because he must act like a eunuch when it comes to white women, there arises within the Negro an undefined sense of dread and self-mutilation. Psychologically he experiences himself as castrated.” (Pg. 59) He recalls that after high school, “My dates were always light-skinned Negro girls, never dark or black ones, no matter wo pretty they might have been. For, I know now, my desire for a girl was affected by the myth and taboo of the white woman. I know now why I enjoyed the envy of other black boys---because I had a light-skinned girl friend… I was proud. But not proud enough…” (Pg. 64)
In the chapter on ‘The White Man,’ he states, “The white supremacist in the ante-bellum South … slept with the servants who kept his house and cooked his food… he did it because he felt that black women were not human beings. Black women were… outside of the providence of God… To some degree, however microscopic, all white men in America, save a few, carry in their perception of Negro females a dark sexual urge that borders on the vulgar.” (Pg. 95)
He observes, “it is predominantly the black woman who has managed, God knows how, to maintain those qualities that all men need and yearn for. The southern white man knows this… Through the years, the Southerner’s house, his laundry, his food, have all been attended to largely by black women. Southerners have been suckled and nursed by black breasts from infancy to boyhood. They have been warmed by black thighs from boyhood into manhood.” (Pg. 107)
He concludes the chapter, “Whether the white supremacist is sexually virile or not, he HEARS he is inadequate… he therefore says Negros are oversexed. The racist FEARS his sexuality is sinful, immoral. He therefore creates… objects of degradation upon which he can act out his own feelings of iniquity of vulgarity. The racist FEARS that the relationships between Negro men and women are healthier and freer than those between himself and white women. He also FEARS that black men can be better with white women than he is. He therefore transforms the white woman into … an idol, and he fills her with HIS paranoid fears of Negro men… the racist acquires a false sense of superiority … by imagining that the Negro is a beast bent on deflowering the symbol of his guilt and inadequacy---'sacred white womanhood.’” (Pg. 120)
In the chapter on ‘The Negro Woman,’ he observes, “Black men and women ‘fuss and fight’ constantly, because the values of the white supremacist’s world invade their lives from sunup to sundown… Nothing is free from the effects of the sexualization of racism. They call each other ‘ni-ger’ more frequently and with more contempt than many Southerners would do. For when they look at one another, they see and feel what they have been taught to see and feel about Negroes---something that is esthetically repulsive.” (Pg. 132)
He points out, “throughout the entire span of her existence on American soil, the Negro woman has bene alone and unprotected, not only socially but psychologically as well. She has HAD to fend for herself as if she were a man… she is potentially, if not already, the most sexual animal on this planet. It is not frigidity I am describing. It is RIGIDITY… this quality of austerity in the Negro woman … has enabled her to survive what few other women have ever lived through…” (Pg. 136)
He notes, “The cold statistical facts are that Negro women are not being abandoned by black men who marry white women any more than Caucasian women are being abandoned by white men who marry Negro women… Negro women who become alarmed when they see a black man with a white woman are reacting out of the same race-sex-jealousy emotional syndrome as is a white man who is alarmed over white women and Negro men… Anyway, what is ‘unjust rejection’ in a man-woman relationship? We always feel ‘unjustly rejected’ when we want someone and that person turns us down…” (Pg. 139) Later, he adds, “Predominantly, the women who become most alarmed over interracial marriages are single or are victims of unhappy marriages themselves.” (Pg. 141)
He asserts of the “orthodox middle-class Negro woman” is “her sociosexual morality towards the race problem… They share the same contempt and stereotyped views about ‘lower-class’ Negroes as the outer society. And when it comes to sex, the orthodox middle-class Negro woman is far more rigid, repressed, and neurotic than any other female in America.” (Pg. 147)
Nearly sixty years old, this book has not necessarily ‘aged’ well. (When it was a text for my introductory college ‘Afro-American Studies’ class in the 1970s, however, it seemed quite pertinent. It was also a bestseller, in 1965.) It will still interest some readers---particularly those interested in psychological interpretations of ethnic groups.
Calvin Coolidge Hernton (1932-2001) was an American sociologist, poet and author, who was Professor of African-American Studies at Oberlin College until his retirement in 1999.
He wrote in the first chapter of this 1965 book, “The white man, especially the Southerner, is overtly obsessed with the idea of the Negro desiring sexual relations with whites. The Negro man is secretly tormented every second of his wakeful life by the presence of white women in his midst, whom he cannot or better not touch. Despite the severe penalties for associated with white women---lynching, castration, electrocution---Negroes risk their lives for white flesh, and an occasional few actually commit rape. On the other hand, the white man, especially in the Couth, cannot seem to adhere to his own laws and customs prohibiting interracial intercourse---he insults, seduces, and rapes negro women as if this were what they exist for.
“A preponderance of racial violence takes the form of sexual atrocities against not only black women but black men as well. In the North, Midwest, and West… many Negroes and whites suffer social ostracism and castigation for engaging in interracial relations. What does all this mean? It means that the race problem is inextricably connected with sex… no facet of our psyches, can escape the all but total sexualization of American life… there is but one incessant symbol: the naked or half-naked white woman... [which is] the ubiquitous sex symbol of our times. Sex pervades everything.” (Pg. 4-5) Later, he adds, “In fact, there is a sexual involvement … connecting white and black people in America that spans the history of this country from the era of slavery to the present… that all race relations tend to be, however, subtle, sex relations.” (Pg. 7)
He states, “If… the system of racism and white supremacy in the South has twisted the white man’s concept of both Negro sexuality and his own, God only knows that agonies and demons this same system has wrought in the sexuality of the white female… The southern white woman, reared and nurtured in the tradition of ‘sacred white womanhood,’ has had to deny and purge herself of every honest and authentic female emotion that is vital to being a healthy woman… One fact is certain, this myth was not created by the Southern white woman, and it was not propounded by the black woman nor the black man… the southern white man… invented it to salve his own guilt.” (Pg. 15)
He suggests in his chapter ‘The White Woman,’ “Frequently when a white women becomes friendly with a Negro woman or a Negro man, she may be either giving in to latent homosexual tendencies or fighting them. In either case, ‘black’ seems to be the summit of masculinity---it takes blackness to bring out the ‘femininity’ in otherwise frigid or near-frigid white women. Meanwhile, white men find it incomprehensible that some of the ‘whitest’ Caucasian women choose some of the ‘blackest’ Negroes in the spectrum!” (Pg. 43) He concludes the chapter, “I submit---because of … an ABNORMAL society---that the very hostilities of the outside world sometimes tend to weld together… a white woman and a black man more tenaciously than most of us are wont to surmise.” (Pg. 54)
In the chapter on ‘The Negro Male,’ he asserts, “Because he must act like a eunuch when it comes to white women, there arises within the Negro an undefined sense of dread and self-mutilation. Psychologically he experiences himself as castrated.” (Pg. 59) He recalls that after high school, “My dates were always light-skinned Negro girls, never dark or black ones, no matter wo pretty they might have been. For, I know now, my desire for a girl was affected by the myth and taboo of the white woman. I know now why I enjoyed the envy of other black boys---because I had a light-skinned girl friend… I was proud. But not proud enough…” (Pg. 64)
In the chapter on ‘The White Man,’ he states, “The white supremacist in the ante-bellum South … slept with the servants who kept his house and cooked his food… he did it because he felt that black women were not human beings. Black women were… outside of the providence of God… To some degree, however microscopic, all white men in America, save a few, carry in their perception of Negro females a dark sexual urge that borders on the vulgar.” (Pg. 95)
He observes, “it is predominantly the black woman who has managed, God knows how, to maintain those qualities that all men need and yearn for. The southern white man knows this… Through the years, the Southerner’s house, his laundry, his food, have all been attended to largely by black women. Southerners have been suckled and nursed by black breasts from infancy to boyhood. They have been warmed by black thighs from boyhood into manhood.” (Pg. 107)
He concludes the chapter, “Whether the white supremacist is sexually virile or not, he HEARS he is inadequate… he therefore says Negros are oversexed. The racist FEARS his sexuality is sinful, immoral. He therefore creates… objects of degradation upon which he can act out his own feelings of iniquity of vulgarity. The racist FEARS that the relationships between Negro men and women are healthier and freer than those between himself and white women. He also FEARS that black men can be better with white women than he is. He therefore transforms the white woman into … an idol, and he fills her with HIS paranoid fears of Negro men… the racist acquires a false sense of superiority … by imagining that the Negro is a beast bent on deflowering the symbol of his guilt and inadequacy---'sacred white womanhood.’” (Pg. 120)
In the chapter on ‘The Negro Woman,’ he observes, “Black men and women ‘fuss and fight’ constantly, because the values of the white supremacist’s world invade their lives from sunup to sundown… Nothing is free from the effects of the sexualization of racism. They call each other ‘ni-ger’ more frequently and with more contempt than many Southerners would do. For when they look at one another, they see and feel what they have been taught to see and feel about Negroes---something that is esthetically repulsive.” (Pg. 132)
He points out, “throughout the entire span of her existence on American soil, the Negro woman has bene alone and unprotected, not only socially but psychologically as well. She has HAD to fend for herself as if she were a man… she is potentially, if not already, the most sexual animal on this planet. It is not frigidity I am describing. It is RIGIDITY… this quality of austerity in the Negro woman … has enabled her to survive what few other women have ever lived through…” (Pg. 136)
He notes, “The cold statistical facts are that Negro women are not being abandoned by black men who marry white women any more than Caucasian women are being abandoned by white men who marry Negro women… Negro women who become alarmed when they see a black man with a white woman are reacting out of the same race-sex-jealousy emotional syndrome as is a white man who is alarmed over white women and Negro men… Anyway, what is ‘unjust rejection’ in a man-woman relationship? We always feel ‘unjustly rejected’ when we want someone and that person turns us down…” (Pg. 139) Later, he adds, “Predominantly, the women who become most alarmed over interracial marriages are single or are victims of unhappy marriages themselves.” (Pg. 141)
He asserts of the “orthodox middle-class Negro woman” is “her sociosexual morality towards the race problem… They share the same contempt and stereotyped views about ‘lower-class’ Negroes as the outer society. And when it comes to sex, the orthodox middle-class Negro woman is far more rigid, repressed, and neurotic than any other female in America.” (Pg. 147)
Nearly sixty years old, this book has not necessarily ‘aged’ well. (When it was a text for my introductory college ‘Afro-American Studies’ class in the 1970s, however, it seemed quite pertinent. It was also a bestseller, in 1965.) It will still interest some readers---particularly those interested in psychological interpretations of ethnic groups.
January 30, 2019
This is the second time reading this book. The first time I read I was a young impressionable man and my understanding of the concepts unlined in the book were limited. However, this read I understood everything same as before, but this time I had life experiences to compare to concepts. Written in 1965, the research and attitudes depicted in this work have changed a great deal. Yet, there was something disturbing about the material in the book, instead of being able to dismiss this as a historical account, some topics were still relevant. Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. I can't wait to compare to Interracial Intimacies by Randall Kennedy.
June 6, 2021
Very great read as an introduction to carnal race theory via 1965. He tackles the “race problem” from the context of the B.Woman, B.Man, W.Man & W.Woman with interviews & research done with all groups. Being published in 1965 there are some shortcomings to C. Hernton’s arguments but are mostly still accurate to a high degree & can be altered in simple ways to fit present race relations..a great addition to my dialectics especially as an AA man.
July 7, 2025
The reality of this book is as true today as when it was written in the 60s. There is a harsh realization that black women continue to be seen as "as less than" by all races, including her own...yet, she's mother all. That fact is what I gathered from the book. This book put a lot of mindsets and behaviors into perspective. a great eye opener
January 27, 2026
Brilliant! Really engaging as I finished this in less than 48 hours. At times things can get a little uncomfortable but it was a really good insight into a lot things regarding how sex and racism is deeply embedded in the American socioeconomic and cultural landscape.
May 3, 2025
Brutally honest....
One of the most difficult reads I've ever experienced. However, it was also one of the most important.
As someone who embarked on my own sexual journey from a place of complete and total ignorance, I am grateful to finally be recieving the education that I should have been given decades ago.
We must understand our history in order to fully understand ourselves. This book gave me a very large dose of that history.
As encouraging as it was to see how far we've come, I was also amazed at how much still rings as true in 2019 as it did in 1965.
We won't be able to create lasting change until we first acknowledge the racism that still exists within us.
One of the most difficult reads I've ever experienced. However, it was also one of the most important.
As someone who embarked on my own sexual journey from a place of complete and total ignorance, I am grateful to finally be recieving the education that I should have been given decades ago.
We must understand our history in order to fully understand ourselves. This book gave me a very large dose of that history.
As encouraging as it was to see how far we've come, I was also amazed at how much still rings as true in 2019 as it did in 1965.
We won't be able to create lasting change until we first acknowledge the racism that still exists within us.
April 6, 2014
Absolutely stunning in its brutal honesty on a subject most Americans prefer not to discuss. Made me look at the issue of sex in its relation to the 'violent' relationship between blacks and whites. A must read!!!!!!
June 29, 2007
The title tells it all
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews