Peggy Barrett
asked:
why does queenie have to describe her sexual encounters in so much detail. Does the reader really have to know that much?
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Carolyn Fitzpatrick
I don't think that the sex was hot at all. Queenie wasn't getting off on it either - she tells her friends that she never experienced an orgasm with anyone. The sex was sad and gross and violent in a one-sided and definitely not sexy way. But it is important to the story to know just how awful Queenie's encounters were, and how she overlooked how bossy and demeaning her sex partners were verbally, to contrast with how she spun these encounters to herself afterward and to establish a pattern.
Katie Young
Queenie's sexual escapades demonstrate her problematic psyche before she gets help. Letting someone do whatever he wants to your body when you know that he just views you as an fetishized object or an orifice (which she says multiple times in the text) demonstrates how little you value yourself. It's hot, but not meant to be titillating it's meant for the reader to say, "oh no, that's messed up." The fact that she knew she needed to go to the clinic afterwards and their response to her body and her choices (while perhaps judgmental) demonstrate that the sex she's enduring and/or seeking out is problematic. The reader needs to know that much detail to understand how Queenie sees herself.
Claire
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Samella
It was absolutely necessary. Carty-Williams was sure to include this so that those who aren't able to identify with Queenie can see how black women are hyper-sexualized and fetishized without protection. I needed to read this to make sure my experiences were only mine.
Jules
I think that the author does this to illustrate that she is just not in control. The sex isn't really about her - it validates her identity in some way but all through the book it's about the man's pleasure and is very much all about sex rather than being loving in any way. When Queenie turns down sexual advances in the closing chapters of the book this shows that she has reclaimed her body, mind and self back again.
QueenAmidala28
You need to know this because of the effect it has on her! It's also a very prominent issue that young women all over the world are concerned about but some are afraid to talk about.
Gonk
The sex details given tell us a lot, both about what exactly Queenie accepts and endures with these men (and what that says about what headspace she's in), and about the attitude of these men to her, which is very telling about how they objectify her as a black woman.
The novel would, IMO, have been significantly weaker without the details she gives of the sex. Particularly the encounter in the disabled toilet at work. The author could instead have *told* us that the men were objectifying her, but it's much more powerful to *show* us how they were objectifying her.
It was notable to me that more than once in the book she says that men had sex 'with my body' - which of course makes it clear that the sex wasn't with her as an actual whole person. Without the graphic descriptions, I would have understood her intended meaning when she said 'sex with my body', but it would have been much less powerful (as shorthand for 'it was a dehumanising experience') if I had not known, from the details given, just how dehumanising it was.
The novel would, IMO, have been significantly weaker without the details she gives of the sex. Particularly the encounter in the disabled toilet at work. The author could instead have *told* us that the men were objectifying her, but it's much more powerful to *show* us how they were objectifying her.
It was notable to me that more than once in the book she says that men had sex 'with my body' - which of course makes it clear that the sex wasn't with her as an actual whole person. Without the graphic descriptions, I would have understood her intended meaning when she said 'sex with my body', but it would have been much less powerful (as shorthand for 'it was a dehumanising experience') if I had not known, from the details given, just how dehumanising it was.
Jen
I think it's important: women are shamed into silence often. In fact, abusive men count on this. Breaking the silence is important.
Barbara James
I was struck by what seems to be Queenie's adoption of a feminist model of empowerment grounded in sex positive feminism. But none of her sexual experiences were positive.
Charles Bill McKenny
Should the question be why does Queenie have to describe her sexual encounters or why does Carty-Williams have to describe Queenie's sexual encounters? Does Queenie describe them to other people? I think she may. A lot of the other answers to this question address this topic well.
Halley Hart
Sex sales. I enjoyed the detailed sexual encounters - it made me want a cigarette and I don't even smoke!
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