10 Critical Books About Sex & More By Black Authors

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Sex and sexuality is about much more than reproduction or having orgasms. Within it, sex contains elements of power dynamics and cultural expectations, and for that reason there is no denying that Black sexuality deserves its own conversation. Likewise, books by Black educators and authors, about the sex lives of Black individuals, are critical if we’re going to say that our sex-based literature options are inclusive and well-rounded. With Black authors historically being welcomed into mainstream literature on a delayed timeline compared to their white peers, their acceptance in the taboo subject of sex came even later. Black authors who write about sex are some of the boldest and brightest minds around not only sex but sex that involves Black people. Here are some essential reads from Black authors about sex, from BDSM and pornography to masochism and sexuality.

Playing Well with Others: Your Field Guide to Discovering, Exploring and Navigating the Kink, Leather and BDSM Communities

By Mollena Williams and Lee Harrington

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This book was co-penned by sex educator Lee Harrington and BDSM educator and former “Ms. Leather” Mollena Williams. It answers every question you ever had about the BDSM community at large, including what to expect at a leather bar, what to do at a sex party and what exactly a fetish night looks like. It also helps readers discover their own desires and learn how to introduce themselves to their local BDSM community.

The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography

By Ariane Cruz

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Written by a professor of women’s gender and sexuality studies, this book is more of an academic read. But it is a fascinating and analytical look at the representation of Black women in porn and BDSM throughout the ages, starting as early as the 1930s. It includes interviews with performers, brings in themes of queer theory, critical race theory and feminism and draws on thorough archival research for a comprehensive look at the intersection of race, femininity and kink.

Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good

By Adrienne Maree Brown

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If you never saw a connection between sex and climate change or feminism and drugs, Brown will show it all to you in this book. It’s a compilation of conversations with some of the greatest feminist thinkers of our time, discussing everything from race to politics to activism and how they’re all interconnected. It’s all centered on Brown’s theory of “pleasure activism,” which asserts that changing the world can be, well, pleasurable instead of laborious. Vice praised Brown for “Dropping wisdom about alternative ways to live at this deeply fucked-up moment.”

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The Bluelight Corner: Black Women Writing on Passion, Sex, and Romantic Love

By Rosemarie Robotham

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“The Bluelight Corner” is a vibrant and diverse collection of stories that consist of both fiction and memoirs. The pieces explore every aspect, angle, and detail of the sex and love lives of Black women. Some pieces are raunchy, some will make you laugh, some will make you cry, and some will make you feel empowered. Over 20 years old, the book still resonates because of the timeless themes of its stories.

An Intersectional Approach to Sex Therapy: Centering the Lives of Indigenous, Racialized, and People of Color

Edited by Marla Renee Stewart et. Al

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This book is an essential read to any professional who is training to be a sex therapist, sex educator, or sex healer of any kind – as well as anyone already working in those fields. It combines the knowledge and insight from clinicians and educators on how sex counselors of any kind who work with racially diverse clients must understand their client’s relationship to race in order to effectively counsel them. The book explores how issues of minority stress, intersectionality and other dynamics faced by minority clients,x play critical roles in their relationship to sex and to their partners.

A Taste for Brown Sugar: Black Women in Pornography

By Mireille Miller-Young

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Miller-Young interviewed dozens of Black female performers in adult entertainment to put together this enticing and eye-opening book on Black women’s representation in porn. Some performers share their stories of getting into porn as a way of making ends meet as well as how they were able to make small choices in costumes, improvised lines or other subtle maneuvers that felt particularly empowering as Black women. It’s an important look at how Black sex workers have, in fact, made progress for Black women through their niche industry.

Sensational Flesh: Race, Power, and Masochism

By Amber Jamilla Musser

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This is another highly academic read that’s more for someone who wants to be informed rather than turned on. It is a well-executed and captivating read on how masochism is about more than just sex, but is at the center of race, gender, feminism and so many other societal structures. Amazon’s description puts it best saying the book is “an analytical tool for illustrating what it feels like to be embedded in structures of domination such as patriarchy, colonialism, and racism and what it means to embody femininity, blackness, and pain.”

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Exploring Black Sexuality

By Robert Staples

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This book, written by sexologist Robert Staples, tackles behaviors and ideologies surrounding Black sexuality in contexts some authors and analysts haven’t been bold enough to get into. These include attitudes towards Black sexuality in interracial relations, same-sex relations, prostitution, pornography and Black sexuality stereotypes. The book even exposes how fear of sexual differences was at the core of race-based laws, school segregation, and other critical race-based moments and policies in history.

Money Shot: The Wild Nights and Lonely Days Inside the Black Porn Industry

By Lawrence C. Ross Jr.

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Journalist and lecturer Lawrence Ross created a book that combines elements of what feels like a novel with riveting research and conversations to remind you how real it all is. This book, on the surface, follows a year in the life of a major Black porn star. But within that, Ross interviews industry insiders from performers to professors to explore the political, racial, and societal conversations that are always happening within Black porn – whether we admit it or not. It discusses racial policies within the world of porn, how the AIDS epidemic impacted Black performers, and how Black porn rose from a fringe category to mainstream adult entertainment.

Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective

By Kelly B. Douglas

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Any person involved with the church but wanting to see the church reform its views on sexuality will connect deeply to this book. Perhaps the most shocking thing is that, while it was written over 20 years ago, the issues it discusses – like how the church addresses same-sex marriage and teen pregnancy – have barely budged since the author penned it. Considering the current climate of overturning Roe V. Wade, there is an undeniable refreshed importance surrounding this book.

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