Women Like Sex | Ep. 9: Trust Black Women

This week’s guest works hard to fill a long-standing gap in research on female sexuality in the US, a young field to begin with, which is primarily conducted on white women, by other white women and men. This means we know even less about the sexual pleasure and pain of Black women, especially from Black women themselves. But that’s changing thanks to researchers like Dr. Shemeka Thorpe.

Named one of Buzzfeed’s top Black sexologists to follow, the sexuality researcher and university professor has more than 60 peer-reviewed articles to her name. Here, she shares some of her favorite work, Pleasure Mountain, the Superwoman Schema, and some wild and funny names she hears for genitalia. She explains why comparative studies continue to paint BIPOC women in a negative light, which is why she ensures that Black women tell their own stories.

Shemeka’s extensive research can be found here. Other resources and researchers mentioned in our conversation: Journal of Sex Research - Healthy Love Workshop Program - Dr. Debby Herbenick - Grace Wetzel (orgasm gap research) - Brittany Broaddus-Smith - Sister Song Reproductive Justice Collaborative - Vagina Rehab Doctor.

A full transcript of our conversation is available here.

Shemeka Thorpe: Instagram - LinkedIn

Women like Sex is a Flipped Script production
Executive Producer / Editor: Natasha Senjanovic 
Website Design and Artwork: Ted Nunes
Associate Producer: Edecio Martinez