What is so funny about rape? More specifically, men being anally raped in prison? Last Sunday’s episode of the television series “The Boondocks” was based on the Tom Dubois character’s phobia of anal rape. When I first saw the episode that began this storyline, I laughed at Tom’s nightmares about showering in a hot, steamy [...]

Freedom reflects on the end of her addiction to self-help books, her decision to leave her job, and how to tell when something in your life needs to be changed or accepted.

I am a black woman. I’m free. I don’t have to be a symbol to anybody…~Lena Horne. On an usually restless night, I checked my Twitter feed and learned that Lena Horne passed away yesterday. She was 92 years old and has a legacy that made it acceptable to be black and beautiful in Hollywood, [...]

Thanks to Leslie Patterson for perfectly summing up my feelings about hip-hop’s portrayal of bisexuality. The video and song for Usher’s “Lil’ Freak” feat Nicki Minaj enforce the idea that 1) Bisexual women are promiscuous, 2) Are the gateways to threesomes for men and 3) Can call on their interest in women on a man’s command. It appears that the [...]

It is one of the worst kept secrets in America. Statistically, we all know someone whose life has been affected by it, and maybe it was our own. But for some reason, we don’t understand or fuller appreciate the effects of sexual abuse, even though one of its most well publicized by-products has become a [...]

The media is always good for letting you know how little progress black people have made as a cultural group. I’ve expressed my chagrin at how focused certain magazines and TV shows have been on the plight of the single black woman. So smart, education, independent… and lonely.