Naked: Black Women Bare All about Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other Parts by Ayana Byrd, Akiba Solomon, Sonia Sanchez

Synopsis

Provocative essays on body image by black women.

Candid, witty, and insightful, Naked is a compelling collection of essays that captures what today's black women think about their bodies-from head to toe.

Tackling such issues as hair texture, skin color, weight, and sexuality, it follows women on their paths to acceptance-and enjoyment -of their unique features...to a place where it doesn't matter how big the breasts or how long the legs, only what is in the heart.

Includes contributions from women of all ages and walks of life, including such notables as:

- Iyanla Vanzant
- Jill Scott
- Kelis
- Tracee Ellis Ross
- Jill Nelson
- Hilda Hutcherson
- asha bandele
- Melyssa Ford

Edited by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon
Foreword by Sonia Sanchez

Library Journal

Twenty-five African American women, including Jill Nelson (Sexual Healing), recording artist Jill Scott, and spiritual life coach Iyanla Vanzant, reveal their innermost thoughts about sexuality, weight problems, eating disorders, and much more. Reading for the most part like erotic fiction, these true stories reflect how the women feel about themselves, how they deal with unwanted attention from men on the street, and how they feel about their changing bodies during pregnancy, among other issues. One author of Senegalese descent describes how her skin color in the United States caused black men to ignore her, while in Senegal she was simply adored. Another writer speaks of sex in her teen years, how promiscuous she was, and how she misused her body. A former prostitute, now in prison for killing a john, shares how she was molested as a child by her uncles and cousins, which led her to hate herself. These women have all learned to "look in the mirror without turning away." Edited by journalists Byrd and Solomon, these essays will be an inspiration to young African American women in the age of hip-hop where negative images of them abound in music videos and elsewhere. Recommended for African American women's collections in public libraries.-Ann Burns, Library Journal Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Biography

Ayana Byrd is an author and journalist who divides her time between Brooklyn and Barcelona, Spain. A Barnard College graduate, she has contributed to numerous anthologies and magazines such as Vibe, Essence, and Rolling Stone. Akiba Solomon is an award-winning advocacy journalist, columnist, and editor. A graduate of Howard University, the Brooklyn resident and former senior editor for The Source is the editor at Essence magazine. Her work has appeared in a wide range of publications including Essence, Vibe, XXL, POZ, and ColorLines.