The Black Feminist Erotic Imagination

In this essay, I invite all sexualities scholars to apply the Black Feminist Erotic Imagination , a framework for studying and analyzing the complexities of human eroticism and its imbrication with systems of power and pleasure in their work. The Black Feminist Erotic Imagination provides instrumental guidance for sexualities scholars regarding theorizing and foregrounding the interconnectedness of eroticism, embodiment, marginality, power, and pleasure. Black feminist approaches to research and writing, including interdisciplinarity, autoethnography, or experiential knowledge, are also instructive. These intentional Black feminist approaches are rooted in a profound commitment to liberation. Black feminists’ unapologetic commitment to praxis and freedom is not antithetical to empirical research—it deepens researchers’ commitments to applied outcomes and fostering justice through science.