Subversive Interpellations and Sexual Subjectivity Among Heterosexual Black Women

This paper asks: What kinds of interactions do heterosexual Black women experience along their sexual journeys? And how do these interactions impact their sexual subjectivities? Analysis of intimate life history interviews with Black heterosexual cisgender women ( n = 31), ages 34 to 58, indicates that they experienced hegemonic interpellations and subversive interpellations. Hegemonic interpellations describe interactions in which the women’s sexualities were misrecognized as deviant or exploitable. These interactions constrained their sexual subjectivities. This article introduces the concept subversive interpellations to describe interactions in which the women’s sexualities were recognized as acceptable, worth nurturing, or worth knowing. These interactions expanded the women’s sexual subjectivities. Findings suggest that sexual subjectivity is an interactional process shaped by structural racism, sexism, and heteronormativity. Ultimately, the paper argues that subversive interpellations are an important way that people undermine the social order in interaction.