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Testing the theoretical statements of Alfred Kinsey and James Coleman regarding racial differences in sexual experience (Coleman, 1966; Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948), data from three samples, covering the period 1938-70, are brought to bear on the following hypotheses: (a) Black men and women are more sexually permissive than white men and women, but such differences are more a function of social class than race (Kinsey); and (b) differences in sexual permissiveness between black men and women are less than for white men and women because of the power of the black woman in determining family status (Coleman). Results show that blacks were more likely than whites to engage in premarital sex earlier and more frequently (men and women), and with more partners (men only). They were also more likely to engage in extramarital sex (men and women), and with a greater number of partners (men only). Additionally, blacks were more liberal and accepting of sex, pursued it more, were more open about it, and reported fewer problems with it. However, no support was found for the Kinsey hypothesis that these differences are explained by social class. Furthermore, the Coleman hypothesis was also not supported, since we did not find a greater similarity between the sexual patterns of black men and women in comparison to their white counterparts. Various explanations are offered for these results.

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Testing the theoretical statements of Alfred Kinsey and James Coleman regarding racial differences in sexual experience (Coleman, 1966; Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948), data from three samples, covering the period 1938-70, are brought to bear on the following hypotheses: (a) Black men and women are more sexually permissive than white men and women, but such differences are more a function of social class than race (Kinsey); and (b) differences in sexual permissiveness between black men and women are less than for white men and women because of the power of the black woman in determining family status (Coleman).

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Theme: Sexual Permissiveness under Western Settings

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Theme: Sexual Permissiveness under Western Settings

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Data were gathered by means of questionnaires administered to 429 black and white, male and female college students in Florida and California. The purpose of this investigation was to test Ira Reiss' proposition that a liberal or conservative attitude differentially affects groups that are traditionally high or low on premarital sexual permissiveness. Using blacks and whites as comparison groups, the data confirm that liberalism, along with other social forces, has a greater effect on the permissiveness level of whites than blacks.

Journal Information

The Journal of Marriage and Family (JMF), published by the National Council on Family Relations, is the leading research journal in the family field and has been so for over sixty years. JMF features original research and theory, research interpretation and reviews, and critical discussion concerning all aspects of marriage, other forms of close relationships, and families. The Journal also publishes book reviews. Contributors to JMF come from a diversity of fields including anthropology, demography, economics, history, psychology, and sociology, as well as interdisciplinary fields such as human development and family sciences. JMF publishes original theory and research using the variety of methods reflective of the full range of social sciences, including quantitative, qualitative, and multimethod designs. Integrative reviews as well as reports on methodological and statistical advances are also welcome. JMF is issued quarterly, in February, May, August, and November of each year. Each issue averages 284 pages in length. World wide, its circulation is more than 6,200 copies.

Publisher Information

For over sixty-four years National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) has linked multi-disciplinary family professionals through its journals, conferences, state affiliate councils, and special interest sections. NCFR is non-profit, nonpartisan and fully member-funded. Researchers, educators, practitioners, and policymakers from all family fields and disiplines share knowledge and information about families. NCFR was founded in 1938. NCFR's Mission: The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) provides a forum for family researchers, educators, and practitioners to share in the development and dissemination of knowledge about families and family relationships, establishes professional standards, and works to promote family well-being.

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Race, Liberalism-Conservatism and Premarital Sexual Permissiveness: A Bi-Racial Comparison on JSTOR

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Data were gathered by means of questionnaires administered to 429 black and white, male and female college students in Florida and California. The purpose of this investigation was to test Ira Reiss' proposition that a liberal or conservative attitude differentially affects groups that are traditionally high or low on premarital sexual permissiveness.

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Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies on JSTOR

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Jane C. Desmond, Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies, Cultural Critique, No. 26 (Winter, 1993-1994), pp. 33-63

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Special Issue: Women and Migration

Our first Special Issue is dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between migration and gender. As one of our contributors writes, the migration of women "has raised both prospects and pains." This issue takes a closer look at both sides of the migration coin for women.

Women and children constitute almost 70 percent of those under UNHCR's care. Bela Hovy of UNHCR's Population Data Unit explores what steps are needed to tailor services for women, children and other refugees with special needs.

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Special Issue: Women and Migration Our first Special Issue is dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between migration and gender. As one of our contributors writes, the migration of women "has raised both prospects and pains." This issue takes a closer look at both sides of the migration coin for women.

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https://studyabroad.arcadia.edu/blogs/student-bloggers/post/culture-shock-and-south-african-lingo/

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Culture shock is not something that is new to me. I have experienced it several times while traveling, as I'm sure many of us have. You arrive in a new place and you realize how different it is from where you come from. It can be disconcerting, but when you are traveling for a short period of time, it is more exhilerating than anything. However, it definitely hits you harder when you live in a new place, rather than when you are simply taking a vacation. I learned that for the first time when I studied abroad through Arcadia's FYSAE program in London last spring. When I arrived there, I spent a week being incredibly homesick. I missed familiarity. I missed my friends. I missed my family. After that first week, though, I was able to learn to appreciate the cultural differences that initially made me feel so ostracized.

In my opinion, adjusting to life in a new country comes in three steps. The first step is accepting that you are not home. Eventually, you will feel at home in this new country, but it is going to take a while. The second step is learning to appreciate the cultural differences that you witness. When you begin to accept and truly appreciate these differences, your mood will change quickly from being homesick to being curious and intrigued. The last step of this process is becoming familiar with your new home. This step comes soon after the second one because once we accept and understand change, we get used to it. When you finally feel as though you belong somewhere, that is when the culture shock will reside and you can truly begin to have the experience of a life time.

I am adjusting well to life in Cape Town, though culture shock is still lingering. Today marks my third week in this beautiful country and I am on step two of my adjusting process- learning to appreciate cultural differences. One of the things that intrigues me the most about living here is the way that South Africans speak. Though we share a common language- English is one of the national languages here and is spoken by nearly everyone in Cape Town- there are different phrases and words that South Africas use, which I find quite interesting. I made a list of some of my favorites-

1. Air con- South Africans abbreviate so many different things like air conditioning, the months, even the neighborhood that I live in, Observatory, is shortened to "Obz."

2. Hectic- This is obviously a word that we have in the states, but it is used much more freely here. If anything is crazy or simply just weird, South Africans call it "hectic." I have found that, though I've only been here for 3 weeks, I have caught myself saying this accidentally quite a few times.

3. Ey- This word is used ALL. THE. TIME. They say it after questions, when they didn't hear you, and sometimes even just because they feel like adding it to the end of a sentence.

4. Lekker- This is a South African slang word which just means good or pleasant.

5. Keen- Often, I am asked if I'm "keen" to do something. Though this is a word we use in the states, I feel like it is not nearly as common and it definitely struck me as interesting.

6. Colored- This caught me off guard when I first came to Cape Town because, in America, it can be seen as offensive to call someone colored, particularly because of the history of its use during segregation. However, in Cape Town, it is synonymous with calling someone "mixed race" in the states and is not considered inappropriate in the slightest.

The lingo in South Africa is only one of the many cultural differences that I have noticed since I have been here, and yet another thing that I am finding fascinating about this country. Who knows, maybe by the time I come home in six months, I might even have adopted some South African phrases myself!

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Culture shock is not something that is new to me. I have experienced it several times while traveling, as I'm sure many of us have. You arrive in a new place and you realize how different it is from where you come from.

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https://www.jstor.org/stable/1602522?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=intrafamilial%20sexual%20abuse&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dintrafamilial%2Bsexual%2Babuse%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2FSYC-6168%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3Ad46232b70ec3c2951018bc2348ed83ae

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Approximately 150,000 confirmed cases of child sexual abuse were reported to child welfare authorities in the United States during 1993. This number represents about 15% of the more than one million confirmed cases of all child abuse and neglect. But the true scope of this problem is better reflected in retrospective surveys of adults, and this article summarizes data from 19 of these surveys. Considerable evidence exists to show that at least 20% of American women and 5% to 10% of American men experienced some form of sexual abuse as children. The rates are somewhat lower among people born before World War II, but there is little evidence of a dramatic increase for recent generations. The studies provide little evidence that race or socioeconomic circumstances are major risk factors. They do show elevated risk for children who experienced parental inadequacy, unavailability, conflict, harsh punishment, and emotional deprivation. Adult retrospective studies are also good sources of information about the characteristics of abuse. Most sexual abuse is committed by men (90%) and by persons known to the child (70% to 90%), with family members constituting one-third to one-half of the perpetrators against girls and 10% to 20% of the perpetrators against boys. Family members constitute a higher percentage of the perpetrators in child protective agency cases because the mandate of these agencies generally precludes their involvement in extrafamily abuse. Around 20% to 25% of child sexual abuse cases involve penetration or oral-genital contact. The peak age of vulnerability is between 7 and 13. Studies of the criminal justice processing of sexual abusers suggest that, compared with other violent criminals, slightly fewer are prosecuted, but of those prosecuted, slightly more are convicted. Studies conducted in the 1980s also showed that, once convicted, relatively few sexual abusers receive sentences longer than one year, while 32% to 46% serve no jail time. Overall, there is little evidence to suggest that either the child welfare system or the criminal justice system abandons its usual standards of operation and acts hysterically when confronted with sexual abuse.

Journal Information

The Future of Children journal offers comprehensive, cross-disciplinary articles focusing on issues related to children. Published twice per year, it seeks to promote effective policies and programs for children by providing policymakers, service providers, the media, and others interested in children's issues with timely, objective information based on the best available research. Each journal issue examines a single topic of importance to children from a multidisciplinary perspective. The first issue was released in 1991 by the Packard Foundation. Since 2004, Princeton University and the Brookings Institution have been publishing The Future of Children. All journal articles are available on the The Future of Children website at http://www.futureofchildren.org.

Publisher Information

The Future of Children is published by Princeton University, based in Princeton, NJ. Production and implementation of producing the journal is overseen by the Office of Communications at Princeton University. Princeton Communications manages the content of the University's official print publications, the main website, the release of University news and the use of Princeton's name. It also provides a variety of communications services to faculty and staff.

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Current Information on the Scope and Nature of Child Sexual Abuse on JSTOR

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Approximately 150,000 confirmed cases of child sexual abuse were reported to child welfare authorities in the United States during 1993. This number represents about 15% of the more than one million confirmed cases of all child abuse and neglect.

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We have all heard the outrageous stories: a wife forsakes her husband and children to join her spiritual leader in isolation. Students drop out of university because their spiritual leader told them the rapture is imminent. A child tragically dying at home because his parents attend a "church" that rejects modern medicine. Worse still, waking up to the gruesome death of hundreds of people overnight who were locked in a building waiting their translation into heaven. These are just some of the shocking headlines pertaining to our topic. They remind us that there are dangerous people out there, committed to deceiving and destroying human lives in the name of God. There is a word that describes the groups that have these characteristics: cults.Cults are a worldwide phenomenon and Africa has certainly not been spared their devastating lies.

Cults are a worldwide phenomenon and Africa has certainly not been spared their devastating lies

What Is A Cult?

The word cult is so frequently and carelessly used that it has lost its meaning. When some people find that they do not agree with a certain group, or when they are deeply hurt by a church, they liberally label it a cult. This is subjective and can therefore be misleading, even slanderous. Although cults are responsible for much heartbreak and tragedy owing to their aberrant beliefs, many traits typical of cults are evident within groups considered orthodox and mainstream.

A cult is not an individual heretic, but a group of people. This group may be led by an individual or a select group of people. It may also be an organisation. But a group that is headed towards apostasy is not necessarily a cult. Furthermore, not every individual within a cult is an unbeliever. For deceived and genuine believers are often trapped within cultic groups. Therefore, the term cult is not meant to be derogatory to the individual. It describes a group within which certain characteristic beliefs and practices are observable. So, it is easier to identify or describe a cult by its characteristics. However, this definition is not straightforward. An easy but practical definition is that a cult is a splinter group that deviates from a parent group seeking to establish itself fully apart from the mainstream, either in content, belief or form.

Characteristics of Christian Cults

Christian cults disagree with one or more of the following core tenets of the faith: God and his nature; divine revelation; the identity of Jesus Christ; the doctrine of the Holy Spirit; the nature of man; sin and salvation; the mission and composition of the church; and the doctrine of the future. They either have an unhealthy emphasis on the non-essentials, or completely disregard or distort these essentials. These cults present a counterfeit Christian religion. Yet they claim to be Christian or to have replaced the church.

Cults present a counterfeit Christian religion. Yet they claim to be Christian or to have replaced the church.

We must be aware that all major world religions - Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism - have their own cults or heretical sects. There are divisive or controversial movements, sects, and denominations within every religion. However, my focus in this article is on Christian cults.

Christianity & Cults in Africa: A Brief History

Africa can be fittingly called a religious continent. Where you do not find Islam, you meet Christianity. Alongside these are also various expressions of African traditional religions (ATR). Christianity has ancient roots in Africa, dating back to the first five centuries AD. The Coptic and Ethiopian churches are some of the oldest Christian groups on the continent. They predate colonisation and modern missions. Yet, despite these deep Christian roots, Africa entered a silent age for centuries.

The arrival of missionaries from Europe into sub-Saharan Africa can be dated to the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the twentieth century there was also an influx of mission groups from America. Western missionaries converted white settlers, the Asian (or Indian) labourers, and some of the educated Africans. Roman Catholicism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism and Pentecostalism took the majority of this spoil. Methodists and the Baptists came later and enjoyed more success with local tribesmen. The Eastern Orthodox Church fared well too. It made the horn of Africa its preferred base. In tow were the numerous splinter groups from the mainstream Christian denominations. But many of these deserve the label 'cult'. Amongst the cults, groups such as the Mormons did not immediately reach out to Africans. For, at the time, they considered black skin a curse of God. This position was officially held until 1978.

Christianity & Colonialism On The Continent

In the face of marginalisation from the European colonial governments and the negative effects of colonisation, many Africans could not reconcile the message of Christianity with the actions of their colonial masters. Others who disagreed with Western missionaries began their own African themed Christian groups, splinter groups from the mainstream Western expressions of Christianity. A number of these would later come to be known as African Instituted Churches, now mainly under the banner of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches. Some of the African splinter groups, such as Legio Maria, would later become major cults, complete with their own African Messiah or black Jesus. Others even adopted the idea of black angels, black prophets and apostles, all the way down to exclusively black congregants in the pew! The stage was set for the battle of the African heart.

The stage was set for the battle of the African heart

Other Western cults such as the Seventh Day Adventist group (SDA) would succeed in inland sub-Saharan Africa early in the twentieth century. In certain ways, the SDAs on the continent took on such an African social expression that it could be distinguished in practice (while similar in doctrine) from Western expressions.

The Impact of Cults in Africa After Independence

Even after independence, most African nations did not rise from the levels of poverty, deep corruption and wealth gaps that prevailed. Thus, the Christian religion - cults included - played a great role in alleviating the worries and raising the hopes of the majority of Africans who were poor and marginalised. Further, high levels of illiteracy and little interest in theology left many spiritually hungry Africans as ready prey for anyone dressed like a spokesman of God.

Today, foreign and home bred cults have taken root in Africa. The twenty-first century has seen certain African cult leaders, such as David Owuor of the Ministry of Repentance and Holiness, gain worldwide prominence. Evidently both biblical churches and cults continue to expand on the African continent.

Cults are not a problem 'out there,' but one that lurks at every church door.

I will not attempt to provide a forecast for cults in Africa. But their existence and expansion on the continent is something that the church must be aware of and proactively address. Cults are dangerous. Furthermore, they are not a problem 'out there,' but one that lurks at every church door. They could be targeting your fellow church members.

My intent is that our African churches are equipped with the necessary information. Hence, in our next article we shall categorise the various cultic groups spread out across Africa.

Christians Must Guard The Truth

In keeping with the Scriptures, Christians must "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) We have the Lord's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. We must not let others rob the church of this precious deposit - truth. For it is the truth that ultimately sets all men free.

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Introduction to Cults in Africa #AfricanApologetics - TGC Africa

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We have all heard the outrageous stories: a wife forsakes her husband and children to join her spiritual leader in isolation. Students drop out of university because their spiritual leader told them the rapture is imminent. A child tragically dying at home because his parents attend a "church" that rejects modern medicine.

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Theme: The True Rehabilitative Potential of Jail

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Theme: The True Rehabilitative Potential of Jail

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Students' cognitive ability, the learning environment, and the relevance of the writing assignment influence their writing abilities and engagement in writing instruction. Currently there is a limited amount of knowledge about youths' dispositions to and experiences with writing instruction in juvenile detention centers. The purpose of this study was to address these questions by examining the dispositions towards writing of 12 youth who were in a juvenile detention facility. Two research questions guided this study: (1) What are the writing dispositions of youth in a juvenile detention facility? and (2) Do youth report changes to disposition scale items after participating in a writing workshop, and if so, why? The results suggest that engaging youth in detention centers in writing workshops might improve their dispositions toward writing and their perceptions of themselves as writers.

Journal Information

The Journal of Correctional Education is the foremost publication of the Correctional Education Association (CEA). The Journal is published on a quarterly basis and is provided as a membership benefit by CEA.

Publisher Information

The Correctional Education Association (CEA), founded in 1945, is a non-profit, professional association serving educators and administrators who provide services to students in correctional settings. The CEA is the largest affiliate of the American Correctional Association.

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The Writing Dispositions of Youth in a Juvenile Detention Center on JSTOR

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Students' cognitive ability, the learning environment, and the relevance of the writing assignment influence their writing abilities and engagement in writing instruction. Currently there is a limited amount of knowledge about youths' dispositions to and experiences with writing instruction in juvenile detention centers.

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Theme: Gender Discrimination in the Publishing Industry

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Theme: Gender Discrimination in the Publishing Industry

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Last week, Vida, an organization that "seeks to explore critical and cultural perceptions of writing by women," released their annual pie charts that examined 2011 book coverage, and compared how many of the books written about were by male versus female authors.

The results clearly showed that venerable publications such as The Paris Review, Harper's Magazine, The New York Times Book Review and The Atlantic cover significantly more works by male authors.

One of the greatest offenders, The New Republic, reviewed over four times as many books by men than those by women. Similar results were reported for The London Review of Books. The survey also looked at the staffing of these publications, and the results were also overwhelmingly weighted towards men.

Some people, including author Jennifer Weiner, have spoken out about the statistics, saying that they seem to imply discrimination against female writers by major book reviewers. But are literary journalists entirely to blame, or is a seed of discrimination also planted much earlier on in the publishing process?

One reviewer wrote for The Guardian that she's had a difficult time tracking down "good" books by women (which she prefers to literary fiction by men). The reason? They aren't being published.

Here at The Huffington Post, we've noticed a similar trend. However, a bigger question seems to have been overlooked. There are certain publishers whose books regularly get reviewed by both mainstream and niche 'literary' publications. How do these match up in the gender stakes?

We took a look at all of the books published in 2011 by four of the major imprints - Knopf, Crown, Little, Brown and Farrar, Strauss and Giroux - and tallied the authors by gender. These publishers were chosen for their focus on literary fiction - the types of books typically reviewed by places like The New York Times Book Review and The Atlantic. We only included hardcovers in our count for the same reason.

What we found (see below) was that the gender ratios of books published by these imprints are in a few cases almost identical to those of the publications cited in Vida's survey. If the gender representation in major publications is to change, and we believe it should, then perhaps that also requires a shift either in the mindset of the more "literary" publishers, or a broadening of the books and publishers whose work is covered by the media.

See below for Vida's overall 2011 reports on different publications, factoring in all coverage including articles and reviews. You can see all of their pie charts here.

BEFORE YOU GO

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Are Book Publishers To Blame For Gender Discrimination?

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Last week, Vida, an organization that "seeks to explore critical and cultural perceptions of writing by women," released their annual pie charts that examined 2011 book coverage, and compared how many of the books written about were by male versus female authors.

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Theme: Minority in the Publishing Industry

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Theme: Minority in the Publishing Industry

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An author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers talk about how race affects their careers - and the books you read.

Clockwise from top left: Linda Duggins, Tracy Sherrod, Erroll McDonald, Cherise Fisher, Janifer Wilson, Kori Wilson, Kerri K. Greenidge and Ebony LaDelle.

The nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice have set off conversations in nearly every industry about the treatment of Black workers, and book publishing is no exception.

The industry has long been criticized for hiring and retaining so few employees of color - according to a survey of the work force released this year by the children's book publisher Lee & Low Books, only 5 percent are Black. But the calls to diversify have intensified in recent weeks, as Black professionals have publicly shared long-suppressed frustrations about how racial prejudice has affected their work. In publishing, that has included discussions of hiring practices, workplace microaggressions and publishing companies' treatment of books by Black writers.

Publishers say they are listening. They are seeing books about race and racism dominate best-seller lists, and several companies have committed to changing their hiring practices and the books they publish.

Eight publishing professionals - working in different facets of the industry, including an author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers - told us what they are seeing now and what they've seen before, how being Black has affected their careers, and what they hope the future will bring. Here are their responses, which have been condensed and edited.

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It took seven years of interviews for an editorial assistant position. I used to make a joke that I was the oldest editorial assistant in the world. But it didn't matter to me because I was very, very happy to be working with books. Once I discovered that this could be a career, there was nothing that was going to stop me. And I think that's the spirit of all the Black editors in publishing: There's nothing that's going to stop them from doing this job.

I think publishers hold certain beliefs about what is universal, and oftentimes we don't fit, our stories don't fit into that equation. At Amistad, I'm trying to feed our community by shining a spotlight on Black stories, Black culture, Black history. Because oftentimes what's in the headlines is not the full story of our humanity. What I think has changed or not changed in publishing is that there's more diversity in terms of what is being published in the African-American marketplace, in terms of the variety of stories that are being told. But there's only like seven of us Black editors who have some authority, real authority and power - and it's not full authority and power.

Given my sales history, I think if I weren't a Black woman, I would probably have a higher title. But titles don't really matter to me, just the opportunity to publish books for my people is what matters most, so I don't really focus on that. People who have racist ideas and racist actions do not bother me. I don't let any of those issues influence what I do or the way I think or what I publish. That is a personal problem. I don't let it become my problem. Racism is prevalent in all aspects of American society, and publishing is no different.

Sometimes there are proposals that come along, and you know in your heart that this is an important book on an important subject, but because the editorial room is all white, you may not be able to acquire it, so the only really painful thing about racism in publishing is the books that are not around, the books that didn't get to be published. When I was interviewing for those seven years for an editorial assistant position, I was told multiple times that Black people didn't read. That's an unfortunate belief. Because it's just not true.

We saw this moment in the '70s and late '60s, and that's how Toni Morrison, Marie Brown, Charles Harris, all of those people got into publishing. And then it happened again in the 1990s when Terry McMillan, Alice Walker, they landed on the New York Times best-seller list at the same time, and most of the people in publishing did not know who they were, particularly Terry McMillan. They were like, "Where did she come from?" Whereas we had been always reading Terry McMillan, and this was her third book, "Waiting to Exhale," so we expected it to be on the best-seller list. We knew, her fans, because we're part of the community.

I don't feel comfortable overpaying for a book as an editor of color. I feel a responsibility to watch out for my authors' careers so that they can continue to publish. If an author gets a particular advance, they need to ask their agent, "How many copies do I need to sell to earn this out?" Because it's going to be tougher for them to publish again if they don't earn it out. It hasn't been proven to be the case, from my observations, for white authors.

A white editor can be rewarded for acquiring an expensive Black author. If you did the research, you'd probably find that most people who have acquired a book by a Black author for a large advance, they're promoted, get a new job. I've seen people make their careers off of it. Why do I think that is? Because if a white person puts their stamp on a Black book, it suddenly becomes more valuable. Black editors most definitely must be fiscally responsible to keep your job and to have the pleasurable opportunity of publishing our voices. It's assumed that Black editors don't know white books and white publishing, but we do, because what do you think we've been reading all these years?

Tracy Sherrod is the editorial director of Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Interview by Concepción de León.

I knew entering graduate school what I wanted to study, which was African-descended people in New England. And from the beginning, I was told that nobody was going to publish that, unless I was writing about slavery, or unless I was writing about the busing crisis. No one was interested in that history, because No. 1, it hadn't been done before, and No. 2, there weren't that many Blacks in New England. My book on William Trotter, every place I submitted the manuscript to, the response was that no one was going to read a book that didn't have white people as a protagonist, and who was going to read a book about a Black man that nobody had ever heard about?

If there's one thing I would say about my own story in terms of racism in publishing, it's that whatever breakthrough successes I have had have been due to Black women who have steered me in the right direction. Black women have been the ones who have guided me and told me how to navigate situations. In that sense, I've been very lucky. But until I plugged into that, it was very, very frustrating, in terms of being told that no one was going to read certain Black stories, despite the fact that I had a doctorate and presumably had a little bit of expertise.

The reception for the book was not something I expected. I just wanted to get the history out there and change the narrative we have about Black history and about Black New England and Blackness in spaces that we don't think about it being in. That was my goal, and the accolades are just the icing on the cake.

I tend to think, being a historian, that triumph over racial discrimination or racial bias isn't like, one person gets through and then the floodgates open and everyone goes in after them. I don't particularly have any belief that this moment is going to fundamentally change the industry. I think that what that will take is a fundamental change to all of the avenues through which people produce work. All of that has to change before publishing can change.

Particularly in this moment, there is this idea that what America has to do is come to a moment of reckoning and we'll all learn the error of our ways and things will be reformed, and from a historical perspective that's not the way history works. I point out to my students that the first time the phrase "postracial" was used was the 1910s. That's not to say that I don't think the current moment is a significant moment in a long struggle for rights and equality for Black people, because I think it is. But I also think people are very shortsighted about history and what it takes to make a sustained change.

In terms of publishing and academia, I think those two fields will only catch up if the political momentum on the streets turns into something. Seeing young people starting a movement in the streets in the middle of a pandemic gives me hope and confidence. Seeing this generation of young people turning years of trauma into something that's exploding around the world is inspiring.

Kerri K. Greenidge is an assistant professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism and Diaspora at Tufts University.
Interview by Alexandra Alter.

JANIFER WILSON: I opened this store because, as a child growing up in southwest Georgia, I never saw any depictions of anybody that looked like me in the books that we were studying. I grew up feeling invisible. I wanted to give back to the community where I chose to live, so when the children would come, they could see books presented and housed, to let them know: "I can have my own business" or "I can be an adventurer."

The struggle of the book business has been astonishing. I've not made money as a book vendor over the last 20 years. That placed the business into the area of a labor of love versus a business that is earning income. Thank God, I had a job, and I made enough money where if the store didn't make money, I was able to pay the store's bills. Someone actually told me, "Oh, she's not going to make it because Black folks don't read." But 20 years later, I still exist.

This is the first time we actually made money to pay our bills and actually be in the position to order a lot more books. We saw thousands of dollars paid into our bank account. This whole surge that we have now with Covid and Black Lives Matter, I have some sort of feeling deep in my spirit in terms of sustainability. To have our business surge in a matter of weeks as the result of an unfortunate incident with a man losing his life and the whole world getting to see it has just impacted my spirit and soul. I get so tearful when I think about how this came about. I'm just prayerful that this is going to be the new way.

KORI WILSON: This is one of the first times in our history where what our mission is and what my mom created in this space is being recognized and actually is connecting to revenue. Definitely we were considered a niche in the business, just putting African diasporic literature at the forefront. It did make a difference as far as notoriety and being recognized in the industry as an independent bookseller. With the larger publishing houses, when they would have their book tours for upcoming seasonal releases, we weren't part of that group.

JANIFER: I think the publishers are going to be forced to look at how they have done business in the past. I think it's going to cause a different relationship with booksellers and publishers. Before, we were just ordering books and there was no real relationship. But I think they're going to need our information and ideals on how they can best move forward in this industry. Now there are folks in marketing who are reaching out to us to partner.

KORI: We really want to be outlets for independent and self-published authors. We were one of the main places that people would come and ask to have a book event or a book launch, so they can try to get their name out there and get some sales because of that gap in the industry between them and the big guys.

JANIFER: There needs to be Black and brown publishers. We need more publishers in our community that will publish the work and not change it. I think the only way that can happen is we need to get into the industry more ourselves.

Other Black booksellers are now recognizing that we're all one and the plight is the same. We're now communicating with each other as to how we can best move through this era. How can we make sure we all stay alive?

KORI: We house and preserve a very specific area of Black studies and Black culture that interests not only Black people. This is information that should be disseminated to all people. We should have more spaces for that. And with the support that we're seeing, hopefully these Black bookstores that already exist can expand. We can put our heads together and figure out how to continue that.

Janifer Wilson is the owner of Sisters Uptown Bookstore in New York City. Kori Wilson, her daughter, is the store's operations manager.

Interview by Concepción de León.

There was a time when we promoted and published quite a few Black authors and authors of color, so that was my primary focus quite a few years ago. I used to be the director of multicultural publicity at Warner Books. We used to do lots of those books, and then a shift happened. I think it was an industrywide shift.

Books written by Black writers and people of color - they look at those books a little bit differently. Do those books work? If they do, great. If they don't, let's start phasing them out. Whereas when you look at publishing as a whole, you have books written by all types of authors and most of the books, from where I sit, they're white writers. Some of those books don't do well, but we don't phase out white authors.

The advantage that I had, starting at this publishing house, was this is a second career for me. I was not 20. And I knew that I was going to navigate my way having direct conversations with people. A lot of younger people don't feel comfortable walking into their manager's office and having a conversation like that. I think it really behooves that manager to have a welcoming spot for their employees to have those conversations.

I have had some experiences along the way. For example, a colleague - who didn't know I was a colleague - there was at a gathering for a Black author, I was in the lobby of the building, and she didn't have her ID. I said, "Oh, great, I can get you upstairs," and she turned to me and said, "Oh, are you related to the author?" And the reason she asked me that was that the author was Black. The thing that was the most upsetting was this editor had worked on a book by this author, and the book was about the racist practices at the inception of this country.

How many times have any of my white colleagues walked up to another white colleague and asked them if they were related to their white author? Probably never.

I have friends who worked for the company well over 10 years and just said, I'm out. Enough is enough and I just can't take it any longer. My ability to be able to read my white colleagues has allowed me to last this long. I'm not suggesting every single day is a battle for me, that's not what I'm saying at all. But I am clear about the level of fear that white people seem to have concerning Black people. I'm clear about that.

I think people have this false impression that this industry is great, it's books, and people love to read and write. But you bring all the baggage of the systemic racism right through the door with you, whether you know it or not.

With all the conversation around Black Lives Matter, all types of publications are supporting and telling people to support independent black-owned bookstores, which I think is awesome. But it does sadden me to know that the push for the sales is connected to that stacking of dead Black bodies. That thing is sad. So yes, buy books by Black writers, absolutely. But why can't we just buy books by Black writers, period.

I hope to see more Black people and people of color at the executive level. I hope to see real training for all entry-level employees. I hope to see managerial training being set up. And I really hope that people will start having real conversations. I don't care if they're difficult. So what? It's difficult when I'm driving down the highway and I get stopped by a policeman and I'm wondering, "Oh my God, am I going to be shot in my head?" That's difficult. And that's real.

I'd like people, especially Black people and people of color, to know that they should invite themselves to this table we call publishing. Don't exclude yourself. We know the pay isn't great. We know that. But at the same time we have to be part of the dialogue and part of the creating of the culture. It's not an easy transition for a lot of folks. I always look at my training - and by training I mean my white-people training. I went to a Catholic school. So I had a different type of training.

There are some editors who are white who care about those kinds of things, they try over and over and over again. But having Black editors to champion Black writers, that's very very important. We have to be at that table.

Linda Duggins is a senior director of publicity at Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette Book Group.
Interview by Elizabeth A. Harris.

I went looking for "Home to Harlem," by Claude McKay, for a class. When I pulled it off the shelf, I saw it was a first edition. I was struck by the fact that I was holding this book that somebody purchased for Yale. I thought to myself: Claude McKay the man, the Jamaican man who was writing during the Harlem Renaissance, could never have imagined in his mind that a Black woman of Caribbean heritage - my family is from Montserrat - would be a Yale student and read his book.

And I thought about all the people who had touched that book and read it, and I felt a connection to them.

After I graduated, I started working for a publisher. My plan was to work for two to three years, then go to law school, become a lawyer and then a literary agent. I ended up having a career as a book editor for decades, which I loved, before becoming an agent.

The first book I edited was "Do They Hear You When You Cry," by Fauziya Kassindja and Layli Miller-Muro. It was a memoir of the first woman who received asylum in the U.S. on the basis of female genital mutilation, in 1996. Fauziya was born in Togo and escaped to Lagos, then Germany, before coming to America.

Working in publishing is very much an apprenticeship. You work for an editor, and they're teaching you the ropes, and they have to be your biggest advocate. They have to promote you, support you and propel you forward. I've had a lot of good sponsors in that way, people who recognized something in me and were ready to back me up. You really need older or more experienced editors to back you up when you're starting out. So in the case of Fauziya's book, I'm sure the editor I worked for got the proposal, knew immediately I would be a good person for it, so she kept pushing me in front of it.

I'm drawn to books about maximizing life experiences: fitness, self-help, a better love life, a better bank account, a better sex life. One of the things about being an editor is that you can't publish with cynicism. You have to absolutely believe it's important. The process of working on a book is nine months not only of editing, but telling everybody how important it is.

I remember getting "Push," by Sapphire. I read it and felt like I understood the book and what it was trying to do, and saw that it did that well. But I personally didn't want to spend the next year in such a dark novel, so I passed. It wasn't meant for me. Maybe it wouldn't have had the huge impact it did if I'd edited it, because I didn't feel it was right for me.

Even as modern and progressive and as Black as I am - I'm super Black - publishing has this way of battering into you its assumptions about Black readers.

I got in "Letters to a Young Brother," by Hill Harper, aimed at men between the ages of 15 and 25. I thought to myself, Who's going to want to read this? How do we penetrate that audience and stimulate those guys to read? I knew that Black women were avid readers because I was surrounded by them. I knew Black men were avid readers for the same reason. As an editor, I don't think I believed at that moment that young Black men were interested in reading books. Now that I'm an agent, I don't feel that same splitness anymore.

I remember the period when several publishers were developing special imprints focused on African-Americans: One World, Amistad. Many of those imprints went away because the publishing companies weren't really invested. It's one thing to acquire those books. It's another to have a full team doing their best to penetrate that market, knowing how to market: what magazines to promote in, having a sales force that understands the market and having retailers that know how to sell those books. The late 1990s were glory days. Places like Borders, Waldenbooks - they moved books by Black authors by the ton. When we lost those retail outlets, sales of those books took a dive.

There is an engine in publishing houses. Not every book gets the same amount of gas. Some books get premium. Some get regular. My hope is that the books people are purchasing right now have the full buy-in from the company. This interest and rush to acquire is fantastic, but we need to take it all the way so those books have a fair chance of success. Their success will be a determining factor for future books by diverse voices. Publishers are large corporate conglomerates. They're not cultural institutions - they're businesses.

Cherise Fisher is a literary agent at Wendy Sherman Associates.

Interview by Joumana Khatib.

The realization that I could have a career in publishing started at Howard University. I worked at the Howard University bookstore, which was at the time independently owned. I worked in marketing. Black people aren't monolithic, and having this intro into having creative, different marketing campaigns for Black authors within the bookstore was really exciting and also really empowering. We assume that every book by a Black author should be marketed in this certain way, and it's just not the case.

As a Black woman, I understand the differences between me, my personal life experiences, the things that are important to me versus a woman who is African, versus a woman who is Caribbean. There are so many layers. So when we talk about subject matter within these books, they're all different.

As a marketer, I've marketed not only books by Black authors, but books by white authors. Figuring out the strongest points of the book, how do we pull that out to engage with the consumer, how do we pull the consumer in with some of the concepts that we feel would resonate. It's interesting to me that it's so easy for white marketers to pull those things out from books by white authors, but when it comes to Black books, a lot of marketers don't know how to promote.

I started publishing in what's called an associates program. This program was essentially to bring in diverse hires. It's like a next level up from an intern. Now, mind you: I had a master's degree in publishing, I had attempted to network as best as I could, but it still didn't translate into me getting jobs. It was frustrating. It just made me wonder if I would've gotten into publishing if it had not been for people seeing me on a day-to-day basis and feeling good about me and my work and who I am, versus that unconscious bias of seeing my résumé, seeing my name, seeing Howard University, and dismissing me because I don't quote unquote have enough experience.

I think there has been a lot of change in that regard, where we're finding that more and more people are bringing in talent of color. But how do we keep them? That is the biggest disconnect, because these are assistants and coordinators who have a different background than a lot of their white bosses.

The other issue is the pay. You have a lot of assistants I remember coming up in the industry who would tell me that their parents bought them an apartment in the East Village or they're paying for their rent, and I had two jobs up until I became a manager. I was leaving right at 5 and going to tutor. But when you present that to white counterparts, they're like, "Oh, you have another job?"

I've been thinking a lot about, especially in the past few weeks, how race has played an impact in me and my work and my mental health, and I keep coming back to Audre Lorde's quote, "My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you" - silence from white people but also my own silence and respectability politics.

I think a lot of Black publishing professionals are becoming exhausted from being heard only when it benefits the company's bottom line. I'm constantly giving myself, my voice, my thoughts, when I shouldn't have to prove myself or my knowledge over and over again. White colleagues are able to speak their mind, but when it's my turn, I can't be direct or forthcoming without coming off as aggressive. I know that I and a lot of people like me have spent hours trying to figure out a way to write an email that appeals to a white colleague or make myself more pleasant in some way, because they can't handle honest criticism. I'm just tired of tiptoeing around my feelings to protect theirs. That's another thing that people are going to have to check if they really are about change. You have to check your feelings at the door.

Ebony LaDelle is an associate director of marketing at HarperCollins.

Interview by Concepción de León.

I do not believe, regardless of what publishers say, that they are not informed by systemic racism. I know it's very difficult for them to talk about it, if only because publishing presents itself as a sort of bastion of progressive liberalism. I could describe countless instances involving not only myself but other Black people in publishing that will certify what I'm saying. But I'm not interested in rehashing episodes of rank discrimination involving hiring or promotions. What I'm here to testify is that it's there, and it has not gone anywhere.

When I first started in publishing, the mantra was, "Black books don't sell. Black people don't read." What that ignored was that white people don't read, and white people don't buy books. It takes a majority of Blacks and whites to turn a book by a Black writer into a best seller. I find it very interesting that nowadays because of the outrage at the murder of George Floyd, the preponderance of books on the nonfiction best-seller list are books about race or by Black writers. Publishers are now in the ironic position of making money off books by authors that they once held in disfavor.

There is, in a curious way, a greater openness to books by and about Black people, but that has not necessarily changed the structure of the industry. Every major publisher now is singing the "diversity of voices" blues. They want to increase diversity of voices, but diversity of voices doesn't have anything to do with anti-Black racism in publishing.

Many a publisher is issuing lists of books that mostly white people should read to inform themselves about the issue. It almost seems as if these books are being bought and read as if they were a genre of self-help book. The scandal for me is that, as a result of reading these self-help books, will there be self-improvement? As with most self-help books, the answer might be no. After all of this hoopla, after all of this self-education, I worry that we're going to wake up and be exactly where we were before any of this happened. I don't think that as a result of white people reading certain books, we're going to be living in a postracial America.

The industry is predominantly a white industry. The number of Black editors in New York City is shockingly de minimis. I work for the largest American book publisher, and I cannot name more than a handful of Black editors there. That is not particular to Penguin Random House, that is endemic to the industry. And I think unless you have systemic change from top to bottom, publishing will remain a conflicted cultural force, that preaches something but doesn't practice it.

Race has affected my career both positively and negatively. Black editors are subject to a certain kind of racial profiling that white editors are not subject to. I've had to, to one degree or another, fight against that - fight against presumptions of what kinds of books I should be interested in or publishing.

Positively because it's allowed me to spread my wings, publish all kinds of things against imagined stereotypes. Several years ago, in the wake of outrage at police violence, I was able to simply go out and commission a book called " Policing the Black Man." It was simply assumed that I would do such a book, so it facilitated things in a certain way. But I have interests that extend far and wide. There have been occasions where the very fact that I was proposing something seemed especially fascinating because it was coming from an unexpected source.

My condition as a Black man in racist America and, by extension, in the publishing industry, which is informed by systemic racism, has not changed in 40-plus years. What has changed are responses to that condition. It's a far better place to be at a publishing company nowadays than it was, say, 40 years ago, when people would say overtly racist things. Now that is not that case, but that doesn't mean that the plague has disappeared. It is there and one has to deal with it in one way or another every single day. But the industry claims to be open to change, and that is a huge difference. Publishers 40 years ago were not talking about these issues. These issues just simply didn't exist.

You shouldn't be able to walk into a publishing company and imagine apartheid. And by that I mean there should be integration from the lowest positions on up to the highest positions. Every aspect of the publishing chain, from marketing to sales to publicity, should contain a rainbow coalition of people. That is my dream, as opposed to having a mostly white hegemony that seems that it would never change.

Erroll McDonald is the vice president and executive editor of Knopf and Pantheon, imprints of Penguin Random House.

Interview by Concepción de León.

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'A Conflicted Cultural Force': What It's Like to Be Black in Publishing

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An author, literary agent, marketer, publicist, editors and booksellers talk about how race affects their careers - and the books you read. The nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice have set off conversations in nearly every industry about the treatment of Black workers, and book publishing is no exception.

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Theme: The Universality in Different Writing Styles

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Theme: The Universality in Different Writing Styles

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When I wrote my debut novel I was surprised to discover how different the styling of Australian novels was from that used in other countries, such as America.

What do I mean by 'styling'? I'm talking about things like spelling and punctuation, such as whether or not the full stop (period) goes before or after quotation marks, or whether there's a space before and after an ellipsis (the three little dots), and whether double or single quotation marks are used for dialogue.

When I was doing journalism, I knew there was a particular style (usually leaning towards the American style) I was supposed to use. I'd assumed that styling for novels would be the same. It isn't. Australian novels have their own specific style, which has most in common with the British style.

These differences can sometimes take the unsuspecting reader by surprise. I recently read a review of an Australian novel by someone who, I think, was American, who marked the novel down because it used 'apostrophes' for the dialogue, instead of quotation marks. It was clear that the reviewer had no idea that single quotation marks, rather than doubles, are used in both British and Australian styling, and it had obviously affected her enjoyment of the book.

These differences also pose challenges for professional editors, like me. I always try and find out where the author is planning to market their book so I can do it in the styling appropriate for that particular audience. I've learned a great deal about many different styles in the past few years. Of course, something that makes it even more tricky is the fact that sometimes certain publishers have their own take on what is appropriate styling, not to mention the many self-published books that have been written by authors who don't know the differences between styles, which can create even more confusion.

Why can't all books have the same style, I hear you ask? Good question. The answer is probably the same as the answer to why people spell words differently between countries - whose style do we use? Do we use the American style because America is such a big portion of the market? I used American styling for the Verindon trilogy. But then, some people favour elements of other styles. There are certainly aspects of the US style that I don't agree with. Do we pick the British style? Who decides? Why should we let them decide?

Are you an author? Do you find it challenging to work out which style you're supposed to use? Have you had to change to a different style because of your audience?

Are you a reader? Have you noticed differences between styles? Does it bother you? Let me know in the comments section below.

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Writing - different countries, different styles - Lynne Stringer - Author & Editor

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When I wrote my debut novel I was surprised to discover how different the styling of Australian novels was from that used in other countries, such as America. What do I mean by 'styling'?

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Theme: Writing and the Creation of Knowledge

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Theme: Writing and the Creation of Knowledge

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It is argued that Swinburne should stress the functional unity of soul and body under most healthy conditions. Too often, critics of substance dualism charge dualists with promoting a problematic bifurcation between soul and body. Swinburne's work is defended against objections from Thomas Nagel. It is argued that Swinburne's appeal to the first-person point of view is sound.

Journal Information

Annals of Philosophy is one of the oldest philosophical journals in Poland (since 1948). It is published four times per year in both the online and traditional ways. The journal aims to publish the best original research papers in philosophy, as well as translations, reviews, accounts and polemics.

Publisher Information

The Faculty of Philosophy was founded in 1946. In its research and teaching it invokes the distinguished tradition of classical philosophy while also taking into account the broad range of achievements in contemporary philosophy and logic. It also examines the philosophical aspects of problems raised by the contemporary natural sciences.

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It is argued that Swinburne should stress the functional unity of soul and body under most healthy conditions. Too often, critics of substance dualism charge dualists with promoting a problematic bifurcation between soul and body. Swinburne's work is defended against objections from Thomas Nagel.

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Theme: Effect of Reading in Shaping our Personality

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Theme: Effect of Reading in Shaping our Personality

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Click above to view full image!
Any book lover can tell you: diving into a great novel is an immersive experience that can make your brain come alive with imagery and emotions and even turn on your senses. It sounds romantic, but there's real, hard evidence that supports these things happening to your brain when you read books. In reading, we can actually physically change our brain structure, become more empathetic, and even trick our brains into thinking we've experienced what we've only read in novels.

We make photos in our minds, even without being prompted:

Reading books and other materials with vivid imagery is not only fun, it also allows us to create worlds in our own minds. But did you know that this happens even if you don't mean it to? Researchers have found that visual imagery is simply automatic. Participants were able to identify photos of objects faster if they'd just read a sentence that described the object visually, suggesting that when we read a sentence, we automatically bring up pictures of objects in our minds.

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Your Brain on Books: 10 Ways Reading Affects Psyche

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Click above to view full image! Any book lover can tell you: diving into a great novel is an immersive experience that can make your brain come alive with imagery and emotions and even turn on your senses. It sounds romantic, but there's real, hard evidence that supports these things happening to your brain when you read books.

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1. Does reading fiction make us better people?

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1. Does reading fiction make us better people?

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Yes, because what we experience in life, even in its fullest, is a mere fraction of reality. The paradox is, that unknownness can only be coined in retrospect, as before identifying what's undiscovered, we have no clue of its existence. In other terms, We only know what we don't know after knowing it. Fictions give readers access to what's not there by using the power of imagination. Fiction places us in worlds of experiences we have never been exposed of prior reading it. It equips us with knowledge, which empowers us to become better individuals

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2. Should we strive to live in the moment?

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2. Should we strive to live in the moment?

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It would be futile in doing so.
We spend our present in reliving the past, while losing the present when prospecting future. It is impossible to strive since there is no ending to this strive itself.

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3. Can reading fiction from different cultures help us understand each other better? 

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3. Can reading fiction from different cultures help us understand each other better? 

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We can only look onto other people when we take a close inspection into ourselves. In that sense reading definitely helps us to understand most prejudices are formed based on visual mediums such as posters and comics (Think about it, this is a very interesting point.) And words are a direct counter since it provides both context and explaination. Eliminating prejudice and info asymmetry from its root.

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4. Can reading fiction prepare us for experiences in the real world?

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4. Can reading fiction prepare us for experiences in the real world?

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No it won't unless we actively incorporate the models conveyed through fiction into real life. This action has nothing to do with our love for fiction but rather initiative and boldness to dismantle our comfort zone.

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"It really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much," Arundhati Roy writes in The God of Small Things, a statement that feels almost biblical. The Love Laws police the relationships that each character engages in, governing what relationships are permitted and marking who is and who isn't lovable.

It is in my last semester of college that I read God of Small Things for the first time in a postcolonial literature class. We are in a rickety attic where English seminars are held, hunched around a long table like we are eating at a Victorian dining table in our L.L. Bean sweaters and long underwear.

The Love Laws are how Ammu's young twins Estha and Rahel perceive the world, growing up in Kerala in the southernmost part of India, where intercaste relationships are forbidden and the ghost of British colonial rule lingers.

When Ammu takes her twins to watch in theatres The Sound of Music, a movie filled with white children who are dearly and recognizably loved, Estha and Rahel go through a checklist of qualities that make them different from the Von Trapp family. Are they clean white children? No. Do they behave and not blow spit bubbles? No. Do they hold their bodies still and not shiver their legs? No. These are the Love Laws that tell Estha and Rahel how unlovable they are.

*

As a child, my parents used to say to me, "nobody will tell you the truth or protect you like we do." It must be how my parents survived as Chinese immigrants in new countries-even before they moved me and my brother to Alabama, they had been immigrants in Finland and in Canada. Yet this attitude-one that is invested in safety and in staying at the hearth -made me distrustful towards any degree of altruism or kindness, especially from white people.
I was a visitor in the museum this world was staged in. My parents' style of parenting didn't look anything like the love Southern white families exhibited.
At no point did I ever believe my parents would love me more if I was white. I did, however, believe that I would be loved more if my parents were white. I grew up friends with a white girl named Cindy Stevenson, who I first met at her ninth birthday party-a party where we tie-dyed white t-shirts and got soaked in slip-and-slides in her backyard. Cindy lived in a family potent with Sound-of-Music, ABC Family, birthday-cake love (my family never celebrates birthdays). The walls of her home were lined with annual family photographs, their beds with American Girl dolls tucked in, clones of Jessica and her three sisters. Stevenson-love became a universal standard.

I was a visitor in the museum this world was staged in. My parents' style of parenting didn't look anything like the love Southern white families exhibited. The love that white parents had for their children was unconditional, whereas my parents' love was conditioned on something just short of perfection. In elementary school, I am reading at a slower pace than the average fifth grader, so I have to attend supplemental classes. "You have to work twice as hard," my parents say over and over again, until it becomes to me an unconscious chant. If I tell my parents that a teacher of mine said I was doing well in class, they would shake their heads and say, "Everyone is being polite. Only I will tell you the truth."

*

In God of Small Things, a moth flutters in and out of the pages. Rahel and Estha's grandfather is an entomologist named Pappachi, and his greatest disappointment is failing to have a moth that he discovered named after him. "Its pernicious ghost-gray, furry and with unusually dense dorsal tufts-haunted every house he ever lived in," tormenting his children and ultimately, his children's children. The moth appears and reappears, wings fluttering, before Rahel and Estha each time they behave poorly and each time Ammu is disappointed in them (in other words, every time they are behaving as children behave).

Is this what we, the children of immigrants and the marginalized, inherit? Our parents' failures and traumas? For the longest time I believed I inherited the worst parts of my parents-their tempers, their miserliness, their fears about the world.

An ex of mine, a white boy, tells me a story about his grandma and how when he would go to her home, she would point to objects around her living room and says "Do you like this?" and if he says "Yes," she would say "You can have it." I think this is sweet, imagining a room full of treasures, silver spoons, Russian dolls, spools of gold, shiny jeweled necklaces, all for his taking. He tells me that he finds this impulse sad, and I am baffled.

*

My junior year of college, I am at odds with my dad. I had begun going to therapy and taking antidepressants. I don't see my depression as a shortcoming, and when I tell my parents, defiantly, my dad reacts in precise extremes, genuine confusion and anger.

"What have you experienced that has been so hard?" The phone is loud, and I turn down his voice with my index finger.

"I don't know."

He is silent for a second, and says, "You will go through things that are so much harder. How will you survive?" I don't ask him what things will be harder or how he could possibly know, instead repeating, "I don't know."

My parents talk about their love as something strained, something in the octave of pain. "We've sacrificed so much for you," they say. They relive their past trauma for the sake of parable, memorializing the "three mile walk to school" and other memories of abject poverty in rural Post-Mao China. If it is such a chore, I would fume inside, why do you bother caring for me in the first place? Why does love always have to be belabored, so painstaking?

I thought my copy of God of Small Things featured a moth on the center of the cover, but when I find it in my box of books from college, I realize it's a tiny flower, pink like a tongue. It looks nothing like a moth.

*

Classmates in my class like the book but hate Ammu. She is cruel at times: in a fit of anger, Ammu tells her children, "If it weren't for you I would be free. I should have dumped you in an orphanage the day you were born. You're the millstones round my neck." Rahel and Estha had watched Mutiny on the Bounty, and they knew that "when people died at sea, they were wrapped in white sheets and thrown overboard with millstones around their necks so that the corpses wouldn't float."
Wotengni-it's a way of saying 'I love you' in Mandarin that translates to 'I hurt for you.' It's as if the sinews of pain are embedded in the very language of loving and being loved.
I never hated Ammu the way my classmates hated her. I knew she loved her children-it's obvious to me but Roy still makes it explicit: "Ammu loved her children (of course), but their wide-eyed vulnerability and their willingness to love people who didn't really love them exasperated her and sometimes made her want to hurt them-just as an education, a protection."

Instead, I grieved how illegible her love for them was, for how they never felt loved and for never identifying the form their mother's love took. How she didn't know how to raise her children in a place that would not love them back. Estha and Rahel never understand how much Ammu loved them and instead remain estranged from her up until her death. Their estrangement feels inevitable and all the more tragic. Nobody but the reader will ever know how much Ammu loved her children.

Wotengni- it's a way of saying "I love you" in Mandarin that translates to "I hurt for you." It's as if the sinews of pain are embedded in the very language of loving and being loved. My exposure, my visibility, my vulnerability to the world is cause for fear and anxiety in my parents. "I hurt for you" is so close to "I hurt you." I've only ever known a kind of love that is toughening.

I used to wonder if they hated me for having it so good, for having a clean, Chinese-free American accent, for taking art and piano lessons; and I reflexively hated them for their chosen obliviousness about how I had no choice.

Nowadays, I wonder who my parents see themselves as within this America, and what narrative they had transcribed onto me. Growing up and living with their everlasting imposition of utmost perfection-I can only imagine this as coming out of a place of protectiveness. At the same time, I wonder if they are more willing to protect their vision of a magical and just America than they are of protecting me; or if in their eyes, the two are one and same.

*

As long as our family has lived in Alabama, my parents have grown muscadines-tough-skinned grapes that only grow in the South-on trellises behind our house. Muscadines thrive in the humidity and heat, their outer layer protecting them from fungal diseases. My mom used to peel muscadines for me-two bowls in front of her, one full of inedible skins which she liked to suck on, the other full of the fleshy grapes she saved for me to eat.

Since moving out of Alabama, I've missed many muscadine seasons. Muscadines are also impossible to access outside of the South-I've never seen it sold in a grocery store before.

In the fall my mom mails me a box of produce that has muscadines and vegetables she grew in the garden. She has a surplus of stamps so she carefully lines them up in rows, leaving enough white space for the postal address. When it reaches my doorstep, the box is covered in plastic, marked with an apology from the USPS for the damage that package had experienced. The cardboard is soaked through and when I use a knife to hack it open, I see the muscadines have rotted in transit.

When I tell my mom on the phone, she sounds so dejected I wish I could hug her. I should thank her anyway but instead I scold her. "Mom, you can't mail this to me. It can't stay fresh like this when there's no air flow."

As much as I interrogated my own lovability, practicing feeling lovable and aspiring to be lovable at all costs, I never questioned my parents' desires. I instead assumed that their emotional landscape was impenetrable, that they did not have the same needs as I did, that I didn't have to love them.

Nobody will tell you the truth or protect you like we do- I catch myself abiding to this Love Law. I am still trying to peel away the protective rind, in order to reach something sweeter.

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Surviving Tough Love: Growing Up as the Child of Chinese Immigrants

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"It really began in the days when the Love Laws were made. The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. And how much," Arundhati Roy writes in The God of Small Things, a statement that feels almost biblical.

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Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China

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(2011). Human Trafficking and Smuggling in China. Journal of Contemporary China: Vol. 20, No. 68, pp. 39-52.