In a culture driven by sexual and racial imagery, very few honest conversations about race, gender and sexuality actually take place. In their absence, commonly held perceptions of black women as teenage mothers, welfare recipients, mammies or exotic sexual playthings remain unchanged. For fear that telling their stories will fulfil society's implicit expectations about their sexuality, most black women remain silent. Tricia Rose seeks to break this silence and jump-start a dialogue by presenting the sexual testimonies of black women spanning a broad range of ages.