My Black Genitals Are Not Public Enemy #1
By Sexual Correspondent Andrea (AJ) Plaid
Who, in the names of Faye Wattleton and Loretta Ross, declared my genitals the worst place for humankind?
I got the anti-reproductive justice folks advertising in various places in the US that my uterus is the “most dangerous place” for The Race by twisting the numbers then carrying on about how we Black women are committing “genocide.”
I get online movements telling me to guard my “child-bearing organs” until I marry The Right One due to the high numbers of “unwed” mothers. (Note how MSNBC frames the issue at MSNBC–a “health” issue that Black folks are “struggling with.” And notice how cisgender-centric both the movements and the framing are.)
I got sexual-health stats saying that (and I directly quote):
- In 2006, the rate of new HIV infection for black women was nearly 15 times as high as that of white women and nearly 4 times that of Hispanic/Latina women. (Source)
- The rate of chlamydia among black women was more than seven times higher than the rate among white women. (Source)
- Black women aged 15 to 19 years had a gonorrhea rate of 2,955.7 cases per 100,000 women. This rate was 14.7 times greater than the 2007 rate among white women of similar age (200.6). (Source)
- (WARNING: Graphic depiction of condition) The primary and secondary syphillis rates among black women was 14 times higher than that among white women. (Source)
- The rate of congenital syphilis (based on the mothers race/ethnicity) was 32.3 cases per 100,000 live births among blacks. (Source)
- Between 1998 and 2003, 13 black women were diagnosed with HPV-related cervical cancer per 100,000 women. (Source)
- Black women had the highest death rate from cervical cancer. (Source)
These are the numbers just for Black cis women. A few HIV and STI stats regarding Black trans women:
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