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Faith Smith, ed., Sex and the Citizen: Interrogating the Caribbean, Charlottesville, London: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 292 pp.
Sex and the Citizen: Interrogating the Caribbean, edited by Faith Smith, focuses primarily on the attitudes of Caribbean peoples to sexual preferences, particularly those which are not considered normative. This collection of articles contains seventeen very informative, instructive and at times humorous chapters written primarily by women; the vast majority of whom live outside the Caribbean but with some connection to the region.
Carmen Gillespie's essay "'Nobody Ent Billiing Me': A U.S./ Caribbean Intertextual, Intercultural Call-and-Response", is an excellent representative of the tone of the book. Gillespie's article discusses the negative responses of various members of the Barbadian society to homosexuality or "Billing", a term coined in Barbados for homosexuality and lesbianism, and influenced by the North American hit song "Bill" by Peggy Scott-Adams. This song describes a woman's shock in finding out that her fiancé was having a homosexual relationship with Bill, one of his best friends. Barbadian's opposition to "billing" according to Gillespie is indicative of an outrage by the people to North American and European attempts to foist an acceptance of an unacceptable lifestyle on them. Despite Barbadians' opposition to "billing", its heavy dependence on tourists from "up north" - where such practices are accepted - however, forces approval which has serious implications for the island's sovereignty.
The essays by Antonia MacDonald-Smythe and the Martiniquan, Vanessa Agard-Jones...