Pleasure: The Reason We Live

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Pleasure; that feeling that envelopes us when something good happens. At that moment, you feel delight, satisfaction and happiness. Some might even say peace.

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You can get pleasure from various things. It all depends on the individual, on you, what you like and what you don't.

There are many things that we can do to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

Pleasure is a small word for a compelling concept that influences almost every aspect of our lives. Understanding pleasure is necessary for us to build relationships, keep our marriages together, cultivate intimacy and help achieve true happiness.

There are several levels of pleasure.

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• Sensual/sexual pleasure
• The pleasure of loving intimacy
• The pleasure of purposeful action
• Pleasure of creativity
• The pleasure of immersion in spirit.

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Let's focus on the Sensual/Sexual pleasure in relation to the black woman.

Sexual pleasure is so important that the WHO said it's a key component of sexual health. Unfortunately, years of stereotyping and racism has negatively impacted the black woman's ability to enjoy sexual pleasure.

Black women have been and are still currently hyper-sexualized. Black women's sexuality is characterized by race-based sexual stereotypes.

Stemming from the time of colonization, where black women's bodies were used at the whim of their masters. They were considered quasi humans but still sexually appealing enough to have sex with.

This colonial mentality hasn't gone away but has reinvented itself recently. The stereotyping of black women has led to them being called names like Jezebel and Mammy, among others.

To prevent further projection of these stereotypes, black women have decided to make a politics of silence.

Breaking the silence has historically been considered bad or risky behavior because it prevents black women's advancement by supporting the hyper-sexual stereotypes and fighting against the politics of respectability.

So black women are not allowed the luxury of portraying themselves and their bodies how they please. Their right to speak openly and freely about their sexuality has been stripped.

For one to fully experience sexual pleasure, one must go through;

• Partnered interaction
• Liberation
• Mind
• Body soul awareness
• Orgasm

It is challenging for the black woman to navigate these facilitators of pleasure freely.

She cannot communicate how she feels, all thanks to the politics of silence. Sexual liberation is an unaffordable luxury for the black woman, due to society's harsh opinions about how she should carry herself.

However, if she was awarded the luxury of all these things, sexual pleasure would be hedonic and eudemonic. Some black women who have dared to take control of their sexuality have described sexual pleasure this way.

Nowadays, more black women are owning their narrative and putting out more sexually positive and liberating messages.

So, the black woman can finally have the chance to experience sexual pleasure to the full. Free from the shackles of hypersexuality, stereotyping and politics of silence.

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