Race and Sex in a Lifetime

Race relations and sex. Can anyone think of two more powerful forces in society that as a child and an adolescent forced a person to confront, explore, conform to, rebel against, hide, lie about, grapple with? In my own situation in north Texas in the ‘30s and ‘40s, there was no apparent struggle. Black people were clearly ostracized from white society, and only white men enjoyed sexual freedom. From the way grown-ups talked, only white men experienced sexual arousal at all. There were no questions. The matters were settled.

The contrast between a serene child's world and the costumed expectations of success in Texas white society, whose standards were set by recently rich oil men and their wives, created a difficult chasm to manoeuvre. Until recently, there was scant respect or support for the poor of both sexes, or for white women and girls, to be unique, to follow a pathway that broke with the values set by the wealthy élite. Until recently, there was no room whatsoever in the mainstream for any person of colour. Even in the 1960s a department store in San Antonio, where we were visiting relatives, had two drinking fountains beside the public restrooms, labelled ‘White’ and ‘Coloured’. I told my puzzled children, ‘Maybe one has coloured water’, so ashamed I was to tell them the truth.

Given the cultural evolution we have experienced since then, it is little wonder that many people rejoice at Barack Obama's election as president of the United States. New York Times columnist Frank Rich wrote, ‘On the morning after a black man won the White House, American's tears of catharsis gave way to unadulterated joy’. The two legged monster who had defined social reality for such a long time was permanently crippled. I am talking about the unnatural distortion of society's attitudes in the United States towards African-Americans and toward women's sexuality. With Obama's election, at least one of his legs had been gravely injured.

Forgive us Americans who keep bringing up the s