Our Editor’s Pick for our June 2018 issue is Tommy J. Curry and Ebony A. Utley’s paper, “She Touched Me: Five Snapshots of Adult Sexual Violations of Black Boys.” In this painful and nuanced paper, Curry and Utley argue compellingly that Black boys are especially vulnerable to sexual violation. Ironically, this special vulnerability is grounded in our cultural framing of Black masculinity in a way that makes Black boys seem impervious to sexual violation, almost as a matter of conceptual necessity. Through five case studies, Curry and Utley show that the boys themselves are not given the social tools to understand their own violation or how to protect themselves from it. They are also not provided with appropriate sexual education, in part because they are seen as already-sexual and not in need of training in self-protection. Curry and Utley’s paper is both heartbreaking and important.
Before reading this issue’s Editor’s Pick, readers should understand that it may be difficult to read for some, as it contains descriptions of sexual violation within relationships of gross power inequality, and under conditions of enormous vulnerability.