By Juliette Maughan
“He took my arm and said, ‘Is over a whole year I waiting, yuh is a big girl now, yuh wukking and ting. Is time I get this thing.’ I went with him walking like a man going to the gallows, but another part of me rationalised that he was right. It was time. I was resigned to it.”
– Excerpt from Picture Records by Lloyda Nicholas, Senseisha: Memoirs of the Caribbean Woman
Senseisha is a collection of creative non-fiction, deeply personal narratives written by women from across the Caribbean. Its inaugural publication features 20 stories arranged under 5 thematic areas of first time experiences, coming out stories, love and intimacy, overcoming abuse and embracing the taboo. The co-editors of the Senseisha Anthology are Juliette Maughan, Caribbean sexual rights, gender equality and pleasure advocate; and Caribbean writer and filmmaker Shakirah Bourne.
Inspired by an anthology titled, “Love, Inshallah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women,” the Senseisha anthology came out of a quest for literature on the romantic and sexual lives of women from a Caribbean perspective. It became evident that there was minimal artistic expression, especially online, on the topic of Caribbean sexuality and women’s experience of love, romance, sex and pleasure.
Sexuality research in the Caribbean has been a relatively recent undertaking, with much of the focus being shaped around sexual and reproductive rights, HIV/AIDS, danger and exploitation of women, and the rights of often marginalised groups like sex workers and lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered (LGBT) persons. Academics, policymakers and non-governmental organisations have mostly tackled this subject through research and policy papers, advocacy campaigns and workshops but the real life experiences of Caribbean women remain under-explored territory. In a June 2011 working paper titled, “Power, Labour, Pleasure: Sexuality in Every Day Life,” Professor Kamala Kempadoo concluded that, “we [in the Caribbean] need to broaden our horizons and begin to ask those awkward questions about what sexuality looks like for the majority of women…what makes sexuality pleasurable, what makes it oppressive and exploitative, and how it is linked to gender and other axes of power.”
The first hurdle presented itself while brainstorming the name for the anthology, which the co-editors hoped would communicate positive feelings around female sexuality. The search for the words and phrases in the Caribbean dialect was unsuccessful. While some in the sex positive communities internationally have reclaimed previously derogatory terms, as is the case in the annual “SlutWalk” marches against rape, we felt that there was a need to develop a new language to describe the sexually empowered woman. The term Senseisha, pronounced “sen-SAY-shuh,” was coined to describe a sensual, wise woman who was in control of her sensuality. With the name in place, the team used social media and personal networks to promote the call for submissions, inviting potential authors to share creatively written, personal stories that could be submitted under an alias or anonymously.
The call for submissions was an opportunity to test whether women would be willing to communicate their personal experiences in a very public way. Stories steadily came in the weeks leading up to the submission deadline and they were selected based on the power to connect and the quality of writing. As such, not all submissions made the final selection process. Some stories carried the name of their authors but many were submitted with an accompanying pseudonym to protect the identities of the writers, and a few were even forwarded through third party individuals. While the identities of the authors in many cases have been protected, the anthology attracted submissions from countries throughout the Anglophone Caribbean spanning Jamaica to Guyana as well as Caribbean persons living abroad.
The stories reflect the diversity of experiences, both positive and negative, that mark the Caribbean women’s journeys and that have shaped who they are as sensual beings. The submission of these personal accounts were a testimony that women want to tell their stories, and some authors reported the feeling of relief at being able to share a part of their history that had never been told before. Between the pages of Senseisha are tales of love, lust, pain and pleasure, from the awkwardness of a girl’s first period to another’s challenges in embracing her sexuality and her religion. A major strength of the publication is the inclusion of a variety of voices and perspectives including those of heterosexual and lesbian women, and those of a wife and a “matey”. As an Amazon reader review noted, “These stories give a different picture of what it’s like to be a woman in the Caribbean, it’s not the romanticized version of the ads you see on your TV, it’s real life.” No two stories are the same yet what stands out are the common personal pursuits of self-knowledge, self-love and self-affirmation.
There is a popular saying that “those who tell the stories rule the world” and the response to the Senseisha anthology proved to be a tool for advocacy and one that has sparked discussion in formal and informal spaces. As Shivanee Ramlochan stated in her review of the publication for the Trinidad Guardian in January 2015, “Growing up in a Caribbean space means that you do as you are told. Those doing the telling are mothers, pastors, pushy boyfriends, pundits, and, of course, random men gracing our pavements and street corners. Senseisha […] returns that glare to the man on the street, and to everyone who seeks to navigate women’s sexual choices for them – including the oppressive matriarchal lineages of other women, themselves.” Indeed the topic of sexuality and what the term encompasses is one that is rarely fleshed out in sex education programmes for the youth, which promote mostly abstinence and/or condom use, but are limited on the topics of relationships, love, intimacy and sexual pleasure through the various stages of adulthood. Like many countries throughout the world, Caribbean women are expected to be the gatekeepers of sexual morality, subjected to the categorisation of either wife or whore. The Senseisha anthology provided the space for women to tell their own stories, in their own words, on their own terms.
Through reviews and interpersonal discussions, both male and female readers have spoken to the internal reflection that some or all of the accounts have sparked, along with conversations with friends and colleagues about the tales or themes that have had the most impact. To date there have been public readings in Barbados and Guyana in front of audiences of up to 300 people. Senseisha excerpts have also been used in sexuality education workshops to discuss often sensitive and controversial subjects like society’s perception around consent, male versus female sexuality, and the importance of sexual pleasure.
What started as a project to compile personal stories in less than a year has evolved into a much wider programme that sees the potential of greater public discourse around female sexuality within a Caribbean cultural context. The editorial team hopes to take Senseisha to all of the countries across the Caribbean and to the Caribbean diaspora through public readings, book clubs and sexuality workshops. There are also plans to produce a second edition in 2016 as a result of more writers expressing an interest to contribute and readers requesting more stories that reflect the Caribbean experience. In this way, the Senseisha project proudly adds to the current discussions and work on LGBT rights, achievement of gender equality, interest in sustaining loving relationships, and strategies for building healthier, more intimate sexual relationships.
Senseisha: Memoirs of the Caribbean Woman can be purchased in paperback and kindle format from Amazon.
