An intense analysis of the many factors that impact Black girlhood in urban environments. I found this book uniquely niche despite existing in three prominent families of sociological research (gender, class and African American studies). It’s the first and only research I’ve seen on the matter that approaches the issue with intimate nuance. Isolating the subject to sexual violence to a population outside of the bourgeoisie allows for more depth and specificity

Sexual violence in urban Black communities is ubiquitous and private, as it is in any other. However even in the public discourse, sexual abuse of Black girls is woefully underrepresented in mass media - R. Kelly’s multi-decade spree being the most prominent example. Because of this, the detail Miller reveals via interviews was my first time seeing these things written, let alone in print.

For that reason, I think this book is not only valuable for social scientists but also Black women who survived these specific normalizations of sexual abuse and developed gender identities in these environments.

it took me a long time to read this book, because it is written as a study for parties whom it frightens me to wonder. i would recommend this book because it is familiar to drill subject matter that one is already familiar with but at times it was difficult to dissociate realizing this was written as a study for legal scholars to whom the nuances of these issues are probably entirely alien. when i got over how depressing the general subject matter is, relayed through transcribed interviews of black youth in a continuing education program in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood of St. Louis, i started wondering about all this which would be particularly triggering for a lot of folks i know, and wondering what was this white woman's investment in it. her suggestions towards this end manages to act as if queerness doesn't exist, plus she presents a holistic solution which would include neighborhood improvements while stabilizing housing as a way to foster community. my experience has been that neighborhood improvements tend to operate as mutually exclusive from stabilized housing, particularly in areas with very high real estate speculation. this book must be read with lots of the appropriate political context and with a grain of salt.

I greatly appreciate the analysis in this book and that it gives recommendations how to treat the issues it examines!