What's Sex Got to do with it Anyway? Race, Sex, and Gender in the Black Panther Party

Abstract

This paper analyzes how members of the Black Panther Party represented themselves as men and women in their newspaper--The Black Panther. I analyze a sample of issues from 1967-1971 to understand gender dynamics within the Party and ask how the newspaper framed gender and sexuality on both individual and societal levels. I employ the concept of controlling images to understand better how these representations are both constructed and contested by members of the Party. I examine assumptions in previous scholarship that present the Panthers' framing of gender and sexuality in dichotomous terms and argue for a more nuanced understanding of gender and sexuality in the Black Panther Party. I find that the Panthers both embraced and contested hegemonic notions of sexuality, gender roles, and gender relations.