Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women by E. Patrick Johnson (review)

We speak our truth to you today, tomorrow, and always. You have listened with an open heart. You have listened with an open mind. You have listened. Remember that these are not your stories. Remember that these are your stories. Both/and. Neither/nor. Remember.

—Miss B (218)

This quote speaks of everything E. Patrick Johnson's book is based on. The narrator chosen as the keeper of these women's stories. For so many Black women, including myself, we feel our voices are often muted, silenced, and dismissed as not having anything of value to contribute. Add to this a layer of queerness, and our voices are most of the time nonexistent. Not because they do not exist, but because homophobia is prevalent in the Black community, our voices are dismissed not only by others, but also by the very community we claim as our own. Honeypot gives queer Black women a place to have our voices not only heard but appreciated. The following book review provides a summary of the argument the book makes, information about the author, a summary of the contents, and the strength and weakness of the book.

E. Patrick Johnson wants to provide a space that gives validation to the voices of Black women who love women in the South. He does this in a way that traditionally he has done in academic contexts, but this time he intertwines the truth of their narratives with fiction. Johnson states: "I was challenged to think differently about false distinctions we make about myth and truth, since many of us—and especially those who are marginalized—are constantly compelled to prove the validity of our experiences or the stories we tell about them. And, in any event, myth, lore, and story create the foundation of what maintains a culture's past, present, and future, and African American culture is not exception—and in this instance, black southern women who love women aren't either" (xv).

Johnson provides a space free from the restrictions of academic writing to give space to Black women in the South who love Black women in a way that is authentic, beautiful, and messy. This creative piece draws from many of the African oral traditions of proverbs and stories where there is a narrator, trickster, characters, and at the end there is a lesson learned.

Dr. E. Patrick Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University.¹ He is a prolific writer and performer. Some of his most famous works include Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South—An Oral History and Performance and the Politics of Authenticity. He teaches courses in African American studies, performance studies, and sexuality studies. After writing Sweet Tea it only seemed fitting that he would also give space and a voice to Black women who love Black women in the South narratives, a companion to Sweet Tea.

Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women starts out in Chicago, with E. Patrick Johnson kidnapped by a Black woman named Miss B. He is hesitant and at points combative about how he began on this journey without warning or knowledge of what he would have to do. She takes him on a journey to the South sometimes magically appearing in different states and sometimes driving in a fully loaded black Lexus sedan. Miss B tells him that his task is to listen and collect the stories of her people. They visit many places in the South. They go to a funeral home, they go to women's houses, they visit a Blues club called Sippi-Citi, where the women sing their narratives as Blues songs. They travel to a vast field of wildflowers and to a performance space where there are activists and artists that "dialogue about art and politics" (133). They also travel to a diner called the Honeychild, and, most...