The Evolution of Keisha's Sexuality

The evolution of Keisha/Natalie’s sexuality is one aspect of her general quest to find her identity. The beginnings of the discussion of sexuality can be found in an interaction in grade school involving Keisha, Leah, and Nathan. Nathan asks the two girls “how many holes” they have in their crotch (203). The two girls later bond over the incident. After this encounter, Keisha begins to recognize her sexual ignorance, and she attempts (unsuccessfully) to acquire the answer to Nathan’s question from her sister (204). The next reference to sexuality occurs when Keisha is sixteen, when Leah gifts Keisha a vibrator (218). Through her use of the vibrator, Keisha learns about different methods of achieving a female orgasm, and she thus matures in her understanding of her own sexuality (222).

In the first two instances listed, Keisha’s relationship with Leah serves as the threshold to Keisha learning about her own sexuality. Following Keisha’s mother’s discovery of the vibrator, however, Keisha separates from Leah for a year and a half (224). This separation somewhat stunts the development of Keisha’s sexuality, as is reflected in Keisha’s relationship with Rodney. Keisha’s mother pushes her into a relationship with Rodney, and Keisha, though ambivalent, obliges (225-226). When she and Rodney begin to have sex, “it turned out to be a technical transition. She learned nothing new about Rodney’s body, or Rodney, only a lot of facts about condoms: their relative efficacy, the thickness of rubber, the right moment – the safest moment – to remove them afterward” (238). Keisha’s relationship with Rodney, in contrast to her experience with the vibrator, reflects a lack of sexual awareness. Keisha derives little pleasure and excitement from their sex life. Furthermore, while she learns about different types of orgasms while using the vibrator, she learns nothing at all (besides facts about condoms) from her experiences with Rodney.

Given the way in which their relationship bores Keisha, it is no surprise that Keisha soon leaves Rodney, and eventually begins a relationship with a man named Frank. Keisha meets Frank in a class both she and Rodney are taking. Not coincidentally, the first mention of Frank occurs during a class discussion of differing sexual practices: “In one country, virgins openly display their private parts while married women cover them. In another, male brothels exist. In yet another heavy golden rods are worn through the breasts and buttocks and after dinner men wipe their hands on their testicles” (241). The new information with which Keisha is presented, juxtaposed with her first encounter with Frank, indicates that Frank will help in furthering Keisha’s knowledge and understanding of her sexuality. Sure enough, when Frank and Keisha sleep together, the experience sharply contrasts that of Keisha’s experience with Rodney: “Frank’s silly, uncontrolled, unselfconscious, embarrassing storytelling found its purpose here in a bedroom” (262). In her relationship with Frank, Keisha is able to embrace her sexuality. She later describes Frank as having “honesty and sexual openness and beauty” (271). In both her sexual experiences with Frank as well as her assessment of Frank, Keisha’s sexuality matures. Keisha’s sexual maturity is not due to Frank’s skill, however; rather, her maturity is reflected through her active choice to pursue a relationship with a man with whom she is able to enjoy her sexuality.

Keisha’s sexual maturity culminates in the modernity of her approach to sexuality. She begins to regard what she sees as Frank’s “sexual perversity” as “old-fashioned,” as well as “messy, embarrassing, [and] impractical in this economy” (299). Her viewpoints are demonstrated when she sleeps with one of the boys in the Calvins. While this scene is admittedly strange, it displays a confident Keisha; she controls the situation by her own means in order to achieve an orgasm (351). This scene thus represents the height of Keisha’s knowledge about and control over her own sexuality.

I apologize that this analysis was lengthy, but I wanted to be able to discuss what I perceived to be the most crucial milestones in Keisha’s sexual development. Throughout her section of the novel, Keisha’s sexuality serves as a significant representation of her evolution as a character. The different sexual experiences she has are all diverse and distinct; in the same way, the different communities and identities Keisha identifies with and adopts are equally diverse and distinct. Therefore, Keisha’s sexual evolution is one facet of the overarching evolution of her identity and personality throughout the novel.