This story is featured in the July/August 2025, 55th anniversary issue of ESSENCE.
ESSENCE has long been attuned to what Black women want and need—especially when it comes to conversations about sex. As early as February 1978, in our On Love issue, we featured a thought-provoking quiz to help readers explore what sex meant to them.
In February 1980, the Here’s to Love issue included Rosemary L. Bray’s groundbreaking piece, “Orgasm: The Ultimate Pleasure.” This demystified the big O—and offered tips on stimulating the clitoris and trying new sexual positions. And in July 1993, Hattie Gossett’s “Sex at Any Age” boldly asserted that erotic desire has no age limit.
In addition to groundbreaking articles about sex and sexual wellness, we’ve had informational sex columns—educating our readers and inspiring them to think creatively, in the bedroom and beyond. Hilda Hutcherson, M.D.’s “Sexual Matters” column in the early aughts was one of these. And we would be remiss not to acknowledge our very own trailblazer in this space, the late Gwendolyn Goldsby Grant, Ph.D. Her “Between Us” column, which she penned for more than 25 years, allowed our readers to be open, transparent and vulnerable with their sex, intimacy and relationship questions.
Throughout the 1970s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s, ESSENCE remained committed to empowering conversations about sex, and that legacy continues today. When I launched our “Sex Talk” —now “Let’s Talk About Sex”—series online in 2023, the goal was to offer fresh, relevant and actionable advice that challenged norms and encouraged Black women to embrace their sexuality, unapologetically.
In the column, I’ve covered BDSM techniques, debunked “Soul Ties” myths, and explored how women can experience pleasure within relationships—and, more importantly, for themselves. This echoes the spirit of ESSENCE’s May 2001 Passion issue, which spotlighted Black women reclaiming sex and pleasure, with joy.
One standout piece from that issue—“Carnal Knowledge,” by Michelle Burford—encouraged spiritual women to find peace with their sexual selves. It included Prophetess Juanita Bynum’s testimony about overcoming sexual obsessions, ultimately highlighting the radical notion of God-given sexuality. This was a bold concept, especially for Christian Black women. It was a shift.
Shamyra Howard, a licensed clinical social worker, sexologist, therapist and ESSENCE subscriber, remembers that shift well. “As a longtime reader, I saw the 2001 Passion issue as a turning point,” she says. “It permitted us to explore the sensual and the sacred. Back then, ESSENCE tiptoed into sex with elegance and restraint. Now, we walk in boldly, with language that mirrors how Black women live and love today. We’re no longer asking for permission to talk about sex—we’re teaching the class.” It was also a sign of growth. “As someone who grew up flipping through ESSENCE with curiosity and reverence,” Howard says, “I’ve watched it evolve from quiet confidence to full-on sexual liberation. In the early 2000s, the conversations were careful. The Passion issue was revolutionary for its time, suggesting that Black women could enjoy sex, not just endure it. Back then, there were soft-focus articles on seduction, on how to keep your man satisfied or rekindle romance after kids. But even then, there was a whisper of something more radical underneath: a desire to center our voices, not just our partners’ needs.”
Over time, Howard says, the magazine’s tone shifted from performance-based intimacy to deeper, more authentic discussions about pleasure, healing and self-discovery. “By the 2010s, we started seeing language around sexual-trauma recovery, masturbation and sex positivity—terms that would’ve never made it past editors 20 years before,” she observes. “Black women like me were talking openly about kink, orgasms and the importance of body literacy. We weren’t being lectured to anymore. We were being seen.”
Sharon R. Boone, who served as the Senior Health & Features Editor from 2002 to 2004 and the Senior Health & Relationships Editor from 2012 to 2014, says former Editor-in-Chief Diane Weathers—who was at the helm from 2000 to 2005—deserves credit for shaking up the magazine’s sexual tone. “I felt like she was more open to not being so staid,” says Boone. “One piece I edited was about things women need to know about the sexual health of men in their lives. The title was ‘Master His Johnson’—and the ESSENCE that I grew up reading wasn’t quite as cheeky in that way.”
Boone remembers the magazine evolving even more during her second tenure, leaning into bolder, more adventurous sex coverage. “There is this push and pull from readers who want ESSENCE to present as the preeminent magazine for Black women,” she reflects. “It means so much to them. Quiet as it’s kept, people also want more sexual information—yet they’re like, ‘Not in my magazine that I read after church.’ But there is nothing wrong with information about improving your sex life. To me, there’s no disconnect between those two things.”
Today, Howard notes, ESSENCE is building on that early 2010s momentum by confidently centering Black women’s sexual autonomy. “You’ll find expert-led features on everything from lube for menopause to intimacy-enhancing toys and self-pleasure guides,” she says. “It’s not just about sex anymore. It’s about sexual wellness and reclaiming pleasure that belongs to us.”
“One of my favorite shifts has been the celebration and evolution of sexual wellness at the annual ESSENCE Festival of Culture,” Howard adds. At the 2024 event, for example, she saw the “Let’s Talk About Sex” activation at Wellness House, where women could privately consult with a sex expert about strengthening their relationship with pleasure. “We’re seeing sexuality as something expansive, and this evolution mirrors our collective growth,” she says. “We’ve gone from ‘How to please your man’ to ‘How to reconnect with your own body.’ ”
According to Nikki Coleman, a licensed psychologist and pleasure coach, Black women are more confidently owning their sexuality today, regardless of relationship status. “We’re increasingly thinking and talking about our sexuality not just as something granted through our relationships, but as an inherent part of our wholeness,” she says. “More and more, I see us stepping into a place of agency: learning about our bodies, getting curious about what pleases us and advocating for our needs to be met. We are naming that our pleasure matters.”
There’s still work to be done—especially in a society that shames women over their number of sexual partners, or “body count.” But Coleman believes we’re making strides as a community. “What’s especially powerful is that these conversations are happening earlier in women’s lives,” she says. “More Black women are starting therapy or coaching in their twenties, rather than waiting until their forties, because they want to live whole, pleasure-filled lives now. I see that we’re not willing to settle for less than pleasurable sex anymore.”
Candice Nicole Hargons, Ph.D., associate professor at Emory University and author of Good Sex: Stories, Science, and Strategies for Sexual Liberation, credits the 1970s for setting the stage. “Even though sex has often been considered a taboo topic, the 1970s saw a trend in open and revolutionary conversations about sexual wellness and liberation,” she notes. “ESSENCE was leading this work for a time in the 1970s, with [the late] Dr. June Dobbs Butts’s column ‘Our Sexual Health.’ ESSENCE has a long-standing history of publishing Black feminist work to mass audiences, even if it didn’t use that label. And talking about sex in healthy and meaningful ways is true Black feminism.”
As Black women, and as a magazine, we’re still actively rewriting the rules of desire—and grounding them in the truth that our pleasure is worthy and deserving. No shame; no apologies.
“Here’s the unconventional piece that’s not being said enough: Black women aren’t just evolving sexually—we’re leading the evolution,” Howard says. “We’re the therapists, the educators, the innovators, the influencers and the disruptors in the room. We are the blueprint for bold sexual liberation. The data is finally catching up to what we’ve always known intuitively: Our pleasure is not optional, it’s essential. We’ve come a long way and have a ways to go, but we’ve always had the fire. Now we’re just fanning the flames, with full permission. And ESSENCE is still in the mix.”