Challenging Norms: Staceyann Chin's Critique of Racism and Sexuality in Crossfire: A Litany for Survival

This paper intends to explore the intersections of racism and sexuality in Staceyann Chin's Crossfire: A Litany for Survival (2019), examining how her poetry reflects the intricate ways these identities overlap and shape marginalised experiences. As a Jamaican-Chinese lesbian, Chin's work provides a poignant narrative of living at the intersections of race, gender, and sexual orientation, engaging with both the external forces of discrimination and the internal struggles of identity formation. The article analyses how Chin addresses racism within both mainstream society and the LGBTQ+ community, emphasising the double marginalisation faced by Black queer women. Her poetry critiques the exoticism and othering of her body, which serves as a site of racial and sexual projection, objectification, and erasure.

Keywords: Intersectionality, Racism, Sexuality, Black queer women, Exoticism, Double marginalization