They Called Us Fast (TCUF): an erotic anthology

They Called Us Fast is a project born out of 3 core parts of my personality:

1. my desire to see Black people free;

2. a lifetime of experiences with misogynoir;

3. and a neverending obsession with all things erotic romance.
   

I started ruminating on it over half a decade ago (2019-ish) but never really went anywhere with the idea. It can be hard, as I'm sure you know, to find the energy and zealousness to pursue creative projects when life gets in the way.

In 2023, I was part of the DC class of New Leaders Council fellows, a requirement of which was to begin thinking about, planning, or implementing a capstone project. Mine was They Called Us Fast (TCUF): an erotic anthology and sister circle. For six months, NLC provided me the structure and support I needed to buckle down and at least start putting some ideas on paper. I am very, very pleased to say that I succeded! I put some ideas down on paper... And that's it.

Those ideas sat for over half a year in my Google Drive, waiting for me to turn back to them. In my defense, I did take some steps toward getting this project off the ground. I read a shitton of romance (duh!) and I asked my little sibling to borrow their college email so I could download articles about race, sex, and liberation off of JSTOR. (Shout out to you, Ama Baadu <3.) I read some of those articles and responded to them via essay and two discussion questions like a nerdy little undergraduate. I even redesigned the logo in a fit of inspiration caused by my spur-of-the-moment PTO request.

They Called Us Fast (2024)

And now, I'm sharing it with you.

TCUF is the name of an erotic anthology (which is currently a work in progress) and a sister circle for Black women and femmes. It is my attempt to engage with members of my community and talk about our lives as they relate to liberation, the erotic, and our pleasure. I know it all sounds very frou-frou, but really, I want to build a platform for Black women, femmes, and queer people to create and share multimedia erotic art with each other. And I also want to sit down with them, in the way of our foremothers, to talk about our lives. To theorize about the systems, circumstances, and relationships that impact us and our health.

Because I take Black feminist theory very seriously -- probably too seriously -- this project is both a passion project and also a means of engaging with Black feminist scholarship even though I have no intentions of acquiring any student debt. And I feel good about it because that is the foundation of Black feminism; it's in the lessons of our mothers and grandmothers, it's in the tidbits of gossip we share with each other; it's in our art and hair and clothes.

If you're interested in this project and want to join in, or even if you just want to offer kind words or advice -- please email us at info@theycalledusfast.com! In the meantime, check out the resources below for more information.