In the Company of My Sisters

Black women are exposed to ``distorted messages about our ethnicity and our femaleness,'' notes Boyd, a Seattle psychotherapist. To countermand these messages, she offers this affectionate mix of feminist analysis, pop psychology and sisterly wisdom written in a colloquial style and interspersed with anecdotes and questions drawn from her ``sister circle'' support group of friends. ``Our basic teaching tells us that thinking and doing for ourselves is `selfish','' observes Boyd, who recommends ``self-care''--a perspective that balances between selfishness and selflessness. Testing community taboos, she writes positively of masturbation, as well as of interracial relationships. She criticizes what, in her view, is black women's disrespect for one other as ``an act of self-hatred,'' and suggests they extend themselves through volunteer projects and even by simply greeting each other on the street. Black women writers, she observes, can help provide new images of competence and she offers a brief reading list. Healing the black woman's self-image must, Boyd stresses, be both an individual and collective act. (Nov.)