Down Low Sistahs by Wakiem Freeman

Publisher/Date:  Apricot Books International, Feb. 2008
Genre(s):  Contemporary Fiction, Bisexual
Pages:  224

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

If you pick up DOWN LOW SISTAHS, here’s a warning: Read at your own risk.

Urban author Wakiem Freeman’s tale of sistahs gone wild is blunt in its approach, to the point that it might offend the delicate black lesbian reader. The eye-opening plot centers around a dude named Nicor, who can’t seem to find a straight sistah to save his life. He tells the story in the most graphic fashion, his exploits downright dirty.

How it all begins is with the surprise his girlfriend Tamar drops on his 25th birthday: she has a girlfriend. This comes after dating him for six months and seeing future with the tall beauty. While he imagined they’d be married and having babies, she was slipping out her female lover. Nicor is incensed, hating the fact he was played like a fiddle.

Nicor is determined to find an honest woman with no lesbian tendencies. Instead he runs into female after female with a scandalous past of licking the cat. Either they’re straight forward with it (no pun intended) or play it off by claiming “that’s just my cousin.” Nicor gets fed up with lies and decides to expose these down low sistahs for what they are. He’s tired of men getting browbeaten about having DL inclinations, when women are out here wilin’ out.

His revenge occurs when Nicor writes a song about these women and catches superstar media attention. It all comes together for the befuddled brotha – until Tamar attempts to re-enter his life.

Freeman, to his credit, does give a candid male perspective to women living double lives, unbeknownst to their male partners. This behavior does happen, but is it possible that every woman he dates has a female lover? What I also didn’t care for was the explicit sex scenes Nicor had with different (read: a lot) women that didn’t add much value to the story. It offended me that he can denounce down low sistahs for their callousness, but he could sleep with woman after woman with little regard. The disrespect surely goes both ways.

The author does grab your attention – even if it’s the wrong kind.

Reviewed May 2008