ALL ABOUT SEX: SLAVERY AND SEXUALITY
One of the ways that the institution of slavery was maintained was to enforce sexual norms for slaves that were different from those of the dominant culture. Independent and proud people had been stolen from their homes and sold into slavery. Slave owners had to do something to keep them from becoming defiant and rebellious. The strategy they decided upon was to treat these human beings as though they were animals in order to make them docile.
The sexuality of slaves was systematically violated. They were not allowed to marry or maintain love relationships. They were not allowed to wear underwear. Boys were not allowed to wear trousers until they were fully grown; both genders wore gender neutral “shimmies.”
In the effort to dehumanize them, slaves were forced to breed like cattle regardless of affection or pleasure. They were used for sexual pleasure by their owners. They were forced to share loved ones with their masters. They were paraded naked and publicly inspected in slave markets. They were kept from knowing their birthdays. They were kept ignorant of their parentage. Children were forced to eat their meals from troughs and accept sexual abuse from their owners. Slaves who refused to submit to these norms were beaten, killed, or sold.
Damaging sexual myths and stereotypes were developed to absolve “masters” of their roles in degrading the women and men they owned. Black women, whose sex lives were forced upon them, were considered sexually permissive. White women, often ignored by slave owners, were depicted as sexually virtuous, pure, and chaste. After the repeal of slavery, black men were characterized as sexual predators by white property owners who feared reprisals for the centuries of mistreatment black people had experienced.
These sexual stereotypes pushed black women into relationships they didn’t want, forced many white women to be chaste despite their real desires, and made black men the objects of fear and suspicion.
There were exceptions, of course. Some plantation owners were more humane than others. In general, however, slaves were deprived of their basic human rights, including their sexual rights, for more than 200 years. It is a tribute to them, their descendants, and the valor of the human spirit that African-Americans have come so far from the horrors of that heritage. They, too, face great challenges, as they try to restore and revive their pre-slavery cultural heritage.
*28/155/5*
