White Masculinity and Sexual Violence against Enslaved Black Women: An Exploration of the Incentives

• In Event: The Violation and Defense of Rule of Law Across Time

Abstract

This study investigates sexual violence by white men against enslaved black women during the antebellum period in the United States. Using original documents including diaries, letters, and Works Progress Administration slave narratives, the incentives for white men to engage in sexual violence of enslaved black women were analyzed. Findings demonstrate the importance of racialized and gendered norms, such as the expectation of losing virginity, preserving white female purity, and engaging in rape as a recreational activity, to be important incentives for white men to carry out sexual violence against enslaved black women. Moreover, the transmission of these norms from white parents to their white sons during slavery is evident in these data sources. Because this dimension of white masculinity was transferred intergenerationally, some of these notions may persist into the present day in modified forms, continuing to play a role in the relationship between white masculinity and sexual violence today.

Author

• Rachel Feinstein, Carthage College