Breaking Barriers: Exploring the Intricate Impact of Sex and Sexuality on
Women’s Identity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Times.
The opening section of this essay highlights the crucial importance of
comprehending the intricate interplay between sex and sexuality in the lives of
women in colonial and post-colonial societies, which this essay will further
explore in subsequent sections. It argues that sexual assault, rape, and forced
marriage were employed as powerful tactics for White racial dominance
throughout American history, serving as a deliberate strategy employed by
those in power to maintain their dominance over those who were
marginalised. The section highlights how enslaved women used sex to resist
oppression, generating a distorted view of their experiences that reinforced
their objectification. It contends that understanding the complex experiences
of women in colonial and post-colonial societies demands acknowledging the
relationship between sexual desire and power dynamics. The essay
subsequently delves into the Negritude movement, its criticisms, as well as
works on identity by Paul Gilroy and W.E.B. Du Bois to comprehensively
explore the Black female experience in relation to colonialism and slavery.
The final section discusses the commodification and hyper-sexualisation of
the female body, which has continuously been a source of contention in the
debate surrounding gender and sexuality. It is critical to emphasise that the
use of the term ‘Black’ as a homogeneous group in this essay may
be disputed. This approach ignores the diversity of experiences within the
black community. However, given the scope of this essay, it is essential to
recognise that it requires more thorough research. Future study should
consider the varying experiences of different demographics within the black
community, such as African American, African-Caribbean, and Black-British
people, as well as different ethnicities within these groups. In conclusion, this
essay argues for a more nuanced understanding of women's experiences in
colonial and post-colonial societies, particularly at the intersections of sex,
sexuality, race, and power. This viewpoint necessitates an examination of
how sexual violence has been utilised as an oppressive method while, as well
as an acknowledgement of women's agency and resistance in face of their
oppressor.
,RECLAIMING IDENTITY: HOW ENSLAVED WOMEN USED SEX TO
RESIST OPPRESSION
The utilisation of sex by enslaved women as an expression of resistance
highlights a dimension of history that is frequently overlooked in discussions
of slavery, which generally concentrates on physical oppression and violence
against Black women. There is profound silence in scholarly discourse,
including feminist writing, in addition to public discussions about Black
women's subjective sexual encounters. Sexual oppression includes not just
the well-documented occurrence of forced sexual intercourse with White
masters, but also exploitation caused by the very structure of the female
biological system in conjunction with the patriarchal framework beneath which
they operate.1 Hine's observations in White's ‘Ar’n't I A Woman?’ on how the
patriarchal perception of family and motherhood reaffirmed itself in the
everyday lives of enslaved women and how it impacted their capacity to resist
oppression are noteworthy as they highlight the interplay of both race and
gender in the daily lives of Black female slaves.2 The perpetuation of
patriarchal notions of family and motherhood is critical since it illustrates how
different forms of inequality shaped women's oppressive experiences.
It is important to highlight the role of sexual violence and compulsion in the
perpetuation of slavery, while also noting that enslaved women did use sex to
establish their own fight against exploitation. 3 This is substantiated by Alexis
Wells-Oghoghomeh's account of the restricted choices accessible to enslaved
women on the Butler plantation, which demonstrates how women routinely
had to comply with sexual demands from powerful men in order to circumvent
the brutalities of slavery.4 For these women, these acts were defined by the
reduction of suffering and the greater likelihood of survival, as opposed to
a Christian-based idea of sexual morality.5 Sophy, a Butler plantation
1
Darlene Hine, ‘Female Slave Resistance: The Economics of Sex’ (1979) 3(2) WJBS, 123.
2
Darlene Clark Hine, ‘Ar’n’t I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South— Twenty Years After’ (2007) 92 JAAH, 13.
3
Saidiya V Hartman, ‘Seduction and the Ruses of Power’ (1996) 19 Callaloo, 537.
4
Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh, ‘The souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South’ (2021)
UNCP, 86.
5
ibid.
, bondwoman, displayed enslaved women's morals in its stark realism. 6 This is
evidenced in her decision to assume a sexually compliant
stance, surrendering access to her reproductive body for an alleviation from
the daily atrocities of captivity as well as some power over the individual who
demanded access to her.7 This underlines the importance of power dynamics
in determining the sexual experiences of enslaved women. Sophy's
interaction with her abuser, for example, was an exploitation of power as he
sexually forced her during her exile in the Five Pound Swamp.8 This power
dynamic, as explored in Deborah White's 'Ar’en't I A Woman?’, reinforced a
patriarchal image of family and motherhood and constrained the autonomy of
Black female slaves in their daily lives.9 As a result, research on the use of
sex as a form of resistance by enslaved women is critical to understanding
their experiences and battle against oppression.
'Closer to Freedom,' by Camp, is a significant addition to the current debate
over slavery and resistance as it gives a comprehensive account of how
enslaved women resisted oppression by using daily acts of innovation as well
as through the cultivation of positive feminine self-identity.10 Camp's notion of
the three bodies of antebellum bond people emphasises how the constraining
nature of slavery made sexual pleasure a social and political currency, putting
ordinary acts of humanity like sex into the sphere of resistance. 11 Enslaved
people were able to cope with the hardships of servitude and strive for
societal balance by embracing sexual pleasure. The assertion of sexual
freedom and indulgence of pleasurable impulses gave chances for a variety of
society-sanctioned sexual relationships in addition to an improved overall
quality of life.12 It is critical to emphasise that it is difficult to tell how much
women considered their sexual behaviours to be resistance, yet it is evident
that nonprocreative sex operated as a form of challenging sexual assault. 13
6
ibid.
7
ibid.
8
ibid.
9
Deborah G White, Ar’n’t I a Woman? : Female Slaves in the Plantation South (WW Norton, 1985).
10
Angela Boswell and Stephanie MH Camp, ‘Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation
South’ (2005) 64 AHQ, 326.
11
ibid.
12
Alexis n(4), 127.
13
ibid.
