Abolitionist ‘prostitution’ language reinforced the myth of Black female wantonness

Evidence

It was difficult for abolitionists to discuss the rape of black women for fear of offending audiences, so they concentrated on the theme of prostitution. But the use of the word prostitution to describe mass sexual exploitation of enslaved black women by white men not only deflected attention away from the prevalence of forced sexual assault, it lent further credibility to the myth that black females were inherently wanton and therefore responsible for rape. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 101

Categorization

• QUESTION: Invites further research into how abolitionist discourse inadvertently reinforced sexist stereotypes of Black women.
• XREF: connects to: Calling enslaved Black women prostitutes misdescribed their coerced sexual exploitation — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 99; Enslaved people also absorbed the view of women as temptresses — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 112; Decriminalization of drugs and sex work advances abolitionist decarceration — Davis, Angela Y, Are Prisons Obsolete, 291 (+2 more)

Related

• White abolitionists opposed interracial sex to save white men’s souls, not black women (similarity 0.89)
• Calling enslaved Black women prostitutes misdescribed their coerced sexual exploitation (similarity 0.88)
• Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive (similarity 0.84)
• Enslaved people also absorbed the view of women as temptresses (similarity 0.84)
• Abolitionists who condemned rape still blamed enslaved women as accomplices. (similarity 0.83)
• Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution (similarity 0.82)
• Nineteenth-century sexual morality taught mistresses to blame enslaved women for rape (similarity 0.82)
• Historians have normalized and minimized the rape of enslaved black women. (similarity 0.81)
• Slave parents rarely prepared daughters for the reality of sexual exploitation (similarity 0.80)
• Enslaved women were no more sexually liberated than white women. (similarity 0.79)
• Black women bore the brunt of slave-ship terror because they could not retaliate (similarity 0.79)
• Rape of enslaved black women devalued black womanhood beyond slavery’s end. (similarity 0.79)
• The cult of true womanhood demoralized enslaved women and enabled manipulation (similarity 0.79)
• Sexual exploitation of black women continued and was institutionalized after slavery. (similarity 0.79)
• Sexual exploitation dehumanized black women more than labor exploitation did (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Calling enslaved Black women prostitutes misdescribed their coerced sexual exploitation #expands (0.85) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 99
• Enslaved people also absorbed the view of women as temptresses #corroborates (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 112