Devaluation of black womanhood licensed exploitation and prostitution

Evidence

Once slavery ended and whites declared that no black woman regardless of her class status or skin color could ever be a “lady,” it was no longer socially acceptable for a white man to have a black mistress. Instead, the institutionalized devaluation of black womanhood encouraged all white men to regard black females as whores or prostitutes. Lower class white men, who had had little sexual contact with black women during slavery, were encouraged to believe they were entitled to access to the bodies of black women. In large cities their lust for black female sex objects led to the formation of numerous houses of prostitution which supplied black bodies to meet the growing demands of white men. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 195

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Bribery framing absolved slaveowners while making female submission appear consensual — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 73; Calling enslaved Black women prostitutes misdescribed their coerced sexual exploitation — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 99; Rape of black women was not a crime under slavery law — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 108 (+16 more)

Related

• Sexual exploitation of black women continued and was institutionalized after slavery. (similarity 0.91)
• Calling enslaved Black women prostitutes misdescribed their coerced sexual exploitation (similarity 0.90)
• Bribery framing absolved slaveowners while making female submission appear consensual (similarity 0.89)
• Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive (similarity 0.88)
• Sexual exploitation dehumanized black women more than labor exploitation did (similarity 0.88)
• The cult of true womanhood demoralized enslaved women and enabled manipulation (similarity 0.86)
• Devaluation of black women was a deliberate method of social control (similarity 0.86)
• Rape of enslaved black women devalued black womanhood beyond slavery’s end. (similarity 0.86)
• Labeling black women as sexual savages enabled their rapes by denying their humanity. (similarity 0.86)
• Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience (similarity 0.85)
• Historians have normalized and minimized the rape of enslaved black women. (similarity 0.84)
• Black women’s exploitation is better described as masculinization than black men’s de-masculinization. (similarity 0.84)
• Black women suffered quadruple exploitation as laborers, domestic workers, breeders, and rape targets (similarity 0.84)
• Rape of black women was not a crime under slavery law (similarity 0.84)
• White mistresses often punished rather than protected sexually exploited slave women (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Sexual exploitation dehumanized black women more than labor exploitation did #expands (0.70)
• Devaluation of black women was a deliberate method of social control #expands (0.70) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 191
• Black women suffered quadruple exploitation as laborers, domestic workers, breeders, and rape targets #expands (0.70)
• Sexism and racism were twin oppressive forces in black women’s slave experience #corroborates (0.70)
• Nineteenth-century black women endured double enslavement by race and sex #corroborates (0.65)