Medieval sexual slanders against one man were generalized to all Muslims and persist today

Evidence

The mythology that Prophet Muhammad was a pervert, expressed in the claims that he planned to rape the Virgin Mary in heaven and had unending supplies of semen, is an important part of the story of Muslim monsters. Originally identified with Prophet Muhammad, these fantasies were eventually attached to all Muslim men and they stuck. Today, Muslim men are often depicted as rapists and pedophiles, characterizations rooted in the Middle Ages. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 129

Categorization

• QUESTION: The chain from individual to collective monster specifically — what transmits a single-figure fantasy onto a whole race in imagination?
• SEED: Essay tracing the ‘rapist/pedophile’ modern stereotype directly back to these medieval libels — strong throughline.