Rape functioned as a tool of control and manipulation on plantations.

Evidence

In confronting the black woman as adversary in a sexual contest, the master would be subjecting her to the most elemental form of terrorism distinctly suited for the female: rape. Given the already terroristic texture of plantation life, it would be as potential victim of rape that the slave woman would be most unguarded. Further, she might be most conveniently manipulated if the master contrived a random system of sorts, forcing her to pay with her body for foods, diminished severity of treatment, the safety of her children, etc. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 79

Categorization

• DEFINE: Frames rape as a distinct ‘elemental form of terrorism’ suited for the female — a foundational concept in hooks’s analysis.
• XREF: connects to: Slave plantations operated through ongoing negotiation, not one-way coercion

Related

• Rape of enslaved women functioned as institutionalized terrorism, not lust (similarity 0.83)
• Rape of black women was not a crime under slavery law (similarity 0.81)
• Historians have normalized and minimized the rape of enslaved black women. (similarity 0.79)
• Rape of black women was ignored because they were seen as sexually permissive (similarity 0.79)
• Rape of enslaved black women devalued black womanhood beyond slavery’s end. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Slave plantations operated through ongoing negotiation, not one-way coercion #complicates (0.50)