Sexuality Studies
Cassie Pane
Sexuality in America
Paper One
Slaves and Sexuality
The issue of slavery in America is a vastly documented phenomenon that captivates the interest of nearly everyone with a slight interest in history. It is a dark and fascinating subject yet still an overlooked part of our young nation’s history. Though there are countless books and articles written on the topic, few provide such compelling and brutally truthful accounts of the hardships endured by slaves as Harriett Jacobs in Incidents of a Slave Girl. Within this novel, she attempts to describe her situation under the laws dictating her life as a slave. She writes as to persuade the reader not to judge her as she tells them all she has bared in her life. As a young girl when she became a slave, she was subject to harassment, particularly by sexual means, more so than her male equals. Through the course of her book, Jacobs describes her predicament and attempts to survive and surpass it.
In her early years working for her new masters, the Flints, Jacobs finds herself in a strictly controlled environment similar to the horrors thousands endured in slavery. However, her case is unique in the sense that her master Dr. Flint attempted to control not only her whereabouts and routines, but her sexual behavior as well. Unlike other abusers during this period, he does not make an effort to take sexual pleasures by force but rather attempts to coerce Jacobs to his will. Now, given the timeframe in which Jacobs is writing, such a topic as sex or rape was far too scandalous to be published. Many denied the validity of the writing and brushed it off as fiction; their belief being that such atrocities could not exist so close to home with no one taking action. However, in Jacobs’s circumstance, it was easy for the harassment to go ignored. Her master was a respected member of the community, a doctor no less. No one would challenge his honor and standing in society. Such a noble man could
not be guilty of such shocking and shameful behavior. At least, not to the white folk. In their eyes he was a man with whom you could enjoy friendly conversation with on the side of the city streets. But for those belonging to another skin, he was a man to be avoided. Particularly if you were a woman.
Dr. Flint made sure Jacobs was never punished physically, though it would have brought much joy to his wife. This favoring treatment is rare in master and slave relationships, as many were not shy about public whippings. In this respect, Jacobs being a woman allowed her to escape part of the hardships her brother John endured—physical abuse. He had “said he did not mind the smart of the whip, but he did not like the idea of being whipped” (43). Public humiliation was felt as a loss of masculinity to male slaves. In being tortured and made weak by their masters, they lost a part of their identity as a man. It was a symbol of powerlessness they endured that cost them a sense of self. In contrast to the challenges of masculinity, women were not exempt from abuse. It simply took a different form. Rape. According to law, black women could not be raped as they were considered property. And property is always sexually available. Jacobs herself never claims to be raped by her master, due to the fact he tried coercing her rather than force. Escaping sexual abuse was a success on Jacobs part, but it ultimately cost her something women of all colors prided themselves on at the time: her moral purity.
Though her work was not popularized whist she was alive, it would later be regarded as one of the greater accounts of slave history; especially considering her effective uses of portraying herself as a vulnerable woman similar to her audience in terms of morality. She begins to divulge the intimate details of her private life. She is not proud of all her decisions, and does indeed show some signs of regret between the lines of her words, but she remains honest. Giving anyone willing to read the means to understand her hopes to be free from Dr. Flint and the misery he wrought. His intentions were at first easy to ignore; whispering vulgar things in Jacobs’s young ears. She described his whispering as “words that scathed the ears and brain like fire” – clearly showing her discomfort in the scenario, especially considering she was fifteen years young when it all began (42). At first, such notions were easily ignored; but a man such as this would not bode well being ignored long. He then becomes increasingly possessive of her. When she had fallen in love with a gentleman who offered to buy her, he continually states that she is his daughters’ property and therefore he cannot sell her, no matter the prices offered. This was Jacobs’s first attempt at freedom: love and marriage. However, this notion proved useless for he would not sell her. It seems he enjoyed tormenting her thoughts and feelings of safety. He “would be at every turn, reminding (her) that (she) belonged to him, and (swore) that he would compel (her) to submit to him” (53). This kind of constant control on her thoughts was degrading and discomforting to her pure motifs. His presence followed her wherever she went and his endless efforts to seduce her drover her thoughts towards escaping in some other form, a more drastic one.
She chooses a suitor for her next endeavor carefully. He was a respectable man with a decent job who could care for her; he goes by the name Mr. Sanders in her narrative. She then becomes pregnant by choice, giving up her virtuous ideals in hopes for a chance at freedom. She tells her readers that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free woman, though their beliefs are the same. As birth status controls the fate of their decisions. She was obviously distraught by ruining her social standing as a morally pure woman by saying “my self-respect is gone! I had resolved that I would be virtuous, though I was a slave” (81). Such regret is evidence that women were held to higher morality standards than men, and such morals were tied to their self-esteem and respect. The sexual history of women—particularly in terms of virginity—were what made her morally pure. It was not so concerned with the goodness a woman possessed in her heart but rather her movements between the sheets.
In becoming pregnant, Jacobs’s belief was that Dr. Flint would be less interested in keeping her if she was no longer pure for him. Her efforts were in vain. Indeed her scandalous and rebellious action led him to become infuriated and then even more controlling of her. She was not allowed out to meet with any man, or leave without prior permission. He then moved her to work in his plantation, which had much harsher labor than what she was accustomed to. She was constantly reminded by him that she was his property, and was useless aside from that. Dr. Flint would visit her on his plantation to remind her how much she had lowered herself, but she would cry in thinking “(she) was no longer worthy of being respected by the good and pure (…and that) There was no prospect of leasing a better life” (100). This shows that not only were women’s virginity status’ central to their morality, but also their future success. The guilt Jacobs carried in her actions would follow her the rest of her life—she would always believe herself impure and unworthy as a result of her drastic actions in pursuit of freedom.
Jacobs would have another child, this time a daughter, and as consequence she would enrage Dr. Flint further. But her plans for freedom never changed. She longed for a change in her circumstance and decides to “run away”. This choice was by no means simple; after all she would be risking her children and her lives. But the urge for freedom won her over and she began to plot her method. She was still unwilling to succumb to Dr. Flint’s wishes and therefore began to develop an ingenious plan to relieve herself from him forever. Knowing it would be impossible to make it North with two children, she hides in the attic of her grandmother hoping Dr. Flint would believe she had fled successfully. Her efforts go to extreme lengths to avoid and evade Dr. Flints impure advances: she would spend seven years trapped in the attic, becoming more and more physically drained as time went by. Jacobs’s would succeed when she travelled to the North by boat, but Dr. Flint did not cease to search for her despite her long absence. Eventually she is captured again and resold into slavery by Emily Flint. This time, however, she was sold into much better conditions than she spent the majority of her life in. She writes the book as the servant of Mrs. Bruce, to whom she seems to display positive feelings for.
Within the short and dramatic pages of her accounts, the story of her life unveils compelling knowledge of the slave life in regards to women cursed with promiscuous or overtly controlling masters. Jacob’s attempts at freedom were all well thought out plans, good tries at regaining her freedom over her body and decisions. However, they were mostly deemed null and void at the end of her life. Though she did manage to escape the horrors she faced whilst living under the Flint’s roof, she remained a slave until the end of her tellings. Overall, she managed to accomplish only her most pressing goal: escape the advances of Dr. Flint. In the end, it was all for naught in terms of freedom. She never fully experienced what it was to live as a free woman. To that end, she was unsuccessful, though her story and efforts are nothing short of remarkable.
Sexuality in America
Paper One
Slaves and Sexuality
The issue of slavery in America is a vastly documented phenomenon that captivates the interest of nearly everyone with a slight interest in history. It is a dark and fascinating subject yet still an overlooked part of our young nation’s history. Though there are countless books and articles written on the topic, few provide such compelling and brutally truthful accounts of the hardships endured by slaves as Harriett Jacobs in Incidents of a Slave Girl. Within this novel, she attempts to describe her situation under the laws dictating her life as a slave. She writes as to persuade the reader not to judge her as she tells them all she has bared in her life. As a young girl when she became a slave, she was subject to harassment, particularly by sexual means, more so than her male equals. Through the course of her book, Jacobs describes her predicament and attempts to survive and surpass it.
In her early years working for her new masters, the Flints, Jacobs finds herself in a strictly controlled environment similar to the horrors thousands endured in slavery. However, her case is unique in the sense that her master Dr. Flint attempted to control not only her whereabouts and routines, but her sexual behavior as well. Unlike other abusers during this period, he does not make an effort to take sexual pleasures by force but rather attempts to coerce Jacobs to his will. Now, given the timeframe in which Jacobs is writing, such a topic as sex or rape was far too scandalous to be published. Many denied the validity of the writing and brushed it off as fiction; their belief being that such atrocities could not exist so close to home with no one taking action. However, in Jacobs’s circumstance, it was easy for the harassment to go ignored. Her master was a respected member of the community, a doctor no less. No one would challenge his honor and standing in society. Such a noble man could
not be guilty of such shocking and shameful behavior. At least, not to the white folk. In their eyes he was a man with whom you could enjoy friendly conversation with on the side of the city streets. But for those belonging to another skin, he was a man to be avoided. Particularly if you were a woman.
Dr. Flint made sure Jacobs was never punished physically, though it would have brought much joy to his wife. This favoring treatment is rare in master and slave relationships, as many were not shy about public whippings. In this respect, Jacobs being a woman allowed her to escape part of the hardships her brother John endured—physical abuse. He had “said he did not mind the smart of the whip, but he did not like the idea of being whipped” (43). Public humiliation was felt as a loss of masculinity to male slaves. In being tortured and made weak by their masters, they lost a part of their identity as a man. It was a symbol of powerlessness they endured that cost them a sense of self. In contrast to the challenges of masculinity, women were not exempt from abuse. It simply took a different form. Rape. According to law, black women could not be raped as they were considered property. And property is always sexually available. Jacobs herself never claims to be raped by her master, due to the fact he tried coercing her rather than force. Escaping sexual abuse was a success on Jacobs part, but it ultimately cost her something women of all colors prided themselves on at the time: her moral purity.
Though her work was not popularized whist she was alive, it would later be regarded as one of the greater accounts of slave history; especially considering her effective uses of portraying herself as a vulnerable woman similar to her audience in terms of morality. She begins to divulge the intimate details of her private life. She is not proud of all her decisions, and does indeed show some signs of regret between the lines of her words, but she remains honest. Giving anyone willing to read the means to understand her hopes to be free from Dr. Flint and the misery he wrought. His intentions were at first easy to ignore; whispering vulgar things in Jacobs’s young ears. She described his whispering as “words that scathed the ears and brain like fire” – clearly showing her discomfort in the scenario, especially considering she was fifteen years young when it all began (42). At first, such notions were easily ignored; but a man such as this would not bode well being ignored long. He then becomes increasingly possessive of her. When she had fallen in love with a gentleman who offered to buy her, he continually states that she is his daughters’ property and therefore he cannot sell her, no matter the prices offered. This was Jacobs’s first attempt at freedom: love and marriage. However, this notion proved useless for he would not sell her. It seems he enjoyed tormenting her thoughts and feelings of safety. He “would be at every turn, reminding (her) that (she) belonged to him, and (swore) that he would compel (her) to submit to him” (53). This kind of constant control on her thoughts was degrading and discomforting to her pure motifs. His presence followed her wherever she went and his endless efforts to seduce her drover her thoughts towards escaping in some other form, a more drastic one.
She chooses a suitor for her next endeavor carefully. He was a respectable man with a decent job who could care for her; he goes by the name Mr. Sanders in her narrative. She then becomes pregnant by choice, giving up her virtuous ideals in hopes for a chance at freedom. She tells her readers that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free woman, though their beliefs are the same. As birth status controls the fate of their decisions. She was obviously distraught by ruining her social standing as a morally pure woman by saying “my self-respect is gone! I had resolved that I would be virtuous, though I was a slave” (81). Such regret is evidence that women were held to higher morality standards than men, and such morals were tied to their self-esteem and respect. The sexual history of women—particularly in terms of virginity—were what made her morally pure. It was not so concerned with the goodness a woman possessed in her heart but rather her movements between the sheets.
In becoming pregnant, Jacobs’s belief was that Dr. Flint would be less interested in keeping her if she was no longer pure for him. Her efforts were in vain. Indeed her scandalous and rebellious action led him to become infuriated and then even more controlling of her. She was not allowed out to meet with any man, or leave without prior permission. He then moved her to work in his plantation, which had much harsher labor than what she was accustomed to. She was constantly reminded by him that she was his property, and was useless aside from that. Dr. Flint would visit her on his plantation to remind her how much she had lowered herself, but she would cry in thinking “(she) was no longer worthy of being respected by the good and pure (…and that) There was no prospect of leasing a better life” (100). This shows that not only were women’s virginity status’ central to their morality, but also their future success. The guilt Jacobs carried in her actions would follow her the rest of her life—she would always believe herself impure and unworthy as a result of her drastic actions in pursuit of freedom.
Jacobs would have another child, this time a daughter, and as consequence she would enrage Dr. Flint further. But her plans for freedom never changed. She longed for a change in her circumstance and decides to “run away”. This choice was by no means simple; after all she would be risking her children and her lives. But the urge for freedom won her over and she began to plot her method. She was still unwilling to succumb to Dr. Flint’s wishes and therefore began to develop an ingenious plan to relieve herself from him forever. Knowing it would be impossible to make it North with two children, she hides in the attic of her grandmother hoping Dr. Flint would believe she had fled successfully. Her efforts go to extreme lengths to avoid and evade Dr. Flints impure advances: she would spend seven years trapped in the attic, becoming more and more physically drained as time went by. Jacobs’s would succeed when she travelled to the North by boat, but Dr. Flint did not cease to search for her despite her long absence. Eventually she is captured again and resold into slavery by Emily Flint. This time, however, she was sold into much better conditions than she spent the majority of her life in. She writes the book as the servant of Mrs. Bruce, to whom she seems to display positive feelings for.
Within the short and dramatic pages of her accounts, the story of her life unveils compelling knowledge of the slave life in regards to women cursed with promiscuous or overtly controlling masters. Jacob’s attempts at freedom were all well thought out plans, good tries at regaining her freedom over her body and decisions. However, they were mostly deemed null and void at the end of her life. Though she did manage to escape the horrors she faced whilst living under the Flint’s roof, she remained a slave until the end of her tellings. Overall, she managed to accomplish only her most pressing goal: escape the advances of Dr. Flint. In the end, it was all for naught in terms of freedom. She never fully experienced what it was to live as a free woman. To that end, she was unsuccessful, though her story and efforts are nothing short of remarkable.