Predator Colonialism

Indigenous Women and the Violence of Sexual Objectification

Abstract

This article analyzes the predatory nature of settler colonialism in the United States. Focusing primarily on the twentieth century – and the Cold War decades in particular – the essay reveals how white men and women used their racial privilege to profit from sexualized images of Indigenous women. From burlesque to the rise of Playboy magazine, the article contends that pop culture representations naturalized a broader social and political culture of sexual and physical violence. The legacy of that violence continued into the late twentieth century and beyond, with Indigenous women and girls today being disproportionately represented in missing and murdered persons data. The article therefore invites serious historical reflection on the link between cultural representation and the importance of Indigenous political sovereignty in settler colonial America.