Whither Rape in the History of Sexuality?

Abstract

"Whither Rape in the History of Sexuality?" focuses on nineteenth-century abolitionist print culture-- penned by both white abolitionists and formerly enslaved people-- to ask why the history of slavery, a system in which sexual and sexuality provided a major tactic for domination, has not been considered more thoroughly by historians of sexuality. The article reads a series of narratives by formerly enslaved black women to draw out what I call their theories of sexuality under slavery, and argue that the lack of attention that historians of sexuality have paid to slavery has allowed for the perpetuation of modern understandings of slavery as tied to consent, voluntary participation, and pleasure. The article concludes by discussing how we might understanding sexuality differently if we centered sexuality as an enduring tactic for the exercise of violence in the service of racial control.