Gendered Nature of Slavery in the Narrative of Mary Prince 'A West Indian Slave'

Slavery and Gender
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Different narratives of enslaved people provide historians with an opportunity to explore slavery through different lenses. This paper draws on the narrative of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave, to explore slavery through a gendered lens. It seeks to establish whether using a gendered lens to explore slavery sheds light on the different ways that enslaved men and women experienced slavery. Sexual harassment and exploitation, gender roles, and harsh treatment are analyzed to shed light on how male and female slaves experienced slavery differently.
Sexual Harassment, Exploitation, and Slavery
Women experienced some form of sexual harassment from their white male masters/owners. This is not something that male slaves had to endure. While the enslaved women’s experiences with sexual harassment are not explicitly told in Prince’s narrative, there is an indication that it did occur. For instance, Prince narrates her experience with sexual harassment while working for Mr. D and says that “He had an ugly fashion of stripping himself quite naked, and ordering me then to wash him in a tub of water… Sometimes when he called me to wash him, I would not come; my eyes were so full of shame.” In the modern-day, this act is considered sexual harassment because it places a woman in an uncomfortable position even when she is not explicitly asked to have sex with the man. Also, Prince’s refusal to wash her master and the subsequent beating she received also shows a form of sexual harassment where someone gets punished for refusing to engage in a non-consensual sexual situation. Prince eventually had to leave Mr. D and work for another white man because she wanted to escape the indecency.[. Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. (University of North Carolina Press: n.d), 27.] [. “Alexandra Thomas,” Agency, Gender, and the Law in Slave Narrative, accessed October 12,2021, https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu:204841/datastream/PDF/view.]
Stories of slave owners sexually exploiting enslaved women, regardless of the era or geographical elements, are common. These are stories that most reveal the gendered nature of slavery, especially because in sexual harassment or exploitation cases, the perpetrator usually has the upper hand over the victim. White men (slave owners) had power over enslaved women and could coerce them into engaging in non-consensual sex or even engage in sexual violence. For instance, enslaved women in Jamaican plantations had to endure rape and sexual exploitation at the hands of White slave owners. Thus, slavery presented more challenges and hardships for women because other than not being free to do what they wanted and live a life of their choosing; they also did not have freedom when it came to their bodies. The mere fact of being a woman in slavery made women more vulnerable than their male counterparts. Their sexuality was used against them. In addition, enslaved women did not experience sexual harassment and exploitation just through rape and solicitation of sexual favors. There were other forms of sexual harassment experienced by women. For instance...