Sexual Abuse By Their Masters example essay topic

Did Gender Make a Difference Within slavery there were harsh conditions which Frederick Douglass tries to convey in his biography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass". Within this narrative he dezribes how men and women slaves were treated differently by their masters. Women were abused by their master, physically, sexually, and mentally, while men were mostly abused physically and mentally. Many slave women suffered regular beatings.

Frederick Douglass mentions several different instances where female slaves who he knew where beaten regularly. One of Douglass's first overseers, Mr. Plummer, would beat Douglass's aunt on a daily basis. Mr. Plummer whipped Douglass's aunt so often he began a routine, "He would whip her to make her scream, and whip her to make her hush" (23). Frederick Douglass also recounted the killing of a slave girl because she slept through a baby's cry.

While he was in Baltimore Fredrick Douglass observed the multiple beating of two young girls across the street. Douglass says "The girls seldom passed her without her saying, 'Move faster, you black gip!' at the same time giving them a blow with the cowskin over the head and shoulders, often drawing the blood" (49). But women were not the only ones who received beatings. The men were also physically abused. Douglass describes two stable men, old Barney and young Barney, who never know when to expect a beating from their master, "They never knew when they were safe from punishment. They were frequently whipped when least deserving" (32).

Douglass explains one of his own experience's of the beatings which he received as a slave. He told us how "he rushed at me with th fierceness of a tiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed me till he had worn out his switches, cutting me so savagely as to leave the marks visible for a long time" (70). Men and women alike were physically abused by their masters, deserving or not. Not only did women suffer harsh physical abuse, they were also sexually abused. Many of the masters had relations with their female servants.

Frederick Douglass's own father was white, and it was rumored that his father was his original master. Douglass believed the sexual abuse that masters inflicted was "done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable" (21). He believed female slaves were not only workers for the masters but also outlets for sexual frustration. Women did not only endure sexual abuse by their masters, they also had the responsibility of bearing children to increase their masters' wealth. These women were treated as animals, being bought for child bearing. Frederick Douglass exemplifies this attitude toward female slaves through the story of a slave named Caroline.

Douglass stated that her master, Mr. Covey "bought her, as he said, for a breeder" (72). When she produced a set of twins, "Mr. Covey seemed to be highly pleased... nothing they could do for Caroline during her confinement was too good, or too hard to be done" (73). Men did not have the misfortune to be used for this purpose. Many male slaves enjoyed the fact that these women were present. It gave them the chance to relieve their sexual frustration. Women slaves received this abuse not only from their masters but also from their fellow slaves.

Emotional pain was inflicted upon women slaves through the separation of them from their children. After only two months the children were sent to an elderly slave, who could no longer work, to be taken care of. Then the mother was sent to another farm to work. Douglass talked about his experiences with his mother. He told of how she walked seven miles, from a neighboring farm, just to sit next to him at night before he fell asleep. He also mentioned the detachment which he felt after his mothers death.

He states that, "I was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burial. She was gone long before I knew any thing about it. Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger" (20-1). For a mother to walk seven miles and have a sleepless night to be with her son shows the mental anguish that she was going through due to the separation of her and her child.

Douglass does not mention the separation of fathers and children, or any interest of fathers in their children's lives. There was no evidence that male slaves felt separation anxiety. But both male and female slaves were mentally abused. They were kept ignorant. Slaves were uneducated because they were forbidden to read or write by their masters.

Douglass recounts his own experience of when he began to read. His mistress was teaching him the alphabet, when his master found out he stated, "If you give a nigger an inch, he will take an ell. A nigger should know nothing but to obey his master-to do as he is told to do. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world.

Now if you teach that nigger (speaking of myself) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no values to his master" (47). His mastered had the concept that if a slave was knowledgeable he would become unmanageable. This a form of mental abuse because it denied the slaves the ability to think for themselves, through denying them the knowledge needed to make important decisions. The life of a female slave seems to be a little more trying then that of a male slaves.

This is due to the sexual abuse which the women must endure. Also brought forth was some trials of slavery which do not always come to mind, such as separation anxiety, illiteracy, and sexual abuse. These acts of abuse were a large part of slavery during its existence. The types of abuse were present in order to keep the slave population as slaves, and not a group of people who think for themselves..