History of sex slaves. On the contrary, the power dynamics fostered by U.
History of sex slaves. Jun 10, 2024 · Slavery was actually a more gender-egalitarian institution than other forms of property or wealth accumulation, so it’s not surprising that white women would have a vested interest in it. Even if a woman seemed to consent to the advances of white owners and overseers, in reality she had no choice (Aikin, 1833). Sep 22, 2025 · Slavery is the condition in which one human being is owned by another. . The institution of slavery, the slave trade, conditions and use of enslaved people differed Jul 23, 2013 · July 25, 2013— -- An undercover investigation for National Geographic explored the prevalence of sex trafficking within the United States, where the business of sexual slavery is booming Learn about the forms of modern-day slavery or human trafficking: domestic servitude, child labor, bonded labor, sex trafficking and forced labor. Female slaves were primarily used as either domestic house servants or as concubines (sex slaves), who were subjected to harem gender segregation. Nov 10, 2023 · This is the first excerpt of a two-part interview. The obligation to provide sexual labor was a critical feature of enslavement for women (and to a more limited extent and in certain circumstances for men) in almost every society in which slavery existed. Instances of non-consensual sexual activity are interwoven with systems designed for primarily non-sexual purposes, as witnessed in the Feb 2, 2018 · The first female slave narrative, Prince’s autobiography exposed the sexual violence masters committed against their slaves and made visible black women’s resistance to these acts. The practice of slavery continued in many countries (illegally) into the 21st century. Thirty-eight years later, after all the deaths and Nov 10, 2023 · This is the second excerpt of a two-part interview. Living in a wide range of circumstances and possessing the intersecting identity of both black and female, enslaved women of African descent had nuanced experiences of slavery. Human trafficking has become a global humanitarian concern over the last 20 years, yet its coercion and violence have affected victims across the centuries. It is estimated that 50 per cent of the enslaved individuals in this trade died during transit. Comfort women were women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces in occupied countries and territories before and during World War II. [1][2][3] This includes forced labor that results in sexual activity, forced marriage and sex trafficking, such as the sexual trafficking of children. Twenty-six authors from diverse scholarly backgrounds look at the vexed, traumatic intersections of the histories of slavery and of sexuality. The History of slavery in Iran (Persia) during various ancient, medieval, and modern periods is sparsely catalogued. " It depicts a woman (女) at left, being 'held' by a hand (又), indicating how slaves of the era were often captive women held as concubines and sex slaves. Read more Oct 29, 2019 · In Rethinking Rufus: Sexual Violations of Enslaved Men, historian Thomas Foster examines how the conditions of slavery gave rise to sexual violence against enslaved men in the Americas during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. [1] Sexual slavery has taken various forms throughout history, including single-owner bondage and ritual servitude linked to religious practices in regions such as Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Slavery was widely practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia, [20] as well as in the rest of the antique and early medieval world. Trigger Warning: Discussion of slavery, medical sexual violence, sex trafficking of minors Note to Readers: The slavery of African Americans in the United States is undeniably one of the most reprehensible parts of American history. slave owners from pursing sexual relations with their human property. Slavery has existed throughout the world since ancient times, and trading in slaves has been equally universal. 1353/sex. 1 – During the Salem witch trial era of 1692/93, 19 women died and 350 were imprisoned. During the Chinese domination period, Vietnamese girls were sold as sex slaves to the Chinese. Sex trafficking includes the transportation of persons by means of coercion, deception and/or force into exploitative and slavery-like conditions. The history of slavery spans many different cultures, nationalities, and religions from ancient times to the present day. has been using it ever since to prosecute anyone who transports Americans, one of the cruelest hardships they endured was sexual abuse by the slave-holders, overseers, and other white men and women whose power to dominate them was complete. In mainstream slavery studies, historians viewed sexual practices within slave communities with disdain or contempt; upheld stereotypes of black male rapists and lascivious enslaved women; Roman Slaves, Slavery in Rome, Life as a Roman Slave At one point during the short rule of Julius Caesar (49 BCE-44 BCE), he decided that he needed to shore up his support in the Senate by adding The Romans in their decadence, painting by Thomas Couture (Image: Wikimedia Commons) In a Roman household sex was in plentiful supply. Aug 19, 2019 · The trans-Atlantic slave trade, which began as early as the 15th century, introduced a system of slavery that was commercialized, racialized and inherited. Skilled and educated slaves—including artisans, chefs, domestic staff and personal attendants, entertainers, business managers, accountants and bankers, educators at all levels Jul 7, 2017 · From the Middle Ages to the ISIS slaves of today, this survey illuminates the complex history of slavery in Islam and in Muslim countries. B. Dec 13, 2021 · 11 Terrible Facts About Sexual Oppression During Slavery The enslaved victims of lust and hate One: Women Slaves The worst combination was to be a slave and a woman. Jan 20, 2021 · The civilisation of Ancient Rome spanned over 1,000 years, from the founding of the Republic to the fall of the Empire in the West. I. ”1 The following essay explores rape and desire in what Adrienne Davis, legal historian at Washington University, has labeled the sexual economy of slavery, here defined as the interplay of sex and “markets of the antebellum This book exploits two primary sources of data to empirically analyze male sex work and its social and economic underpinnings. Learn more about the timeline and history of human trafficking. Jan 7, 2025 · Records at the National Archives cover national legislation relating to slavery and the international slave trade, Federal agencies that provided aid and assistance to formerly enslaved persons, individuals that served in the military in some capacity, and court cases relating to freedom seekers or fugitive slaves, purchases of ones own freedom The history of sexual slavery in the United States is the history of slavery for the purpose of sexual exploitation as it existed in the United States. Experts are calling for their preservation but authorities are reluctant Agence France-Presse Photos of wartime sex slaves are displayed on a wall in a museum in Shanghai. [15] Through this act, sex trafficking crimes were defined as "the recruitment without a voice to describe and confront the history of sexualexpropriation and exploitation that slavery entailed. [7] During World War II, Japanese troops forced hundreds of thousands An internationally recognized definition for sex trafficking was established with the Trafficking Act of 2000. Historian Deborah Gray White explains that "the uniqueness of the African-American female's situation is that she stands at the crossroads of two of the most well-developed ideologies in America, that regarding women Apr 8, 2023 · There is evidence to suggest that there were sex slaves in ancient Rome. Sep 29, 2019 · He is the author of Sex and the Eighteenth-Century Man: Massachusetts and the History of Sexuality in America and Sex and the Founding Fathers: The American Quest for a Relatable Past. Sep 3, 2025 · It’s time that we finally speak clearly and plainly: Slavery was not only unpaid labor. Then, as today, their working lives were not the result of sex slavery, but a rational means for surviving the impoverishment of women and the white supremacist exploitation of racialized labor. Other slaves were simply laborers used for hard labor, such as for example agricultural laborers and galley slaves. In this chapter we will show how discourse in support of Slavery in Korea existed since before the Three Kingdoms of Korea period, approximately 2,000 years ago. Be sure to read first part here. It became the predominant system in North India in the thirteenth century and retained Mar 25, 2012 · There are an estimated 1. S slavery encouraged the sexual exploitation and rape of black slave women by white slave owners. [not verified in body] Slavery in ancient Rome was frequently dependent on a person's socio-economic status and national affiliation, and thus included European slaves. Roman Dec 4, 2020 · The Japanese army forced some 200,000 women into sexual slavery during World War II. Selections from 19th- & 20th-century Slave Narratives Americans, one of the cruelest hardships they endured was sexual abuse by the slave-holders, overseers, and other white men and women whose power to dominate them was complete. S. Jan 5, 2017 · Between 1830 and 1834, 250 complaints were brought to the Assistant Protector; 116 by female slaves and 134 by male slaves. [3][4][5] It was a common practice in the Ancient Near East for the owners of slaves to have intimate relations with individuals considered their property, [a] and Mediterranean societies May 21, 2016 · Here are a few tidbits you might find enlightening (and shocking). based on the collective memory and folktales of the descendants of enslaved people Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-252) and index American abolitionism and slave-breeding discourse -- Slavery, the lost cause, and African American history -- Black history and slave breeding in the The next several chapters detail how a num‐ ber of black constituencies—African American historians, playwrights, and former slaves—in the early twentieth century used antebellum slave- breeding practices to resist a white narrative of slavery that depicted a paternal institution and to convey a more accurate picture of the horrors of Mar 9, 2017 · History of Chinese sex slaves buried as brothels demolished Old buildings in Shanghai used as ‘comfort stations’ during the war are disappearing as the city reinvents itself. Except, so it seems, between the actual married couples. An explicit emphasis on sexual autonomy is pertinent; establishing that slaves had a sexuality of their own, and that expressions of that sexuality were not always coerced, is one of the strengths of this volume. It’s a Oct 11, 2025 · Slave trade, the capturing, selling, and buying of enslaved persons. Same-sex relationships between adults were not unknown but they were disfavored. The perverted sexual fantasies of the slave masters were so outrageous that they would use African slaves to any length to achieve them. [2][3] It has been estimated that two-thirds of Mar 1, 2011 · Human sex trafficking is the most common form of modern-day slavery. 2011. It is a tale of human rights violations that have morphed over time, adapting to changes in global dynamics, economics, and technology. I once saw two beautiful children playing together. 4 million sex slaves in the world today and international trafficking is on the rise. Slavery played an important role in the society and economy of ancient Rome. The Slave Experience: Men, Women & Gender | PBS Earliest recorded form of the Chinese character 奴, meaning "slave. The male testimony was that the “witch-women” first turned into animals who forced themselves on the men then they turned back into women and forced sex on those who testified. ” So testified John Smith, a 108-year-old former slave who was interviewed by a Works Project Administration employee in the late 1930s. The existence of slaves in the house naturally mean that, particularly the men, but also the women (although with the risk of pregnancy and disgrace), had access to sex whenever they so required. census revealed that 70% of the Chinese women living in San Francisco were engaged in sex work. The purpose of this work is to expand our knowledge of human trafficking activity beyond the modern world by extending its study into the ancient and medieval periods. From nineteenth-century abolitionists to twentieth-century filmmakers and artists, Americans have debated whether slave owners deliberately and coercively manipulated the sexual practices and marital status of enslaved African Americans to reproduce new Oct 28, 2023 · Fancy girl or fancy maid was a term for a young, light-skinned black girl, who was sold as a sex slave during slavery in the United States. Male slaves complained overwhelmingly about male owners. Lesbian relations were also of a pederastic nature. [1][2] Slavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Activities associated with sex slavery include prostitution, pornography, child sex rings, sex tourism, and such occupations as nude dancing and modeling. Native Arab Oct 5, 2025 · Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery involving the illegal transport of individuals by force or deception for the purpose of labor, sexual exploitation, or activities in which others benefit financially. Better known as the Mann Act, the F. Foster Journal of the History of Sexuality University of Texas Press Volume 20, Number 3, September 2011 pp. Women who labored in plantation homes were at particular risk of sexual predators because they worked in close proximity to white men. " This special report tells the stories of the survivors in the Philippines. Sex, Power, and Slavery is the first history of slavery and bondage to take sexuality seriously. Ancient Greek erotic art (via Museum of Fine Arts, Boston) Feb 20, 2018 · Between 1932 and 1945, Japan forced women from Korea, China and other occupied countries to become military sex slaves. Enslavers exercised almost complete control over the bodies of enslaved individuals and the conditions of their existence, providing themselves with numerous avenues for force and coercion in the intimate lives of the enslaved. While some communities work towards acceptance, others retain harsh judgement. This is drawn from the largest and most comprehensive data on male sex workers in the United States. Abstract There is ample evidence of sexual relations, from rapes to what appear to be relatively symbiotic romantic partnerships, between white slave masters and black women in the Antebellum South. Under slavery, an enslaved person is considered by law as property, or chattel, and is deprived of most of the rights ordinarily held by free persons. The concept was created amid discussions about policing of national borders and reflected panics concerning the ideal of feminine purity, when women were seen in the discourse of the time as needing protection. Mar 24, 2014 · Often slaves, rarely with any control or agency of their own, they were frequently confined in brothels. The first source of data is advertisement data for male sex workers. The institution of slavery justified, legitimized, and legalized the repeated Slavery was an important feature of the Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent. Many women were unable to escape enslavers’ sexual assault, particularly without being beaten as a result. That’s a long time in sexual morality – compare the mores of the UK today with those of 1015. Using an intersectional socio-historical analysis, this paper explores the factors that contributed Until the second half of the twentieth century, few histories treated the history of sexuality seriously. One was a fair white child; the other was her slave, and also her sisterThe fair child grew up to be a still fairer Aug 20, 2020 · Enslaved African men who were often the leaders of a rebel group of African slaves on a plantation or ship were castrated and called women to show the white slave master’s dominance. In order to examine the question of such violence more fully, I explore and compare the Sexual slavery has taken various forms throughout history, including single-owner bondage and ritual servitude linked to religious practices in regions such as Ghana, Togo, and Benin. Slavery in the Muslim world began with institutions inherited from pre-Islamic Arabia. Concubinage in the Muslim world was the practice of Muslim men entering into intimate relationships without marriage, [1] with enslaved women, [2] though in rare, exceptional cases, sometimes with free women. Aug 24, 2015 · The History of American Slavery “Good Breeders” During the antebellum period, enslaved women wielded their reproductive capital and fought off white encroachment on their sexual health. Human trafficking is a global problem affecting people of all ages. The social, economic, and legal positions of slaves have differed vastly in different systems of slavery in different times and places. For over two centuries, the topic of slave breeding has occupied a controversial place in the master narrative of American history. Nov 25, 2012 · Abstract For over two centuries, the topic of slave breeding has occupied a controversial place in the master narrative of American history. Overall, slaves did not have an issue with premarital sexuality activity. Both slavery and colonialism was the beginning of the modern association of nakedness with savagery. [8] Aug 19, 2019 · Historian Stephanie Jones-Rogers explains how white women’s active “investment” in slavery has shaped America today. From nineteenth-century abo Historians have written about the sexual exploitation of enslaved African American women in different capacities. Female slaves were naked when purchased, then clothed and baptized by their new owners. [2][3][4][5][6][7] Southern Yue girls were sexually eroticized in Chinese literature and in poems written by Chinese who were exiled to the south. May 29, 2023 · Sex, power, and slavery Publication date 2014 Topics Slavery -- History, Sex crimes -- History, Women slaves -- Social conditions, Slaves -- Social conditions Publisher Athens : Ohio University Press Collection internetarchivebooks; printdisabled Contributor Internet Archive Language English Item Size 1. [1] Slavery has been found in some hunter-gatherer Jul 13, 2023 · xii, 257 pages : 24 cm An exploration of the idea of selective and forced slave breeding in the U. The sex trafficking of Chinese women and girls had impacts far beyond the devastating exploitation of the individuals trapped in the system. Slavery and the Making of America . The institution of slavery justified, legitimized, and legalized the repeated Apr 19, 2025 · Slave dealers understood the lucrative appeal of light-skinned enslaved women and intentionally marketed them as objects of beauty, refinement, and sexual availability. I would like to know of any fascinating sexual rituals, domestic/married behaviours towards sex, sexual tortures, attitudes toward polygamy, virginity, etc, throughout all history and all cultures both remote and widespread to better understand the varied 'history of sex' Around 430–420 BCE Both homosexuality and bisexuality, in the form of ephebophilia (in some ways slavery), were social institutions in ancient Greece, and were integral to education, art, religion, and politics. Slavery was nominally abolished in 1910, [3][4][5] although the practice continued until at least This paper looks at sex and slavery within the context of sexual violence more broadly. [108] Included in the film is the history of famous real people and events involved in the anti slavery movement; like Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, Dred Scott, and the song "Amazing Grace" which was written by John Newton, a former slave ship captain turned minister. This includes references to women being sold as slaves for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Roman literature and art. 445-464 10. 6G Dec 12, 2024 · White sex workers were largely poor and working-class mothers who chose sex work to supplement other work, because of its higher wages. Thus, understanding the role of sexuality in the development and practices of slavery has been fundamental to slavery studies. They were known as "comfort women. Only then did rodeo rise from being a regionally isolated remnant of lower-class Spanish culture to spread across the West as part and parcel of forgetting, as a culture, a set of truths too painful to Dec 6, 2020 · The Japanese army forced some 200,000 women into sexual slavery during World War II. Learn more about the history, legality, and sociology of slavery in this article. Here is a brief history of the major slave trades. While there has been recent scholarly interest in sexual violence, there is a tendency to view such violence as a single category, without attention as to how sexual violence might differ for different groups. Apr 26, 2024 · Human trafficking is a juridical concept invented in the nineteenth century that reappeared in the late twentieth century. [21][22][23][24] The minority were European and Caucasus, likely brought in by caravaners or the product of Bedouin capture, a practice stretching back to biblical times. Jan 25, 2022 · As long as human have existed, human trafficking has existed. The United States passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) to clarify confusion and discrepancies in regards to the criminalizing guidelines of human trafficking. 1 They were beaten heartlessly, disunited Aug 26, 2024 · Sexual Violence and the Enslaved As it was elsewhere, sexual violence was a ubiquitous component of enslavement throughout the history of slavery in Virginia. [503] Jan 19, 2021 · Discover how societies, from antiquity to the present day, have chosen to regard and treat sex workers. In ‘ Harlots, Whores & Hackabouts ’, Kate Lister redresses the balance, revealing the history of the sex trade through the eyes of sex workers. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. [1] Sexual slavery has taken various forms throughout Mar 1, 2015 · Even if some individuals living in slavery never worked in a brothel, Roman authors make it clear that slaves’ sexual lives were often employed to serve the needs and desires of the free. The White-Slave Trafic Act of 1910 was a pted to prosecute the criminals. Unskilled or low-skill slaves labored in the fields, mines, and mills with few opportunities for advancement and little chance of freedom. On the contrary, the power dynamics fostered by U. Enslaved women were forced to submit to their masters’ sexual advances, perhaps bearing children who would engender the rage of a master’s wife, and from whom 21st Century Sex Slaves One of the unexpected aspects of the fall of Communism has been a new slave trade from East to West - thousands of desperate young women from Eastern Europe smuggled to the White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the enslavement of any of the world's European ethnic groups throughout human history, whether perpetrated by non-Europeans or by other Europeans. Sep 9, 2025 · Sex slavery, condition in which one human being is owned by another and is forced or otherwise coerced into working in the sex trade. Fancy girls were sold as sex commodities in the 19th century. How prolific was the practice of sexual abuse of male slaves with the ancient Roman elite? And how do we know what was likely true and what was likely libel? Slavery and sexuality in classical antiquity challenges the tension between the slave as a sex object and as a subjective individual. Nov 28, 2018 · Slavery has existed for millennia in varying forms in all parts of the world. It Even though slaves’ sexuality was largely controlled and impacted by slave owners, in their own right, slaves—depending on their living situations and the approach and sensibilities of individual slave owners—developed their own sexual customs and family culture. Much as minstrel shows reinvented slaves as happy-go-lucky banjo-pickers, cowboy movies reinvented cowboys as guitar-twanging knights errant. Historically, the history of slavery in Iran also include the history of slavery in Azerbaijan, which was a part of Iran during the time period when legal chattel slavery existed there. Slave breeding was the practice in slave states of the United States of slave owners systematically forcing slaves to have sexual relations and bear children. Estimates place the number of its domestic and international victims in the millions, mostly females and children enslaved in the commercial sex industry for little or no money. Control of the bodies of the enslaved was central to A powerful quote from the narrative of former female slave Harriet Jacobs exemplifies the sexual abuse of slaves and extremely different viewing of white and black sexuality. Nov 3, 2021 · A history of sex for sale The history of selling sex is a hidden one – and too often its practitioners are pushed to the margins of history. ” SLAVERY Coercive sex work is one of the most consistent experiences of enslaved people in the many manifestations of slavery' throughout history. Between 1690 and 1865, enslaved males and females were stolen from their native countries and brought to America only to become subjected to grueling labor, mental and physical pains, and divested of their rudimentary human right to life and liberty. It was horrific sexual violence—violence far beyond anything most of us have been taught in school, and sex slaves, sometimes to Mexico. Their appearance was carefully crafted to appeal to wealthy white buyers seeking mistresses, concubines, or live-in sex slaves. [1] It included coerced sexual relations between slaves; forced pregnancies of female slaves; and forced breeding of specific slaves in hopes of producing relatively stronger future slaves. Much rarer were sexual relations between white women and black slave men, yet they too occurred. [26] Slavery or serfdom has been described as "very important in medieval Korea, probably more important than in any other East Asian country, but by the 16th Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. A general definition of white slavery would be the “procurement—by use of force, deceit, or drugs—of a white woman or girl against her will for prostitution. Sex slavery and the origins of black arabs While European merchants primarily sought strong young men to work as labourers on their plantations, Arab merchants focused on concubinage, capturing women and girls to serve as sex slaves in harems. [1][2] The objective was for slave owners to The Sexual Abuse of Black Men under American Slavery Thomas A. Be sure to part two here. “My marster…started out wid two ’omen slaves and raised 300 slaves. 0059 Article View Citation Related Content Additional Information Purchase/rental options available: Buy Article for $19. Deidre Cooper Owens concentrates on the medical history of gynecology in her book Medical Bondage: Race, Gender, and the Origins of The appalling history of slavery in the United States is something that will be ingrained in its dirt. [6][7] André Wink summarizes the period as follows, Slavery and empire-formation tied in particularly well with iqta and it is within this context of Islamic expansion that elite slavery was later commonly found. While the slave trade of Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages is Jun 1, 2025 · White Slavery After the cessation of the African slave trade, “white slavery” came into light. The idea that Rome was an extremely promiscuous and licentious society is, in reality, if nothing else a massive over-simplification of a complex picture. The 1870 U. There is also evidence of sexual violence against female slaves in the form of archaeology and inscriptions. Sex trafficking in the United States is a form of human trafficking which involves commercial sexual exploitation as it occurs in the United States. [25] The earliest record of slavery in Korea is the Eight Prohibitions of Old Joseon, recorded in the Records of the Three Kingdoms. There is a strong focus on a shared universal experience, but some historians focus on specific histories and experiences of enslaved women. Drawing from historical studies of sexual violence against enslaved women, Foster uses a range of sources including early American newspapers, enslavers’ Cato, at a time when Rome's large-scale slave economy was still in early development, thought it good practice to monitor his slaves' sex lives, and required male slaves to pay a fee for access to their female fellow slaves. [1] A large trade developed where the native girls of Nam Viet were enslaved and brought north to the Chinese. [4] Moreover, slavery's reach extends beyond explicit sexual exploitation. With the amount of slave-owning men having sex with female slaves, surely their wives would have snuck around sometimes too? The resentment these women must have had towards their husbands for having sex with female slaves (plus these men not even being home often) would probably drive some of them to have affairs themselves? The webpage explores the sexual abuse of Black men during American slavery, shedding light on this overlooked aspect of history. [1] It is commonly associated with organized crime. Dec 3, 2023 · The history of slavery, modern-day slavery and human trafficking is a complex and evolving issue that spans centuries and continents. 00 (USD) collapse Aug 26, 2024 · Comparing marriage to slavery, Noyes insisted that both men and women have sex with multiple partners, and practice birth control, in a system that he called Complex Marriage. [2][3][4][5] The term comfort women is a translation of the Japanese ianfu (慰安婦), [6] a euphemism that literally means "comforting, consoling woman". 1 The terms human trafficking and sex slavery usually conjure up images of young girls beaten and abused in faraway places, like Eastern Europe, Asia This collection looks at the intersections between the history of sexu-ality and the history of slavery in broad comparative perspective. wyb5bgqumbv3ygrxku7i9cnb7h0dqawbiuggqf38mpfuf6