Sexual slavery has been used as a literary device to explore the themes of oppression, power dynamics, and the exploitation of women's bodies throughout history. Authors have employed this trope to explore how systems of oppression work, why they persist, and what can be done to dismantle them. In this article, I will examine how authors use sexual slavery as a lens through which to understand historical and contemporary oppression.
The earliest known use of sexual slavery in literature is in Homer's Odyssey, where the hero Odysseus is captured by Calypso, a nymph who tries to keep him as her lover. This incident serves as a metaphor for the way women are often treated as objects of men's desire and control. The story illustrates how patriarchal societies objectify and dehumanize women, turning them into things to be possessed and used.
Another example of sexual slavery in literature is found in William Faulkner's novel As I Lay Dying. In this book, Addie Bundren is raped and murdered, and her body is then sold by her husband to a man named Jewelry Beauchamp. Her death and her body become commodities, and she is stripped of all agency and autonomy. The story highlights the ways in which women's bodies are treated as objects of exchange in a capitalist society that values profit over human life.
More recently, Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale explores the use of sex and sexuality as tools of power and control in a dystopian society. In this world, women are forced to have children with powerful men and are subjected to strict rules governing their behavior. This novel shows how systems of oppression can be perpetuated through the control of reproduction and sexuality.
In more recent times, Octavia Butler uses sexual slavery in Kindred as a means of exploring how slavery was justified and rationalized in the United States. In this novel, a woman named Dana travels back in time to a slave plantation where she becomes enslaved herself. Through her experience, we see how the logic of white supremacy relies on the idea that some people are inherently superior or inferior to others, justifying the exploitation of Black people for profit.
These examples illustrate how authors have used sexual slavery as a lens through which to understand historical and contemporary oppression. By depicting characters who are objectified and dehumanized, these stories reveal the way that oppressive systems work and why they persist. They also show how individual lives and experiences can shed light on larger societal problems.
How do authors depict sexual slavery as a lens for exploring historical and contemporary oppression?
In her novel "The Handmaid's Tale," Margaret Atwood portrays the experience of sexual slavery as an instrument for illuminating past and present forms of oppression. The protagonist, Offred, is a handmaid who must submit to her commander and his wife sexually in order to conceive a child. This subjugation serves as a metaphor for how women are objectified and exploited by patriarchal society.