has always been measured by how much he owns. A man buys
property both to increase his wealth and to demonstrate his
wealth. Black slaves were bought for both these purposes.
The laws which fixed the chattel status of white women
were now extended to apply to the black slave. The divine
right which had sanctioned the slavery of women to men was
now interpreted to make the slavery of blacks to white men a
function of God’s will. The malicious notion of biological inferiority, which originated to justify the abject subjugation of women to men, was now expanded to justify the abject subjugation of blacks to whites. The whip, used to cut the backs of white women to ribbons, was now wielded against black flesh
as well.
Black men and black women were both kidnapped from
their African homes and sold into slavery, but their condition
in slavery differed in kind. The white man perpetuated his
view of female inferiority in the institution of black slavery.
The value of the black male slave in the marketplace was
double the value of the black female slave; his labor in the
field or in the house was calculated to be worth twice hers.
The condition of the black woman in slavery was determined first by her sex, then by her race. The nature of her servitude differed from that of the black male because she was
carnal chattel, a sexual commodity, subject to the sexual will
of her white master. In the field or in the house, she endured
the same conditions as the male slave. She worked as hard; she
worked as long; her food and clothing were as inadequate; her
superiors wielded the whip against her as often. But the black
woman was bred like a beast of burden, whether the stud who
mounted her was her white master or a black slave of his
choosing. Her economic worth, always less than that of a
black male, was measured first by her capacity as a breeder to
produce more wealth in the form of more slaves for the master; then by her capacities as a field or house slave.
As black slaves were imported into the English colonies, the
character of white female slavery was altered in a very bizarre
way. Wives remained chattel. Their purpose was still to produce sons year after year until they died. But their male masters, in an ecstasy of domination, put their bodies to a new use: they were to be ornaments, utterly useless, utterly passive, decorative objects kept to demonstrate the surplus wealth of the master.
This creation of woman-as-ornament can be observed in all
societies predicated on female slavery where men have accumulated wealth. In China, for instance, where for a thousand years women’s feet were bound, the poor woman’s feet were bound loosely— she still had to work; her feet were
bound, her husband’s were not; that made him superior to her
because he could walk faster than she could; but still, she had
to produce the children and raise them, do the domestic labor,
and often work in the fields as well; he could not afford to
cripple her completely because he needed her labor. But the
woman who was wife to the rich man was immobilized; her
feet were reduced to stumps so that she was utterly useless,
except as a fuck and a breeder. The degree of her uselessness
signified the degree of his wealth. Absolute physical crippling
