How We Take Back Control Of Black Women’s Femininity

We can go back to the plantation to see how femininity was snatched from us, then handed over to and defined by others. Take <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_(slave)" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">‘Celia, a Slave’</a> (1835–1855), as she is known. In 1855, Celia killed her slave master Robert Newsome in Missouri, USA, due to the sexual abuse she suffered from the age of around fourteen. Celia was then put on trial for murder, which resulted in her being hung, even though there were clear laws at the time that protected women from rape and sexual abuse. The prosecution successfully argued that ‘these laws did not apply’ to Celia. This was a technical argument over the wording used in the law: the words ‘woman’ and ‘women’ were used as they are now, and rightly so. However, in our foremother’s time, it was only white women who were seen as ‘women’ and feminine; so the law did not apply to a black woman like Celia. Secondly, Robert Newsome’s death was not seen as self-defence from rape, since a black woman was not considered a woman, and only a woman (at that time) could be subject to rape. Celia’s full story and trial can be found in <a href="https://www.powells.com/book/celia-a-slave-9780820360966" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Celia, A Slave (1991)</a>, by Melton Alonza MacLaurin. <a href="https://medium.com/fourth-wave/how-we-take-back-control-of-black-womens-femineity-1589a31b9568">Click Here</a>