It is clear that sexual bondage was always a part of enslavement, whether in pagan Rome, Islamic Istanbul or here in Virginia: sex between owners and slaves was ‘on the terms of the males, beyond the eyes and scrutiny of the outside world…either through rape, using outright or implied force, or, in some cases, when men and women were genuinely attracted to each other’. It is impossible to evaluate such relationships on our terms: ‘enslaved women practically and legally could not refuse consent’ and testimony ‘makes clear the prevalence of rape during slavery’.
