Black women have a long history of sexual victimization in the United States. Many enslaved women were victims of forced rape and breeding, committed by both slave masters and enslaved men (Donovan, 96). During slavery, Black women were viewed as “physically strong, exuding a warm animal sensuality, and inferior subspecies of the female sex” (Bush, 15). This image was created as the counter image of a White women, everything that a White woman represented, the Black woman was opposite. Therefore, this image allowed for the sexual and economic exploitation of Black women. This image was used mainly to justify the control over Black female bodies by slave masters. This justification turned into the common belief that Black women were unable to
