As the men were not used to the extremely hot climate, they misinterpreted the women's lack of clothing for vulgarity. This idea stemmed from the first encounters between European men and African women. This increased white anxiety about interracial sex, and has been described through Montesquieu's climatic theory in his book The Spirit of the Laws, which explains how people from different climates have different temperaments, "The inhabitants of warm countries are, like old men, timorous the people in cold countries are, like young men, brave." At the time, black women held the " Jezebel" stereotype, which claimed black women often initiated sex outside of marriage and were generally sexually promiscuous.
There was a widely held belief that uncontrollable lust threatens the purity of the nation. The remnants of the racial divide became stronger post-slavery as the concept of whiteness developed.
Human sexuality involves biological, erotic, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. While partially based on physical similarities within groups, race is understood by scientists to be a social construct rather than a biological reality. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ĭoncepts of race and sexuality have interacted in various ways in different historical contexts. ( August 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic.