Sharon Block

Rape is a procative subject and often difficult to tackle. Sharon Block does it fairly well in examining early American culture. Her book is thoroughly researched, finding over 900 cases of rape in the courts across the colonies. She provides some fascinating (and disturbing) stories of how rape was committed and covered up. Yet her work lacks much intellectual engagement. Individual cases make for good stories, but ultimately she says that rape during this period was much like it is today. Men often have the power to put women in compromising positions where is difficult to resist and more difficult to prove the crime afterwards. Socioeconomic status and race matter enormously in proving an accusation of rape. Even when proven, there is a sometimes stigma on women who were raped. The book could have been titled "The More Things Change..."

There is one aspect that was thought provoking. Block looks at how the idea of rape was used to construct racial prejudices. Black men were seen as wanton rapists and accusations against them were very likely to end in conviction (or lynching, although she does not cover extra-judicial). She argues that during the 18th century, racial stereotypes in America were just being formed and that sexual assault was a major part of that formation. Her evidence is not overwhelming, but she makes an argument worth considering.

This book is a fairly easy read although not particularly well-written. Block repeats herself a lot, but her prose and her stories make her work easy to get through. I would only suggest the book if you are interested directly in gender issues in early American or in race issues. For most, even for historians of America, it is easy to miss… (mais)