Harriet Jacobs’ account on slavery deals more about the sexual harassment faced by slave women and girls from their masters. She said slavery was bad for men but it was far horrible for women. Jacobs said the sexual exploitation of females by white masters made the lives of girls and women far terrible and incomparably cruel to the lives of boys and men. This statement is true, considering the treatment and how female slaves became objects of sexual interest for their masters and their children follow the same fate if they were born while the women was a slave.
A man has the ability to work and purchase his freedom but female slaves barely have that opportunity of being to do something productive that can afford her the cost of purchasing her freedom. Jacobs’ grandmother worked all life to buy her children but she couldn’t afford the purchase of herself and the children. Jacobs was denied the man of her dream because of her master’s sexual intent towards her. Jacobs found man was a free slave and was willing to purchase Jacobs but the master refused her marriage to a black man and refused to sell her. Dr. Flint acted kind towards Jacobs, intentionally to accomplish his evil interest and hurt her all her life. If Jacobs was a man, things would have been far better because the master would have no deep emotional affection for a male slave.
Even though Jacob did not succumb to the master’s devilish intents, he held onto her and pursued his interest relentlessly, even after she had a child with another man. She was not whipped or punished like the male slaves but the fear and terror of a young girl under the continuous sexual harassment and threats of murder from the master is more horrid compared to the punishments given to male. One can argue that the constant molestation of Jacobs by her master led her to become sexually promiscuous, which violates her family’s pride in chastity.
