I'm not quite finished ha...I need to finish the intro and response.

Jennie Miller starts her article by giving us some background on slavery and the distorted views many people hold on slavery. She believes that slavery was more traumatic to slave women than slave men. To prove this point, she compares and contrasts two slaves, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs.
Miller begins with the comparisons of Douglass and Jacobs and states that they were both born as “nineteenth century American slaves” and shared many of the same experiences as children. Both of them had somewhat good childhoods. Miller points out that neither of them were even aware of the fact that they were slaves until their mothers died, both when they were around the ages of six or seven. Miller also tells us that both Douglass and Jacobs had a kind mistress who gave them the “opportunity to become literate,” a skill that neither of them took for granted knowing that most slaves at that time did not enjoy the privilege of literacy. Another similarity that Miller points out between Jacobs and Douglass is the fact that in the end, they both gained their freedom.
Miller then goes on to discuss the differences between Douglass and Jacobs. Jacobs, unlike Douglass, had extremely strong family ties. Miller shares that throughout her whole life, Jacobs was concerned with the circumstances of her family and always thought of them. Douglass on the other hand, wasn’t close to anyone in his family. Another difference is the type of work they did. Douglass was “born into a line of plantation field hands” and Jacobs worked in the house as a servant. The last difference Miller brings up is the type of punishment each slave received. Douglass experienced more physical punishment, while Jacobs’ punishment was much more sexual.
The two biggest points Miller makes in her article are gender specific contrasts between Jacobs and Douglass, and even more generally, slave women and slave men. The first point Miller discusses is sexual exploitation. She talks about Jacobs’ master, Mr. Norcom, who has a sexual obsession with her and is determined to have his way with her. Miller also discusses the sexual relationship Jacobs had with Samuel Tredwell Saywer, not because she loved him but to escape the sexual pressure of her master and to have even that little control over her own body. Due to the fact that masters took advantage of their slaves, the mistresses would often be jealous and Miller points out that this is another thing women slaves had to deal with. Instead of being angry at their husbands for their infidelity, they took it out on the slaves. The second point Miller brings up is motherhood. She shows just how significant this is by describing the bond between mother and child and Jacobs’ devotion to her children. Miller relates this point back to the comparison of Jacobs and Douglass by pointing out that Douglass only had to worry about his own freedom while Jacobs worried about her own freedom and the freedom of her children. In fact, Jacobs put the freedom of her children before her own. Miller also talks about how the children were also subject to beatings by masters and how painful this was for mothers to see.
In conclusion, Miller shows us that women slaves went through more traumatic events than men slaves. After reading this article, I realized the significance slavery had on culture, the difference between the experiences of women slaves and men slaves, and the significance of sexual abuse and motherhood in slavery.

Miller pointed out the significance of sexual abuse for slave women. “Slave women relentlessly pursued by white men had no chance of being sexually pure” (36). As an example of sexual exploitation, Miller describes Mr. Norcom’s obsession with Jacobs. Miller includes a quote from Jacobs’ narrative about how Mr. Norcom follows her everywhere and will never leave her alone. Miller also includes information about how Mr. Norcom never physically punishes Jacobs, but this is only because of his sexual desire for her. Jacobs had a sexual relationship with Samuel Saywer, but “her relationship with Sawyer was not motivated by love or sexual pleasure, but rather by her ability to make a conscious choice regarding who would be the father of her children and which man would have access to her body” (36). The fact that Jacobs had sex with another man out of wedlock, which was against what she believed in, says a lot about the sexual pressure coming from her master. The only control that Jacobs had over her body was the choice to have sex with someone else. I'm sure many women slaves felt the same pressure that Jacobs did in this way.