Gender Flashcards
Sexual relations
Characterised largely by regulation:
Laws that either prohibited or encouraged certain relations
Logic behind this was often economic, male and racist
Female colonisers
Nuns and wives:
Half of Belgian missionaries in the congo were women
Protestant missionaries were also free to bring their families w them
Heroic individuals
Often had help from indigenous people – translators and porters
E.g. Stanley’s expedition had 4 Europeans and 356 Africans
Homoeroticism
Historians have highlighted this tendency between many key players in colonialism
Stanley’s problem w women, Rhodes’ notorious homosexuality, Baden Powell had a bf
Theorisation that these people escaped to the colonies as a response to sexual issues
Prostitution
Widespread in colonial cities, led to proliferation of STDs
Gynecological exams were seen as indignified
Inadequate policy from colonisers
Concubinage
Unofficial relations w local women: generally allowed and sometimes stimulated
Seen as a much better approach than bringing European women or abstaining from sex as a whole
Gender regulation
Male bachelors were prioritised: e.g. VOC only selected male bachelors for over 200 years and British employees in India were not allowed to marry for the first 3 years
Oppression of local women: In Dutch Indies, Dutch men couldn’t return home w local wives or children and native women had no rights over children that were claimed by a white man
Consequences
Reinforcement of social and racial hierarchies
Local women became dependent on European partners
Men also had to compete w their European supervisors
Resulted in mixed race children, outcasted by both locals and europeans
White women from late 19th c
General narrative: women introduced segregation - dress codes, social taboos, housing compounds
Before this, there was much more exchange between colonisers and locals
In reality, segregation was advised by male doctors and officials who feared relations between local men and white women
