Chapter 10 Summary and Analysis

The author begins this chapter by setting up the tensions between white women and black women. She observes that the gender gap between white women and black men was mediated, and perhaps at times ameliorated by sexual attraction and interest. She notes that the women of the two races were frequently seen as and treated as being in mutual sexual competition. She writes that she believes that this has caused white women to behave defensively and to intentionally protect and perpetuate racial differences in status in an effort to protect their privileges and domains within the range of their limited powers.

She then goes on to make some effort to describe the connection between white men and black women, both within the context of slavery and in the context of freedom. Here, she asserts that for white women, there was a...