ID | 087604 |
Title Proper | General Benjamin Butler & the threat of sexual violence during the American civil war |
Language | ENG |
Author | Crystal N. Feimster |
Publication | 2009. |
Summary / Abstract (Note) | As a young girl growing up in the South, I was forced to watch Gone With the Wind throughout my primary and secondary education. As May dwindled into June, teachers grew weary of lecturing on multiplication tables or constitutional history and resorted to "historical ½lms" to pass the time, with Gone With the Wind at the top of the list. I hated the movie at every age-and not because I wanted to crawl under my desk and die of humiliation every time a black person came on screen. Rather, the ½lm's violent content, speci½cally its sexual undertones, gave me nightmares. In one instance, Scarlett, confronted by a Yankee soldier, shoves a pistol in his face and pulls the trigger. The viewer understands Scarlett's motivation: that implicit in the "unspeakable horrors that lay bound up in the name of 'Yankee'" is the threat of rape. |
`In' analytical Note | Daedalus Vol. 138, No. 2; Spring 2009: p126-134 |
Journal Source | Daedalus Vol. 138, No. 2; Spring 2009: p126-134 |
Key Words | General Benjamin Butler ; Threat of Sexual Violence ; American Civil War |