Sex in the Colonial Era - by: Vincent Bohnert

Sex in the Colonial Era

By: Vincent Bohnert

We have all learned about the colonial era in one history class or another.  But what many people don’t know is how much the Native Americans were taken advantage of regarding their sexuality.  Once the pilgrims reached the Americas in 1620 after a long voyage (in which many of the settlers became sick), they experienced many hardships and struggles as they tried to make a living in the New World [2].  Soon, the natives appeared and they immediately were friendly with the settlers; they showed them how to plant crops, etc. (how to live off the land).

              http://theteacherschatterbox.blogspot.com/2011/11/planting-corn-squantos-waywell-sort-of.html

The main thing that stood out to the English settlers about the Native Americans was that they didn’t wear very much clothing; especially the women.  Not only that, but the settlers also noticed that the Indians were pretty open in general regarding sex.  Many times when the settlers visited the Indians’ homes, the people were completely nude and not embarrassed at all [1].  This is when the settlers started thinking of the Indians as animals rather than people.  As the settlers made trips back and forth from the Americas to England, they basically spread the word that there was native women ripe for the taking.  In other words, they tried to entice as many people as they could to come to America by claiming that if they did come, they could start families with the Native women.  They did this to get back at the Church of England.  As you might already know, there were many perverts in the in the 17^th century so these announcements of “wild, untamed, always naked” native women attracted a lot of attention to America [1].

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-indianwomen2.html

Soon thereafter, many English settlers raced to America to see for themselves about the Indians.  Some Indian women were even sent to greet the new arrivals (by having sex with them).  Afterwards, the settlers were surprised when the Native women held out their hand for payment.  The settlers had no idea this was the case and even felt like the original pilgrims were betraying them when this happened.  Although before this, many of the English settlers (men and women) had many sexual scandals between themselves [1].  A lot of which the men forcefully “took” women whenever they wanted.  So when these same men saw that the Indians wanted some kind of payment for their sexual desires being fulfilled, these men couldn't believe their eyes.  In summary, people that grew up in these times; English and Natives had lots of sex with lots of people.

[1]Carl Anthony, "Sex Lives of the Pilgrims: Girls Gone Wild, Gay Guys, An Orgy, Incest & Goodwives Chasing Native Men ," carlanthonyonline.com (blog), November 23, 2011, http://carlanthonyonline.com/2011/11/23/pilgrim-sex-girls-gone-wild-pregnant-brides-gay-guys-a-naughty-native-an-orgy/.

[2] Wikipedia, "Mayflower." Last modified January 19, 2014. Accessed January 30, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower.