Did Gender Make a Difference? Within slavery there were harsh conditions which Frederick Douglass tries to convey in his biography "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass." Within this narrative he describes how men and women slaves were treated differently by their masters. Women were abused by their master, physically,sexually, and mentally, while men were mostly abusedphysically and mentally.Many slave women suffered regular beatings. Frederick Douglass mentions several differentinstances where female slaves who he knew wherebeaten regularly. One of Douglass's first overseers,Mr. Plummer, would beat Douglass's aunt on a dailybasis. Mr. Plummer whipped Douglass's aunt so oftenhe began a routine, "He would whip her to make herscream, and whip her to make her hush" (23). Frederick Douglass also recounted the killing of aslave girl because she slept through a baby's cry. While he was in Baltimore Fredrick Douglass observedthe multiple beating of two young girls across thestreet. Douglass says "The girls seldom passed herwithout her saying, 'Move faster, you black gip!' atthe same time giving them a blow with the cowskinover the head and shoulders, often drawing the blood"(49). But women were not the only ones who receivedbeatings. The men were also physically abused. Douglass describes two stable men, old Barney andyoung Barney, who never know when to expect abeating from their master, "They never knew when theywere safe from punishment. They were frequentlywhipped when least deserving" (32). Douglassexplains one of his own experience's of the beatingswhich he received as a slave. He told us how "he rushed at me with the fierceness of atiger, tore off my clothes, and lashed metill he had worn out his switches, cutting meso savagely as to leave the marks visible fora long time" (70). Men and women alike were physically abused by theirmasters, deserving or not.Not only did women suffer harsh physical abuse,they were also ...
