Women In The English Colonies

While English colonial women tended to experience more oppression because of societal expectations of women’s subordination and Native American women experienced a much greater equality of genders, both groups of women were integral to the evolution of their respective societies. Both Native American women and colonial women’s sexualities confused and provided points of misunderstanding in the colonial era of America that contributed to a change in the societies. In the English colonies, the perceptions of women’s sexualities were turned on their heads. In the Chesapeake colonies, women were frequently freed from the usual social expectations regarding sexuality. In contemporary England, women were, “advised to maintain a modest demeanor.
“For most English writers, Indian manners and customs reinforced an impression of sexual passion.” Despite it being in the context of societal gender roles, Indian women tended to have much more sexual power and choice than their European counterparts. In Algonquian culture, women were seen as the source of “procreation, protection and provision.” This resulted in ceremonial importance being placed on sexual encounters for women and women would decorated their bodies with the typical ritual dye before they occurred. Women were given the power to choose their husbands, reinforcing the corresponding importance for men to be fierce and effective warriors and hunters. The English inhabitants of the Jamestown colony’s misinterpretation of Algonquian women’s sexualities led to conflict between the two societies. The Englishmen’s assumption of the women’s promiscuity led to their sense of entitlement to the native women as a way of conquering. This misunderstanding was a result of the men’s application of English societal expectations regarding women’s sexuality to a society that was not bound by the same expectations. The Algonquian women’s embracement of their sexuality was completely foreign to the Englishmen who were used to women being incredibly modest and restrained in their sexuality. Not understanding Algonquian women’s control of their own sexuality led to the downfall of quite a few Jamestown colonists. Brown mentions several incidents where Algonquian women seduce Englishmen with the promise of sexual relations. They convinced the men to lay down their arms at the door to avoid frightening the women and then slayed them once they were unarmed. “Exploiting Englishmen’s hopes for colonial pleasures, Indian women dangled before them the opportunity for sexual intimacy, turning a female tradition of sexual hospitality into a weapon of