Buck Breaking
Buck Breaking is a 2021 documentary, directed by Tariq Nasheed. A black buck was a slang term for an unruly male slave, and breaking a buck meant using forced sexual intercourse to punish them. It is claimed that the practice of "buck breaking" eventually became so popular, that specialized "sex farms" were created, and that "African slaves were bred just for the purpose of being raped by their white masters".[2]
The myth, deboonked
However, trusted sources (a post with two gold awards on Reddit) completely deboonked this claim. Here are some relevant excerpts.[3]
[T]here are absolutely grains of truth to the story, but the practice of "buck breaking" they're describing simply did not exist [...] the idea of it being a wide-spread phenomenon is really quite ludicrous when you consider the wider historical context.
That is not say that male-on-male sexual abuse did not occur. It absolutely did - and the very fact that we have historical records testifying to it in a period so hostile to same-sex activity is quite significant.
That power and humiliation lay not only in the ability of slave owners to actually commit sexual assault against other men, but in the fact that they could do it, keep it a secret from a wider society that demonised same-sex activity, and get away with doing so.
The idea that 'festivities' revolving around male-on-male rape, involving a large number of white men in the upper echelons of southern society invited apparently to participate widely and freely, were a prominent part of slaveholding is really quite nonsensical. If nothing else the individuals involved would be exposing themselves to an incredible physical, legal and social risk, regardless of how prominent their status was in wider society.
A little bit of trolling
Once the internet caught wind of the fact that Buck Breaking was a schizoid conspiracy theory, it was over. Posters began to mock how the director's intention more than backfired on him.
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After the reveal that the practice was a myth, the documentary turned into a bizarre fetish play movie.
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People are suspecting that the director may be a closeted buck.
References
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20210609105817/https://soyjak.party/soy//res/101322.html#101322
- ↑ Buck Breaking, How African Male Slaves Were Raped. https://vocalafrica.com/buck-breaking-afrcan-male-slaves/
- ↑ /u/sowser, in reply to "Buck Breaking of Slaves" on r/AskHistorians. 2006. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4vicrb/buck_breaking_of_slaves/
