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Assignment 4

In the works of Morgan and Federici the concept of “monstrosity” was addressed multiple times. In the work of Morgan, she wrote about how the the male travelers viewed the bodies of black women. Most of the descriptions that were used included the word monstrous. The concept of  “monstrosity” was used more to describe the mothers, on page sixteen Ligon states that mothers became monstrous and it reinforces their racial distinction. Throughout Morgan’s work the men go into full detail explaining the monstrosity of the the women’s bodies. One of the main points the men used to explain that they are a monstrosity was due to their breast. Again, on page sixteen they mentioned that images of female devils were depicted with sagging breast. Mothers would feed their babies on their backs and would just move their breast over their shoulder. The men used this description to justify that black women, especially mothers, were a “monstrosity”. In the work of Federici, she explains how women were degraded in many forms. The concept of “monstrosity” again was used more by men and how they viewed women. In this work women were considered to be so monstrous that they  believed they were true witches. During this time in the reading of Morgan, women were looked down upon if they worked out of their homes. On page one hundred and twelve there is an image of a women challenging the sexual hierarchy and  beating up her husband. In this image, it depicts the women as the evil one in the drawing where her husband looks at her with pure fear in his eyes. This right here demonstrates how men pictured women as a “monstrosity”. Federici emphasized how women were considered monstrous if they tried to play a role that was considered more for a male while Morgan demonstrates that women were depict as a “monstrosity” due to how men viewed their bodies.