Forced marriage and reproductive exploitation in modern slave narratives

Eglen, Lauren

Abstract

In this article, I explore first-hand accounts of forced marriage as a form of modern slavery to understand how socio-political conceptions of gender and the body shape women’s and girls’ lived experience of exploitation. I do so through analysis of testimonies housed in the world’s largest collection of survivor narratives: “Voices: narratives by survivors of modern slavery”. I argue that, in the context of forced marriage, women’s and girls’ experiences of exploitation are shaped by gendered constructions of the female body and its reproductive function. Reproductive exploitation, embedded in and supported by heteronormative patriarchal conceptions of gender roles, is as a key component of forced marriage, shaping women’s and girls’ embodied experiences of sexual violence, forced pregnancy and childbearing, and violations of their reproductive rights and bodily autonomy within this form of modern slavery.

Citation

Eglen, L. (2024). Forced marriage and reproductive exploitation in modern slave narratives. CLIO, Women, Gender, History, 2024/1(59), 105-124

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 30, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 18, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 18, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 19, 2025
• Print ISSN: 1252-7017
• Electronic ISSN: 2554-3822
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2024/1
• Issue: 59
• Pages: 105-124
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/43952857
• Publisher URL: https://shs.cairn.info/journal-clio-women-gender-history-2024-1-page-105?lang=en