1. From your reading by Cheryl Hicks “Bright and Good-Looking Colored Girl: Black Women’s Sexuality and ‘Harmful Intimacy’ in Early-Twentieth Century New York”, how was the societal view of Black women’s sexuality different than the view of White women’s sexuality during this era?
2. From your reading by Davila, Wodarczyk & Bhatia “Positive Emotional Expression Among Couples: The Role of Romantic Competence” describe what their main findings were concerning romantic competence among heterosexual couples.
3. How might negative stereotypes about elderly sexuality impact us as we age, and what are a few things we could do to try and prevent either the negative outcomes or the negative stereotypes?
“Bright and Good Looking Colored Girl”: Black Women’s Sexuality and “Harmful Intimacy”
in Early-Twentieth-Century New York
Author(s): Cheryl D. Hicks
Source: Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 18, No. 3, New Perspectives on
Commercial Sex and Sex Work in Urban America, 1850-1940 (Sep., 2009), pp. 418-456
Published by: University of Texas Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20542731
Accessed: 16-07-2018 17:31 UTC
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“Bright and Good Looking Colored Girl”:
Black Women’s Sexuality and “Harmful Intimacy”
in Early-Twentieth-Century New York
CHERYL D. HICKS
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Mabel Hampton’s experiences in early-twentieth-century Har
lem never quite measured up to the popular image that many New York
ers (and later the world) held of the black neighborhood. In 1924, as a
twenty-one-year-old resident, she knew that visitors from other parts of
the city would go to “the night-clubs . . . and dance to such jazz music as
[could] be heard nowhere else,” that the region’s major thoroughfares like
Lenox and Seventh avenues were “never deserted,” while various “crowds
skipp[ed] from one place of amusement to another.”1 Those crowds of
primarily middle-class white voyeurs, fulfilling their own ideas about the
primitiveness and authenticity of black life, enjoyed and came to expect
Harlem’s “‘hot’ and ‘barbaric’ jazz, the risqu? lyrics and the ‘junglelike’
dancing of its cabaret floor shows, and all its other ‘wicked’ delights.”2 As
one black observer noted, after “a visit to Harlem at night,” party goers
believed that the town “never sle[pt] and that the inhabitants . . . jazz[ed]
through existence.”3 Hampton’s everyday life, however, failed to coincide
with these romanticized and essentialized stereotypes of black entertainment
and urban life. A southern migrant, domestic worker, and occasional chorus
This article is dedicated to the memory of Angela Michelle Meyers (1971-2006), whose
life was too short but whose spirit lives on through her family, friends, and the many people
she inspired. At various stages of writing I received comments, criticisms, and encouragement
from Luther Adams, Norlisha Crawford, Doreen Drury, Kali Gross, Claudrena Harold, Nancy
Hewitt, Jacqui Malone, Nell Irvin Painter, Kathy Peiss, Marlon Ross, and Francille Wilson. I
would like to thank the panel participants and audience at the 2006 Organization of American
Historians meeting, where the ideas in this article were first presented. I would also like to
extend special thanks to Chad Heap for extensive feedback as well as to Timothy Gilfoyle for
his support and patience.
1 lames Weldon Johnson, Black Manhattan (1930; New York: Da Capo, 1991), 160-61.
2 Jervis Anderson, This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950 (New York: Farrar,
Straus, Giroux, 1981), 139.
3 Johnson, Black Manhattan, 160-61.
Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 18, No. 3, September 2009
? 2009 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819
418
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Blaek Women^s Sexuality 419
line dancer, she understood Harlem’s social and cultural complexities as
she faced its pleasures, hardships, and dangers. Her time in Harlem also
coincided with the historical moment when the neighborhood was touted
by white New Yorkers as being one of the most sexually liberated urban
spaces in the city.
Like that of most working-class women, however, Hampton’s social life,
particularly her romantic attachments, faced more critical surveillance. With
the increasing popularity of movies, dance halls, and amusement parks, com
munity members and relatives became more concerned about how and with
whom their young women spent their leisure time. Reformers and the police
also attempted to regulate working-class women’s social lives and especially
their sexuality. During World War I the federal government showed par
ticular concern because of its fear that young women would spread venereal
disease to soldiers, thereby physically weakening the armed forces and thus
endangering the country’s war effort.4 General concerns about working-class
women’s sexual behavior influenced the passing of numerous state laws that
were shaped by reformers, approved by legislators, and enforced by police
officers.5 As such, young working-class women’s interest in and pursuit of
romance and sex caused various older adults unease not simply because such
behavior rejected or ignored traditional courtship practices but also because
evidence of sexual expression and behavior outside of marriage and outside
the parameters of prostitution eventually constituted criminal activity.
Even though all working-class women were scrutinized for their pursuit
of social autonomy and sexual expression, race and ethnicity influenced
the nature of reformers’ and criminal justice administrators’ interactions
with their charges. Immigrant and native-born white working-class women
certainly were targeted by reformers and the police for questionable moral
behavior, but generally authority figures believed these women could be
reformed. Rehabilitative efforts were less of a guarantee for women who
were characterized as innately promiscuous because of longstanding nega
tive stigmas associated with their African ancestry and legacy of American
enslavement. The fact that many African American women lived in Harlem,
a neighborhood seen by white partygoers (and other New Yorkers) as a
4 See Allan M. Brandt, No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United
States since 1880 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); and Elizabeth Clement, Love
for Sale: Courting, Treating, and Prostitution in New Tork City, 1900-1945 (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 2006), esp. chap. 4.
5 See Estelle Freedman, Their Sister’s Keepers: Women’s Prison Reform in America, 1830
1930 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984), 109-42; Mary Odern, Delinquent
Daughters: Protecting and Policing Adolescent Female Sexuality in the United States, 1885-1920
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995), 1-7, 95-127; and Ruth Alexander,
The ccGirl Problem”: Female Sexual Delinquency in New Tork, 1900-1930 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell
University Press, 1995), 1-7, 33-66.
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420 Cheryl D. Hicks
center of social and sexual abandon, only reinforced the libidinous im
ages of the neighborhood’s residents and influenced how police officers
and criminal justice administrators assessed black women’s culpability in
sexual offenses.
Young black women?incarcerated primarily for sex-related offenses on
charges that included vagrancy, disorderly conduct, and prostitution?usually
rejected reformers’ concerns and often believed they were unfairly targeted.6
Mabel Hampton, for example, contended that her imprisonment at the New
York State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills (hereafter Bedford) for
solicitation stemmed from a false arrest. Other inmates revealed their own
problems with law enforcement and, like Hampton, disagreed with the con
tention that their social behavior?in New York and especially Harlem?was
criminal. One hundred Bedford case files show that between 1917 and 1928
a range of black women?from southern migrants to native-born New York
ers?negotiated the urban terrain as well as their sexual desire. In particular,
forty-nine southern migrants’ experiences showed how they encountered and
embraced a social and political freedom unavailable to most black southern
ers. Yet many young working-class black women, regardless of their regional,
religious, or familial background, grappled with the relentless surveillance by
police officers, reformers, concerned relatives, and community members.
During admission interviews and throughout their association with Bed
ford, black women revealed how public perceptions of their sexual behavior
failed to reveal the complexity of their personal experiences. Most impor
tantly, their wide-ranging responses provide a lens through which we might
understand how working-class black women whose imprisonment, in large
part, stemmed from arrests for?alleged and admitted?sexual offenses dealt
with urban sexuality. Like their white counterparts they experimented with
courting, treating, and the sex trade, but the “metalanguage of race” and
especially “racial constructions of sexuality” influenced the distinct reactions
they received from many authority figures. In particular, the prevalence of
racial stereotypes meant that the police and Bedford administrators primarily
viewed young black women’s “sexual delinquency” as natural rather than
judging the independent conduct of individuals.8 Such essentialized render
ings of their sexuality as well as black female reformers’ concerted efforts
to control such negative images by repressing discussions of sexual desire
6 Many women were also incarcerated for public order crimes such as drunkenness, petty
larceny, and incorrigibility.
7 Danielle L. McGuire’s work provides another example of black women’s testimony when
she addresses their experiences of rape and sexual violence during the post-World War II era.
“‘It Was like All of Us Had Been Raped’: Sexual Violence, Community Mobilization, and the
African American Freedom Struggle,” Journal of American History 91, no. 3 (2004): 906-31.
I want to thank Nancy Hewitt for encouraging me to think about these connections.
8 Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, “African-American Women’s History and the Metalanguage
of Race,” Signs 17, no. 2 (1992): 262-66. Higginbotham contends that the “metalanguage of
race signifies . . . the imbrications of race within the representation of sexuality” (262).
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Blaek Women^s Sexuality 421
have obscured ordinary black women’s complicated decisions and dilemmas
regarding sex. While they enjoyed a greater range of choices regarding the
conduct of their social lives, they also dealt with more restrictive treatment
from both public officials and their own community. Their broader range
of leisure options forced them to make difficult choices about how they
would deal with their sexual desires as well as the consequences of their
decisions and actions. Thus, black women’s responses can offer a window
into how they remembered past sexual encounters or, rather, how they chose
to characterize them. This study privileges the ways in which working-class
black women constructed their own narratives and the kinds of stories they
chose to reveal about their sexual behavior. Focusing on early-twentieth
century New York, where moral panics about working-class female sexuality
shaped urban reform and criminal justice initiatives, this work also shows
how local and state officials’ racialized conceptions of black women’s sexual
behavior influenced the dynamics of reform efforts in black communities
as well as the tenor of Bedford’s institutional policies.
What Can Bedford’s Prison Records Tell Us about
Black Women’s Sexuality?
Incarcerated women offer a perspective that places black working-class women’s
ideas about and experiences with sexuality at the center of discussions regard
ing early-twentieth-century urban life.9 Using the cases of female offenders
to address this issue, however, does not suggest that black working women
were linked with criminality. Rather, this approach reflects the encounters of a
particular segment of women who grew up and lived in certain black communi
ties. Their experiences coincided with as well as diverged from those of other
women but also vividly underscore the complexity of the black working class.10
9 My thinking about working-class women’s sexuality has been influenced by Kathy Peiss,
“‘Charity Girls’ and City Pleasures: Historical Notes on Working-Class Sexuality, 1880-1920,”
in Passion and Power: Sexuality in History, ed. Kathy Peiss and Christina Simmons (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 1989), 57-69; Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women
and Leisure in Turn-of-the-Century New Tork (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1986);
Odern, Delinquent Daughters; Alexander, The “Girl Problem”; and Christine Stansell, City of
Women: Sex and Class in New Tork, 1789-1860 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987).
Some examples of black working-class women expressing same-sex desire are found in Karen
V. Hansen, “‘No Kisses Is Like Youres’: An Erotic Friendship between Two African-American
Women during the Mid-Nineteenth Century,” Gender and History 7, no. 2 (1995): 153-82;
Farah Jasmine Griffin, ed., Beloved Sisters and Loving Friends: Letters from Rebecca Primus of
Royal Oak, Maryland, and Addie Brown of Hartford, Connecticut, 1854-1868 (New York:
Knopf, 1999); and Elizabeth Lapovsky Kennedy and Madeline D. Davis, Boots of Leather,
Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community (New York: Routledge, 1993).
10 My thinking about the complexity of the black working class has been influenced by
the work of Nell Irvin Painter, The Narrative ofHosea Hudson: The Life and Times of a Black
Radical (New York: W. W. Norton, 1994); Nell Painter, Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1996); Tera Hunter, To Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s
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422 Cheryl D. Hicks
Such an inquiry emphasizes how some black women understood, experienced,
and expressed heterosexual and same-sex desire while simultaneously dealing
with how others perceived their sexuality, including police officers, prison
administrators, black reformers, relatives, and white Americans generally.
Addressing black women’s sexuality?which usually appears in literature
or through the figure of the 1920s blues woman?from the perspective
of a specific group of working-class women takes into account scholar
Evelynn Hammonds’s directive to consider “how differently located
black women engage[d] in reclaiming the body and expressing desire.”11
Hammonds notes that scholarship on black women’s sexuality typically
focuses on how black women at the turn of the twentieth century refrained
from discussing sexual desire and instead advocated behavior that rejected
those stereotypes that defined them as representatives of deviant sexuality.
Black female activists, in particular, promoted what scholar Evelyn Hig
ginbotham has termed a “politics of respectability” in which appropriate
behavior and decorum provided a defensive response to immoral images
as well as corresponding civil and political inequalities.12 Black women also
Lives and Labors after the Civil War (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997);
Tera Hunter, “‘The Brotherly Love for Which this City is Proverbial Should Extend to All’:
The Everyday Lives of Working-Class Women in Philadelphia and Atianta in the 1890s,” in
W. E. B. DuBois, Race, and the City, ed. Michael B. Katz and Thomas Sugrue (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998), 127-51; Robin D. G. Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture,
Politics, and the Black Working-Class (New York: Free Press, 1994); Robin D. G. Kelley, “‘We
Are Not What We Seem’: Rethinking Black Working-Class Opposition in the Jim Crow South,”
Journal ofAmerican History80, no. 1 (1993): 75-112; and Elsa Barkley Brown, “Negotiating
and Transforming the Public Sphere: African American Political life in the Transition from
Slavery to Freedom,” Public Culture 7, no. 1 (1994): 107-46.
11 Evelynn Hammonds, “Black (W)holes and the Geometry of Black Female Sexuality,”
differences: AJournal of Feminist Cultural Studies 6, nos. 2-3 (1994): 138. For discussions of
black women’s sexuality in literature see Carol Batker, ‘”Love Me like I Like to Be’: The Sexual
Politics of Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, the Classic Blues, and the Black Women’s
Club Movement,” African American Review 32, no. 2 (1998): 199-213; Farah Jasmine Griffin,
“Textual Healing: Claiming Black Women’s Bodies, the Erotic and Resistance in Contemporary
Novels of Slavery,” Callaloo 19, no. 2 (1996): 519-36; Deborah E. McDowell, “‘It’s Not Safe.
Not Safe at All’: Sexuality in Nella Larsen’s Passing” in The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader, ed.
Henry Abelove, Mich?le Aina Barale, and David M. Halperin (New York: Routledge, 1993),
616-25; and Hazel V. Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood: The Emergence of the Afro-American
Woman Novelist (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); see also Deborah E. McDowell’s
introduction to Nella Larsen, Quicksand andPassing'(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press, 1986), ix-xxxv.
12 Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black
Baptist Church, 1880-1920 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993), 185-229.
Elsa Barkley Brown raises a critical point regarding the problems associated with the entire
community following a politics of respectability when she notes that “the struggle to present
Black women and the Black community as ‘respectable’ eventually led to repression within the
community” (“Imaging Lynching: African American Women, Communities of Struggle, and
Collective Memory,” in African American Women Speak out on Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas,
ed. Geneva Smitherman [Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1995], 108).
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Black Women’s Sexuality 423
enacted what scholar Darlene Clark Hine calls a “culture of dissemblance.”
In this sense they “created the appearance of openness and disclosure but
actually” fashioned a protective silence “from their oppressors” as it related
to their personal and sexual lives.13 While acknowledging the power of such
theoretical concepts, Hammonds argues that using the “politics of silence”
as a defensive strategy worked so successfully that black women eventually
“lost the ability to articulate any conception of their sexuality”?with one
exception: women performing the blues.14 This scholarship, then, suggests
that the most prominent and public articulation of black women’s sexuality
appeared through the experiences of early-twentieth-century blues sing
ers who expressed sexual desire through explicit lyrics and performance.15
Discussions about female entertainers, however, present one particular
viewpoint on how black women addressed sexual desire.
13 Darlene Clark Hi?e, “Rape and the Inner Lives of Black Women in the Middle West:
Preliminary Thoughts on the Culture of Dissemblance,” in Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural
Reader in U.S. Women’s History, ed. Ellen Carole DuBois and Vicki L. Ruiz, 2nd ed. (New York:
Routledge, 1994), 342^7. See also Hazel V. Carby, “Policing the Black Woman’s Body in an
Urban Context,” Critical Inquiry 18, no. 4 (1992): 738-55; and Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Daughters
of Sorrow: Attitudes toward Black Women, 1880-1920 (New York: Carlson, 1990). For scholarly
work that explores black women’s responses to negative stereotypes see Hine, “Rape and the Inner
Lives”; Dorothy Salem, To Better Our World (New York: Carlson, 1990); Higginbotham, Righ
teous Discontent, Deborah Gray White, Too Heavy A Load: Black Women in Defense of Themselves
(New York: W W Norton, 1999); Mich?le Mitchell, Righteous Propagation: African Americans
and the Politics of Racial Destiny after Reconstruction (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 2004); and Kevin Gaines, Uplifting the Race: Black Leadership, Politics, and Culture in the
Twentieth Century (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996).
14 Evelynn Hammonds, “Toward a Genealogy of Black Female Sexuality: The Problematic
of Silence,” in Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures, ed. M. lacqui
Alexander and Chandra Talpade Mohantry (New York: Routledge, 1997), 175. Hazel V.
Carby addresses the heroine in Harlem Renaissance literary texts: “The duty of the black
heroine toward the black community was made coterminous with her desire as a woman, a
desire which was expressed as a dedication to uplift the race. This displacement from female
desire to female duty enabled the negotiation of racist constructions of black female sexuality
but denied sensuality and in this denial lies the class character of its cultural politics” (‘”It
Jus Be’s Dat Way Sometime’: The Sexual Politics of Black Women’s Blues,” in DuBois and
Ruiz, Unequal Sisters, 332). See also Mich?le Mitchell’s discussion of this issue in her “Silences
Broken, Silences Kept: Gender and Sexuality in African-American History,” Gender and His
tory 11, no. 3 (1999): 440.
15 For a discussion of black women’s sexuality and its relationship to blues see Carby, “It
Jus Be’s Dat Way Sometime,” 330-41; and Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism:
Gertrude ccMa” Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday (New York: Vintage Books, 1998).
Davis argues that the “blues songs recorded by Gertrude Rainey and Bessie Smith offer us
a privileged glimpse of the prevailing perceptions of love and sexuality in postslavery black
communities in the United States…. The blues women openly challenged the gender politics
implicit in traditional cultural representations of marriage and heterosexual love relationships”
(41). See also Ann Ducille, “Blue Notes on Black Sexuality: Sex and the Texts of Jessie Fauset
and Nella Larsen,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 3, no. 3 (1993): 418-44; and Hortense
J. Spillers, “Interstices: A Small Drama of Words,” in Pleasure and Danger: Exploring Female
Sexuality, ed. Carole S. Vance (Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984), 74.
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424 Cheryl D. Hicks
Not solely representing black women enacting a “politics of silence” or
blues women expressing a public identity as sexual beings, imprisoned Bed
ford women provide examples of both perspectives. Answering the explicit
questions that Bedford administrators asked all women during the admissions
process, black domestics, laundresses, factory workers, and children’s nurses
between the ages of sixteen and twenty-eight revealed sexual experiences that
exemplified a variety of behaviors, including desire, ignorance, and abuse.16
Yet there were instances when administrators became frustrated because some
black women acknowledged their involvement in the sex trade but were
reticent about conveying further details. For example, one twenty-year-old
Virginia native was characterized as “pleasant” and “truthful,” but she was
also said to have provided officials with “little information about herself.”17
Thus, white female administrators (and one white male superintendent)
also documented black women’s sense of propriety when they, as inmates,
refused to talk about their sexual experiences or indicated how they attended
to traditional moral proscriptions by rejecting premarital sex.
Female offenders’ responses to prison administrators might be seen as
evidence of the state’s continued intrusion into black women’s lives as well
as its attempt to construct and promote derogatory images.18 No doubt,
black women understood administrators’ skepticism when what they re
counted failed to coincide with longstanding racial and sexual stereotypes.
Consider, for instance, the sexual history of one inmate who revealed the
complex parameters of a life that included being raped, her revelation that
she prostituted herself twice, and her adamant stance that she was not
promiscuous. The administrator seemed to dismiss the woman’s difficult
circumstances by focusing solely on her interview demeanor. The officiai
concluded, in part, that the woman’s “better education [had given] . . . her
[a] superior manner” so that she did not have an “attractive personality”
because she seemed “distant and haughty.”19 Indeed, what administrators
thought as well as how they documented what they observed and chose
to hear from black women shaped the information within all case files.20
16 On a practical level, all women who entered Bedford were queried about who told them
about sex, when and at what age they had their first sexual encounter, and if that encounter
was consensual. Finally, they were asked whether they practiced prostitution, and if they did,
at what age they entered the trade as well as how much money they accrued.
17 Inmate #3724, Admission Record, August 1924, Series 14610-77B, Bedford Hills Cor
rectional Facility, 1915-30, 1955-65, Records of the Department of Correctional Services,
New York State Archives and Records Administration, State Education Department, Albany,
New York (hereafter BH). I have used pseudonyms for inmates’ names but have retained their
original inmate case numbers.
18 Hammonds, “Toward a Genealogy,” 176.
19 Inmate #3706, History Blank, 8 July 1924, BH.
20 Regina Kunzel addresses how historians need to understand that “case records often
reveal as much, if not more, about those conducting the interview as they do about those inter
viewed.” See her “Pulp Fictions and Problem Girls: Reading and Rewriting Single Pregnancy
in the Postwar United States,” American Historical Review 100, no. 5 (1995): 1468-69. See
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Black Women’s Sexuality 425
Yet these partial transcripts also show how inmates challenged the public
discourse that delineated all black women as pathologically promiscuous.
These women’s responses were also influenced by attempts to negotiate
Bedford’s indeterminate sentencing, which, based on how an administrator
assessed an inmate’s behavioral improvement, could include a minimum
sentence of several months or a maximum sentence of three years.
While exploring offenders’ responses to questions about sexual behavior,
this study takes seriously the possibility that black women who felt compelled
to silence may have seen the admission interview as an opportunity to docu
ment their incidences of desire as well as abuse. Some women described
experiences that ranged from initial romance to participation in the sex trade.
Others revealed the dangers found by young and independent women living
in a large city. Understanding that society questioned most black women’s
complicity in their rapes, these inmates may have viewed administrators’
direct question about whether their first “sexual offense” was consensual
or rape as a chance to address their abuse in ways that may not have been
possible among friends, family members, community leaders, or the police.
Administrators’ decision to label young women’s first sexual encounters as
criminal offenses reminds us of their moral position on premarital sex and
makes clear their preconceived notions about all incoming and primarily
working-class women.
Officials also documented “harmful intimacy” or, rather, the interracial
relationships they observed at Bedford. While acknowledging the preva
lence of same-sex desire among white inmates, administrators seemed most
concerned with developing attachments between black and white women.
Evidence of such relationships stemmed largely from the various conduct
violations (described variously as “fond of colored girls” or “seen passing
notes to black inmates”) noted within white women’s files.21 Black women
also received conduct violations, which would indicate that they actively
participated in interracial liaisons. Administrators, however, portrayed
“harmful intimacy” as white women’s heterosexual attraction to black
women, whose dark skin color supposedly represented virility.22 Dismissing
their own notations, officials attempted to ignore black women’s participa
tion in “harmful intimacy” and same-sex desire among black women.
These same officials also overlooked their own evidence of black women’s
varied sexual experiences and instead based many of their inmate evaluations
on powerful racial stereotypes. Centuries-old images that defined black women
also how Timothy Gilfoyle discusses the difficult questions that historians of sexuality must
pose regarding their evidence. See his “Prostitutes in History: From Parables of Pornography
to Metaphors of Modernity,” American Historical Review 104, no. 1 (1999): 139-40.
21 See Inmate #2475, Conduct Record, October-December 1918, and Inmate #4044,
Conduct Record, 13 June 1926, BH.
22 Margaret Otis, “A Perversion Not Commonly Noted,” Journal of Abnormal Psychology
8, no. 2(1913): 113.
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426 Cheryl D. Hicks
as immoral and pathological deeply influenced these officials’ perceptions. As
scholars Jennifer Morgan and Deborah Gray White have shown, already in
the seventeenth century male European travelers depicted African women’s
bodies as savage, lewd, and unfeminine, and they unleashed Christian, moral
condemnations of various cultural practices such as seminudity, polygamy,
and dancing, narratives that eventually justified the slave trade.23 Such obser
vations of cultural differences shaped the development of enslavement and
led to correlations between lasciviousness and Africans generally. As Sander
Gilman has argued, Europeans eventually viewed black men’s and women’s
bodies as “iconfs] for deviant sexuality.”24 In the context of American slavery
antebellum southerners accepted the image of the sexually insatiable enslaved
woman, thereby characterizing all white men as victims of sepia temptresses.25
The direct connections that southerners made between black women, im
morality, and promiscuity remained vivid in popular culture long after slavery
ended.26 In 1904, when one southern white woman commented that she
could not “imagine such a creation as a virtuous black woman,” she captured
the sentiments of many late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century white
Americans.27
When black women were imprisoned for sex-related and other minor
offenses, Bedford prison officials’ knowledge of prevailing stereotypes af
fected their overall assessment of black women’s culpability. It was not
uncommon for administrators to conflate their ideas about an uncivilized
Africa with their physical descriptions and overall behavioral assessments of
incoming black women. In 1923 written comments such as “true African
type . . . inclined to be somewhat vicious looking” and “a typical African
cunning calculating eyes” indicated the depth of their prejudices in evaluat
ing individual women’s cases.28 More positive appraisals such as “appears
23 Jennifer L. Morgan, “‘Some Could Suckle over Their Shoulder’: Male Travelers, Female
Bodies, and the Gendering of Racial Ideology, 1500-1770,” William and Mary Quarterly
54, no. 1 (1997): 167-92; also see Higginbotham, “African-American Women’s History,”
263-64. My interpretation in this section has also been influenced by Deborah Gray White,
Ar’n’t I a Woman?: Female Slaves in the Plantation South, rev. ed. (New York: W. W Norton
& Company, 1999), esp. 27-61.
24 Sander L. Gilman, “Black Bodies, White Bodies: Toward an Iconography of Female
Sexuality in Late-Nineteenth-Century Art, Medicine, and Literature,” Critical Inquiry 12,
no. 1 (1985): 209.
25 White, Ar’n’t I a Woman, 30.
26 Higginbotham, “African-American Women’s History,” 263.
27 “Experiences of the Race Problem: By a Southern White Woman,” Independent, March
1904, 46.
28 Inmate #3533, History Blank, 24 October 1923, and Inmate #3521, History Blank, 20
September 1923, BH. Scholars have shown how physical descriptions of black women were used
to construct and later fulfill stereotypes that played major roles in American enslavement as well
as to define black femininity and criminality. Subjective comments by Bedford officials (both
male and female) about black women’s appearance seem to reiterate and even perpetuate the
earlier assessments of European male travelers in Africa who, in a different context, “grappled
with the character of the female African body?a body both desirable and repulsive, available
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Black Women’s Sexuality 427
intelligent for one of her race and station” and “has little moral sense but
appears more decent than the average colored girl” still revealed their beliefs
in black people’s inferiority.29 Along with observations of black women
that ranged from “refined looking pretty colored girl” to “very inferior
looking colored girl,” regional biases also influenced initial interviews.30
Administrators making notations akin to the following description?”pecu
liar way of speaking, a drawl and a typically Southern way of pronouncing
words”?often questioned southern migrants’ level of intelligence, fitness
for urban life, and susceptibility to crime based on their diction.31 Thus,
not only did these officials evaluate and categorize Bedford’s working-class
and poor women, but their notations also illustrate their specific beliefs in
black women’s criminality.
In 1924 Mabel Hampton, characterized by Bedford’s superintendent,
Amos Baker, as a “bright and good looking colored girl,” simultaneously
reinforced yet complicated Bedford officials’ assumptions. Administra
tors never questioned the validity of her arrest but did acknowledge that
Hampton seemed unique. Even though she fervently denied her solicitation
charge, her comportment impressed prison administrators. They found her
“alert” and “composed” with a “pleasant voice and manner of speaking”;
in a separate interview officials noted that Hampton’s “attitude and manner
seem[ed] truthful” as she talked, “freely and frankly concealing] nothing”
about her everyday life and what she considered to be her false arrest.32
While administrators found Hampton attractive, personable, and honest,
they still imprisoned her. Ignoring their own observations regarding her
credibility, officials judged Hampton based on their assumption that black
women’s sexual misconduct, when not a direct legal violation, could also
be attributed to their innate susceptibility to unfortunate associations with
“bad company.”33 Hampton, however, explained her police altercation
quite differendy, as she called her arrest a “put up job.”34
and untouchable, productive and reproductive, beautiful and black” (Morgan, “Some Could
Suckle,” 170). See also Kathleen Brown, Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, and Anxious Patriarchs:
Gender, Race, and Power in Colonial Virginia (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina
Press, 1996), 107-36; Walter Johnson, Soul by Soul: Life inside the Antebellum Slave Market
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 135-61; White, Ar’n’t I a Woman,
27-61; and Gilman, “Black Bodies, White Bodies.”
29 Inmate #3699, Admission Record, 10 July 1924, and Inmate #3502, History Blank,
22 August 1923, BH.
30 Inmate #3333, History Blank, 26 December 1922, and Inmate #3728, Admission
Record, 19 August 1924, BH.
31 Inmate #4477, Escape Description Record, 19 July 1928, BH.
32 Inmate #3696, History Blank, 10 July 1924, BH. I have revealed this inmate’s name
and case file in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act of 1966, U.S. Code, sec.
552, pt. 1, subchap. 2.
33 Inmate #3696, Recommendation for Parole, n.d. (ca. January 1925), BH.
34 Inmate #3696, History Blank, 10 July 1924, BH.
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428 Cheryl D. Hicks
The “ill-feeling” that Hampton expressed “toward her accuser” mirrored
the sentiments of a number of black women and community members as
they contended that police corruption rather than black women’s behavior
accounted for high numbers of prostitution arrests.35 Caught in a house raid
when her employer of two years took an extended European trip, Hampton
was most likely arrested because she was “between jobs.”36 The fact that
Hampton had access to her employer’s home shows how she was trusted,
but that same employer’s absence from the court proceedings indicated
that once in court Hampton had no one to vouch for her reputation.37
Her arrest also illuminates how the courts expanded the legal definition
of vagrancy to include prostitution. During this period vagrancy laws were
defined more broadly instead of the traditional perception of a person
with no employment or a public drunkard. In 1919 the New York statute
encompassed prostitution and included anyone who “in any way, aids and
abets or participates” in the sex trade.38 In Hampton’s case a plainclothes
detective charged her with being an accessory to a sex crime by alleging
that she permitted a female friend to use her employer’s apartment for
the “purposes of prostitution.” According to Hampton, on the night of
the arrest she and a friend waited for their dates, “who promised to take
them to a cabaret.” Shortly after the men’s arrival the police raided her
employer’s home and arrested both women.39 Initially, the arrest may have
puzzled Hampton, as she denied ever prostituting herself, contending that
she had been seeing her date for a month. Although she seemed conflicted
about his romantic pursuit, she also stated that he “wanted to marry her.”
Hampton’s perception of her boyfriend and the incident changed when
she surmised that her date worked as a “stool pigeon” or police accomplice
who arranged her arrest.40 Thus, Hampton’s evening excursion led to her
subsequent imprisonment because in court the police officer’s word was
deemed more legitimate than that of a young black domestic.
35 Inmate #3696, History Blank, 10 July 1924, BH.
36 Joan Nestle, “Lesbians and Prostitutes: An Historical Sisterhood,” in A Restricted
Country (New York: Firebrand Books, 1987), 169.
37 After returning from Europe, Hampton’s employer was apparently so “indignant at the
idea of her apartment having been used for purposes of prostitution that she refused to ap
pear” in court to vouch for Hampton’s character. Although Hampton had been in “faithful
service” for at least two years, her employer disregarded various friends’ advice and chose not
to support Hampton’s court case. See Inmate #3696, Letter from Amy M. Pr?vost to Dr.
Amos T. Baker, 13 November 1924, BH.
38 Arthur Spingarn, Laws Relating to Sex Morality in New Tork City (New York: Century,
1926), 32-33; see there Crim. P. 887, subdivisions 1-4, especially 4e, “permitting premises
to be used for a purpose forbidden thereby is valid where testimony is sufficient to show that
such use was with the guilty knowledge of [the] defendant” (33).
39 Joan Nestle, “‘I Lift My Eyes to the Hill’: The Life of Mabel Hampton as Told by a
White Woman,” in A Pragile Union (San Francisco: Cleis, 1998), 34.
40 Inmate #3696, Recommendation for Parole, 13 January 1925, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 429
The Dangers of Black Working-Class Leisure
Hampton was not alone in her desire for entertainment and companion
ship, nor was she exempt from experiencing the dangers that such yearn
ings posed. Indeed, working women’s longing to escape the everyday toil
of personal service labor by attending cabarets and dance halls at night
could result in arrest or what most women called a police set-up.41 In 1923
Harriet Holmes, a laundress making fifteen dollars a week, argued that
she was falsely arrested when leaving a popular dance hall. It is not clear
if she arrived at the function with friends, but when she left at half past
one o’clock in the morning she was alone. The twenty-three year old said
that when she was walking to her apartment on West 133rd Street a car
stopped at the curb, and four men, claiming that they were police, pulled
her in and, according to her, “without any reason … declared that she was
guilty of prostitution.”42 In a similar case a twenty-two year old decided
that she would leave a cabaret alone at half past one o’clock in the morning.
In this instance her girlfriend refused to leave with her, so she reportedly
followed her sister’s advice, which stressed that “after dark always take a
taxi” home, to no avail. When she got in the cab, “two men stepped in
with her.” She fought them, thinking they were robbers. Instead, she was
taken to the police station and arrested for prostitution.43
In addition to attending cabarets and dance halls young black women
found that the cheap and pleasurable practice of visiting friends’ homes
could also be a dangerous form of leisure.44 A number of women discovered
that the simple act of enjoying the company of friends in their tenement
or boardinghouse rooms could result in a solicitation arrest. Twenty-four
year-old Millie Hodges had been in New York for a few weeks working
in a coat factory before her arrest and Bedford sentence. Having recently
separated from her husband of nine years, she decided to leave Chicago
and come to New York so that she could make a fresh start. Without any
relatives in the city, she sought a supportive community and was visiting
on 132nd Street when her friend’s boardinghouse was raided and its oc
cupants charged with “being disorderly.”45 Her denials about solicitation
and her claims that she had never been arrested failed to change her fate;
she gained a criminal record by simply being in a seemingly appropriate
residence at the wrong time. Incidences such as this one reinforced the
41 For discussion of the problems associated with working-class black women and leisure
in Atlanta see Hunter, To Joy My Freedom, 168-86.
42 Inmate #3474, History Blank, July 1923, BH.
43 Inmate #3489, History Blank, 1 August 1923, and Preliminary Investigation, ca. June
1923, BH.
44 William Fielding Ogburn, “The Richmond Negro in New York City: His Social Mind
as Seen in His Pleasures” (master’s thesis, Columbia University, 1909), 60-61.
45 Inmate #3535, History Blank, 18 October 1923, BH.
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430 Cheryl D. Hicks
dilemma young black women faced in Harlem: they had the freedom to
participate in various commercial and informal amusements, but the stigmas
attached to working-class and black communities meant that their behavior
was regulated on a consistent and often discriminatory basis.
Some black women, however, made entertainment choices based on the
short-term benefits of pleasure rather than thinking through the implications
of associating with bad company or, rather, men and women with morally
questionable backgrounds. Scenarios ranged from those instances when
young women misjudged the character of their acquaintances to when they
knowingly associated with bad company and were led into dubious and
sometimes illegal activities. Having lived in her furnished room for two weeks
before her prostitution arrest, twenty-four-year-old southern migrant Sarah
Woods claimed that she believed that her West 140th Street boardinghouse
was run by a “respectable [colored] woman.” Woods later discovered that
the house had been raided; moreover, her landlady was described by the
police as a white woman in an interracial marriage and with a previous arrest
for running a disorderly household.46 While Woods may have suspected her
landlady’s racial identity, she would have been less able to know of her ar
rest record, which illustrates how some women simply became caught up in
unforeseeable circumstances. Alice Kent’s case nevertheless illustrates how
young women’s associations with bad company could be fun but lamentable.
Once she arrived in New York the twenty-year-old Philadelphia native im
mediately made friends with people who shunned legitimate employment but
devoured Harlem’s nightlife. Kent’s troubles began when she and a friend
attended the Savoy Dance Hall on Lenox Avenue and there met two men
with whom they eventually cohabitated and who partially supported them.
While social workers contended that she prostituted during her New York
tenure, Kent fervently denied her culpability and later wrote to a friend (in a
letter that was confiscated by prison officials and never mailed), admitting her
mistakes: “I was furious for a time, having the knowledge of my innocence.
But I am now coming to the conclusion that it was more or less my fault
for staying there, knowing what was going on. We are always judged by our
companions. This has taught me a lesson. … I will always remember my
(A.B.C.) that is to avoid bad company.”*7
Kent’s reaction shows that she understood the precarious nature and con
sequences of Harlem’s quick friendships and fast living. Twenty-two-year-old
Wanda Harding, described as a native of the British West Indies, acknowledged
her relationships with inappropriate acquaintances by referencing her Pente
costal background. When confronted about her misconduct, she responded
that she recognized her “great weakness and craving for the attractions of this
world.” She also seemed to suggest that others should empathize with her
46 Inmate #2480, Statement of Girl, 23 June 1917, BH.
47 Inmate #4501, Letter (more than likely confiscated) from Inmate to Friend, 19 January
1928, BH, emphasis added.
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Black Women ‘s Sexuality 431
slip-ups and noted that “everybody . . . [was] a born a sinner.”48 Harding’s
sentiments reveal a young woman’s acute awareness of her personal mistakes
and subsequent psychological struggles when forced to face the consequences
of having disregarded proper decorum. Reinforcing the fact that “her father
and mother were devout Christians” and concerned about her moral dilemma,
Harding’s minister concluded that “through bad company she went astray
[and] through good company she will be brought back again to the narrow
way”49 His comment exemplifies how the negative consequences resulting
from black women’s associations with bad company only underscored reform
ers’ and relatives’ contentions that these women ought to socialize only with
respectable people and under appropriate circumstances.
In this sense, black relatives and community members, while acknowledg
ing rampant police corruption, simultaneously expressed myriad concerns
about black women’s naive or wayward personal behavior. They empathized
with some of these young women’s grievances regarding false arrests, but,
emphasizing a woman’s appropriate decorum, they also often questioned
these women’s decision to attend unsupervised dances, associate with
questionable people, or walk unaccompanied late at night. Relatives were
especially anxious. Consider, for instance, the mother of one eighteen-year
old Long Island native whose frustration with her daughter’s behavior is
clear: “Her going to the bad was going to dances and then being led by
others older than herself.”50 While this mother accepted the fact that her
daughter was “going to the bad fast,” she also revealed how she worked
diligently to safeguard and raise all of her children properly “I have tried
to bring my children up in a Christian way have done the best I knew of,”
she explained, “but you know the world has to[o] many charms for young
people of today”51 Similar to reformers’ concerns, working-class parents
believed in the need for suitable recreational facilities and activities for black
youth because they agreed that the urban trappings of “silk and electric
lights” and other “evil influences” such as dance halls and saloons caused
young women to go astray.52
Black Working Women’s Sexuality
Although they were acutely aware of black people’s second-class citizenship
and supported black activists’ attempts to address this problem, many of
these young women also simply wanted to engage in and enjoy Harlem’s
48 Inmate #3377, History Blank, 16 February 1923, BH.
49 Inmate #3377, Letter from Minister to Bedford Reformatory, 13 August 1923, BH.
50 Inmate #4058, Letter of Inmate’s Mother to Superintendent Baker, 26 April 1926,
BH.
51 Inmate #4058, Letter of Inmate’s Mother to Superintendent Baker, 17 April 1926,
BH.
52 “Silk and Lights Blamed for Harlem Girls’ Delinquency,” Baltimore Afro-American,
19 May 1928, Reel 31, Tuskegee News Clipping File.
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432 Cheryl D. Hicks
social life. In most cases they understood reformers’ and relatives’ anxieties
about the temptations of the neighborhood, but as workers, many employed
since they were twelve or thirteen years old, a number of women doubtless
felt like one nineteen-year-old domestic from Washington, D.C., who asked:
“Why shouldn’t I go out some times if I worked?”53 Indeed, many of these
women probably hoped that the easy pleasure of commercial leisure would
temporarily transport them from the everyday drudgery of never-ending
workdays as well as the economic struggle to make ends meet. When they
had extra money or if they had a date, they enthusiastically spent their time
in dance halls, dancing and listening to the most popular tunes of the day.54
To the horror of most of their parents and community members, young
women quickly learned popular dances, such as the “turkey trot” in the early
1910s and the “black bottom,” the “mess around,” and the “charleston”
in the 1920s. Rev. Adam Clayton Powell’s 1914 comments still resonated
in the 1920s when he noted that young blacks’ fascination with music and
dancing were “not only in their conversations but in the movement of their
bodies about the home and on the street.”55 Such anxiety about how young
women seemed captured by secular music and behavior epitomized black
leaders’ and family members’ authentic concerns about individual women’s
welfare in addition to their belief that respectability was a viable strategy for
racial advancement and a stable home life.56 From whatever perspective one
viewed young women’s behavior, attending dances, cabarets, and movie
theaters failed to represent the most pressing problems or inducements.
Instead, socializing within smaller, unsupervised, mixed-sex groups as
well as the concomitant developing romantic and sexual interests alarmed
adults and excited young women. Young women disclosed a number of
reasons for how and why they rejected or became involved in premarital
sexual relationships. These included the promise of marriage, ignorance,
curiosity, their interest in acquiring nice things by bartering sex for them,
and even coercion.
As might be expected, relatives constantly sought to avert young women’s
attempts at complete independence as they hoped to guide their moral
lives. They chaperoned their young women’s social activities, enlisted strict
curfews, and encouraged them to devote their leisure time to church life.
In some instances their parenting may have worked, as a number of women
53 Inmate #2505, Mental Examination, Attitude toward Offense, 18 September 1917,
BH.
54 For a southern context regarding commercial leisure see Hunter, To Joy My Freedom,
168-86.
55 “Race Is Dancing Itself to Death,” New Tork Age, 8 January 1914. See also Tera W.
Hunter, “‘Sexual Pantomimes,’ the Blues Aesthetic, and Black Women in the South,” in Music
and the Racial Imagination, ed. Ronald Radano and Philip V. Bohlman (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 2000), 145-64; and Hunter, To Joy My Freedom, 168-86.
56 See Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 194-204; Gaines, Uplifting the Race, 152-78;
and Mitchell, Righteous Propagation, 76-140.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 433
adamantly denied ever having intercourse or premarital sex, arguing that
their arrests for sexual offenses were strictly frame-ups.57
Relatives also dealt with the consequences of young women’s disobedient
behavior. In one case a twenty-three-year-old Cuban immigrant recalled
that after becoming pregnant at the age of fifteen her aunt forced her to
marry the baby’s father.58 Miranda Edmonds’s experience also illustrates
the tensions within families over differing perspectives regarding leisure and
sexuality. When recalling her first sexual encounter, the seventeen-year-old
North Carolina migrant contended that she was “partly forced” to have
intercourse with her boyfriend. While she blamed the troubling experi
ence on her “ignorance,” she was also “clear in opinion” that possibly her
parents were also at fault because she believed the incident “would not
have happened if she had had sex instruction.” Her position highlights the
complex consequences of her inexperience in that she was sent to Bedford
by her mother as an incorrigible case because she chose to stay away from
home for two consecutive days with her boyfriend.59 Edmonds’s case clearly
shows the difference between the adult behavior young women thought
they exhibited when they dated and became sexually active and the maturity
they actually needed to live as adults.
Like Edmonds, other black women acknowledged that their sexual en
counters occurred as a result of ignorance and curiosity. One twenty-five
year old divulged that she had sex at fifteen but still “had no idea why”60
Another twenty-year-old woman noted that her first encounter occurred
because “she was [simply] foolish.”61 The desire to know more about sex
prompted the responses of a number of women who revealed that they had
intercourse because they “saw other girls do it” or were “curious to know
what [the] sex experience was,” and one nineteen year old revealed that she
consented because it was a “boy she had known for some time.”62 While
these accounts convey these women’s youth and lack of forethought about
the physical and moral dangers of sexual relationships, other cases reveal
the experiences and choices of women who understood the consequences
of such a decision.
The promise of marriage prompted a number of single women to engage
in premarital sex. As romantic relationships transitioned into more intimate
contact, young men, whether they were sincere or not, negotiated with
girlfriends over how sex represented one aspect of the couple’s courtship
and future commitment. For example, one nineteen-year-old child’s nurse
explained that she consented to sex because she “liked the man” and he
57 Inmates #3696, #3389, #4058, #2796, BH.
58 Inmate #3501, History Blank, 21 August 1923, BH.
59 Inmate #4028, History Blank, n.d. (ca. February 1926), BH.
60 Inmate #3722, History Blank, 26 August 1924, BH.
61 Inmate #3721, History Blank, 10 October 1924, BH.
62 Inmate #2760, History Blank, n.d. (ca. 7 December 1925), Inmate #3699, History
Blank, 19 July 1924, and Inmate #2504, Statement of Girl, 8 August 1917, BH.
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434 Cheryl D. Hicks
“promised to marry her,” while a twenty-one-year-old single waitress noted
that her initial sexual relationship occurred when she was eighteen because
she was “engaged.”63 When divulging this type of information, these women
suggested that since marriage was inevitable, their decision to have premarital
sex failed to deviate completely from traditional norms.64 In those instances
where boyfriends refused to marry under any circumstances, especially with
unplanned pregnancies, young women’s convictions about courtship were
certainly challenged. For some, however, premarital sex coincided with their
ideas about courtship, as they continually emphasized that their first sexual
encounter occurred with their husbands.65 Twenty-one-year-old Ohio native
Lena Jones, characterized by administrators as a “thoroughly decent woman,”
recalled that she began intercourse at sixteen with her husband.66
Yet the early twentieth century also represented a moment when young
women’s sexual activity stemmed from more than a precursor to marriage
and instead highlighted these women’s social and economic options. In
stead of seeking courtships, some women enjoyed intimate contact that
allowed for intercourse without an impending marriage. Single working
women increasingly engaged in consensual and noncommercial sexual
relationships. Scholars have characterized some of this behavior as the turn
of-the-century phenomenon known as “treating.”67 Much like other work
ing-class women, black women with limited financial resources bartered
sex for commercial goods or amusements rather than accepting money for
intercourse. For instance, one nineteen-year-old domestic emphasized that
she took “presents from the men she went with but . . . never accepted
money.”68 Another nineteen year old, Evelyn Pitts, also claimed that she
never prostituted but did have sex “off and on with two or three different
men since she was 17.” She, like many other young women, stressed that
she “never [took] . . . money for it.”69 Even the language some women
used to refer to their sexual partners?such as friend, sweetheart, or, in
some cases, lover?illustrated how treating represented young women’s
distinct perceptions of heterosexual relationships and acceptable sexual
behavior.70 Soaking up the dynamics of an early-twentieth-century youth
culture of amusement parks, movies, and dances, working-class women
across the color line believed “treating” addressed their desire for romance
and pleasure as well as the city’s commercial amusements.
63 Inmate #3705, History Blank, 18 July 1924, and Inmate #4498, History Blank, n.d.
(ca. 30 March 1926), BH.
64 Clement, Love for Sale, 18-25.
65 Inmates #3535, #3538, #4092, #3376, #3475, #4137, #4042, #3694, BH.
66 Inmate #4137, History Blank, n.d. (ca. 7 July 1926), BH.
67 See Peiss, Cheap Amusements, 108-14; and Clement, Love for Sale, 45-75.
68 Inmate #2505, Statement of Girl, 2 August 1917, BH.
69 Inmate #2504, Statement of Girl, 8 August 1917, BH.
70 Inmates #3367, #3386, #2505, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 435
Although many women accepted these nontraditional sexual arrange
ments, they also understood that reformers and their relatives expressed
strong objections to such behavior. One twenty-four-year-old domestic
who revealed how she grew up with a mother who was “strictly Methodist
and insisted that.. . [her] children go to church regularly” disregarded her
traditional upbringing once she arrived in New York. She noted that even
after she started earning her own money “her mother would not let her go
to a dance or theatre because she thought it was wicked.” When she finally
left Washington, D.C., she reportedly emphasized that “no one [could]
to tell her what she could do . . . [and she] began to go out nearly every
night.” She consistently denied soliciting but acknowledged that during
her five-year tenure in New York she had intercourse with “three different
friends.” Her experience with “treating” garnered her various presents from
lovers that consisted of “candy, theatre tickets, and invitations to dinner.”71
Relatives, reformers, and prison administrators viewed these women’s situ
ations quite differently: “treating,” for them, represented another form of
female sexual delinquency. Young women’s frequent admissions to being
“immoral” suggests how they responded to administrators’ specific ques
tions about their premarital sexual practices rather than offering a seemingly
constant and simplistic explanation regarding their sexual behavior. As with
one twenty-three year old who disclosed that she had been “immoral” but
denied that she had “ever practiced prostitution,” these working women
insisted that they had made an independent choice to engage in sex for the
enjoyment it provided rather than being dependent upon the sex trade for
their survival.72
Yet black women’s sexual relationships were not always consensual or
liberating. Sexual danger in this sense was not simply about reformers’ and
relatives’ concerns that young women were compromising their moral
standing with premarital sexual experimentation. This type of sexual danger
also highlighted incidences of abuse and rape. Young women recounted
experiences of sexual harassment from employers as well as within their
familial and social lives. Later in life Mabel Hampton recalled that when she
was eight years old her uncle had raped her.73 She also recalled that when
she was working as a domestic, men in certain households “would try to
touch” her inappropriately.74 Like most women, Hampton understood that
any disclosure of her sexual abuse and harassment would have led others to
question her credibility rather than that of her attacker or harasser.
71 Inmate #2480, Statement of Girl, 23 June 1917, BH.
72 Inmate #3718. Also see Inmates #3533, #3474, #4498, BH.
73 Joan Nestle, “Excerpts from the Oral History of Mabel Hampton,” Signs 18, no. 4
(1993): 930; see also Nestle, A Fragile Union, 32.
74 Excerpt from oral history tapes made with Mabel Hampton, an African American les
bian, interview with Joan Nestle, 21 May 1981, MH-2, Box 3, Mabel Hampton Collection,
Lesbian Herstory Archives of the Lesbian Herstory Educational Foundation, Inc., New York
City (hereafter cited as MHC).
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436 Cheryl D. Hicks
Other black women’s experiences highlight similar scenarios of sexual
abuse when they knew their assailant. One twenty-one year old remembered
that she was raped by “the husband of her foster parent,” while a twenty
four-year-old woman revealed that she was raped by a “friend who was
visiting her sister’s house.”75 Even seemingly innocent interactions between
young women and men could lead to horrific consequences. One twenty
three-year-old domestic recalled that she was forced into intercourse at age
fifteen when she and a boy “were playing school” and then a game called
“Mama and Papa” that she “did not understand” until it was too late.76
Even as they were indicted for sexual offenses themselves, these women
chose to disclose that rape?whether committed by a family member, family
friend, or neighbor?had made a huge impact on their lives. In the most
unlikely forum with prison administrators, where they knew their stories
would be recorded, black women revealed various aspects of their harrow
ing experiences. Certainly, they understood that administrators would not
take legal action against their abusers, but some women must have believed
that revealing their trauma was important enough to provide a general or
detailed story about their plight as well as mitigate administrators’ negative
perspectives of them. Twenty-three-old domestic and Colorado native Sally
Bruce seems to have blamed herself for her abuse when explaining how
she dealt with her rape. Revealing that her “first time was at 20 years [old]
without her consent,” Bruce decided to continue with the relationship,
rationalizing that “she was a woman, no longer a child and intended to
marry” her abuser.77 Indeed, believing she had no other options, Bruce’s
decision highlights the difficult choices working women made when simul
taneously negotiating their sexuality as well as the longstanding sentiment
that black women could not be raped.78
In light of the history of such pernicious stereotypes, some black women’s
decision to enter the sex trade also represented a difficult choice for those
who claimed that they supplemented their paltry salaries as personal service
laborers. Highlighting her longstanding dilemma of dealing with menial
work’s inadequate wages and the immediacy of solicitation’s higher earnings,
twenty-six-year-old New York native Heather Hayes, a cook and chamber
maid, acknowledged that she had “practiced prostitution off and on since
she was seventeen.”79 These sorts of revelations about black women’s mis
givings concerning the trade coincide with the findings of a 1914 Women’s
Court investigation, which argued that black women’s “meager salaries and
uncongenial surroundings tend[ed] to produce a state of dissatisfaction
75 Inmate #4501, Summary Report on Application for Parole, ca. 1928, and Inmate #2480,
Statement of Girl, 23 June 1917, BH.
76 Inmate #4078, History Blank, n.d. (ca. 1 May 1926), BH.
77 Inmate #3706, History Blank, 18 July 1924, BH.
78 See Melton A. McLaurin, Celia, a Slave (New York: Bard, 1991), 104-22.
79 Inmate #3494, Recommendation for Parole, ca. 1924, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 437
which sometimes [led] … to prostitution.” Undoubtedly, there were
women like the twenty-two-year-old laundress who fully admitted to being
a “habitual prostitute,” but others attempted to show that they solicited
only infrequently.81 For instance, one twenty-three year old revealed that
she “prostituted with 2 men in 3 years,” and while she conceded that she
had been “immoral,” she denied “being promiscuous.”82
Black women’s behavior after arrest also suggests that they struggled with
the mental impact of their decisions to solicit. The aforementioned Women’s
Court study, entitled “Investigation of Colored Women at Night Court,”
indicated that when questioned during admission interviews, twenty-four
out of fifty-six women claimed that they were single and alone in the city
“without near relatives”; furthermore, at least eight of these women “admit
ted having mothers” in New York but refused to provide familial addresses
to court administrators because they did not want their relatives “to know
where they were.” The same investigation concluded that most of the
women came from “poor but respectable homes” yet eventually buckled
under the pressures of inadequate wages and bad company. Charting their
moral downfall, the study disclosed the trajectory of their transition from
taking on legitimate but unskilled work to prostitution: “From all restraining
influences they lodge in questionable districts; associate with questionable
people; work for a while; then both solicit and work[;] finally ending by
giving up their regular employment in order to solicit.”83
The lure of money and the expectation of an easier lifestyle undoubt
edly influenced some young women’s decision to enter the sex trade full
time. For instance, one seventeen-year-old domestic earning seven dollars a
month claimed that she was able to make “about $10 a week” when pros
tituting.84 Young women’s motivations ranged from their immediate need
for higher wages to supporting drug habits. Yet a small group of women
claimed that they solicited because they enjoyed sex and needed money for
material possessions. In the same year that she consented to have sex with
her “boy-sweetheart,” one sixteen-year-old domestic revealed that she also
began prostituting for “money and pleasure.”85 The temptation of mate
rial possessions prompted another woman to enter the sex trade because
“she saw other girls with nice things and wanted them too.”86 Likewise,
80 Carrietta V. Owens, “Investigation of Colored Women at Night Court. From June
8th to August 8th 1914,” Folder Women’s Court?Negro Cases, Box 63, p. 7, Committee
of Fourteen Papers, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Collection, Rare Books and Manuscripts, New
York Public Library, New York City.
81 Inmate #3497, History Blank, 13 August 1923, BH.
82 Inmate #3706, History Blank, 18 July 1924, BH.
83 Owens, “Investigation of Colored Women,” 7. For background on reformers’ argument
about the relationship between women’s low wages and prostitution see Freedman, Their
Sister’s Keepers, 114, 123-24.
84 Inmate #2497, Verified History, 26 July 1917, BH.
85 Inmate #3365, History Blank, 8 February 1923, BH.
86 Inmate #4063, History Blank, n.d. (ca. 23 April 1926), BH.
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438 Cheryl D. Hicks
twenty-year-old laundry presser Christina Greene explained that she grew
up in New York neighborhoods with prostitution and “associated” with sex
workers “without entering their profession,” although she readily admitted
that as a “young child” she “used to envy them because of the money they
made.” For a while, according to Greene, her aunt, who consistently “kept
her back,” she noted, made sure that she observed prostitution rather than
participated in the sex trade. Yet “after many years of trouble with [her]
husband and poverty,” she revealed that she ultimately “succumbed.”87
Cases like Greene’s, where women “succumbed” to the sex trade, cre
ated waves of anxiety not only for reformers but also for working-class
black women. Poor black women, who made distinct choices to work in
legitimate positions, understood the impact of prostitution on their lives all
too well. Often living in the same neighborhoods where the trade thrived,
they negotiated on a daily basis their moral stance against the sex trade and
fought against the stereotypes that implied that all black women were its
natural purveyors. Although most black reformers expressed their frustra
tion with prostitution in a public forum and incorporated their concerns
in their work, likeminded working women must have also talked with each
other and their families about their anxieties. These discussions probably
reinforced the contention of one twenty-four-year-old domestic who told
prison administrators “prostitution [was] . . . the worst crime anybody
[could] .. . commit because you have to do things that take away your self
respect.”88 Women like her quickly asserted their conscious choices not to
prostitute and were equally dismayed and frustrated that as working-class
women in black neighborhoods they were consistently mistaken for and
often arrested as sex workers. Such instances illustrate the tenuous position
black working women faced traversing the urban terrain when they negoti
ated their perceived as well as real sexual identities. Indeed, such concerns
reflected not simply black women’s concerns about prostitution but also
the very real impacts they experienced when exposing their sexual desires
within their racial community.
Regulating Black Women, Regulating Harlem
During the 1920s Harlem was part of a Renaissance in black cultural produc
tion that included the height of dance hall and nightclub gaiety, the popu
larity of rent parties, and a growing characterization that the neighborhood
was accepting of various forms of sexual expression. Many black residents
and leaders, as the previous discussion has shown, expressed grave and
conservative concerns about the confluence of popular entertainment and
nonmarital sex. It seems that they were also particularly concerned about the
growing presence of same-sex relationships. Many would have heard about
87 Inmate #3376, History Blank, 13 February 1923, BH.
88 Inmate #2480, Information Concerning the Patient, 23 June 1917, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 439
the openly lesbian references in blues singers’ songs like Gertrude “Ma”
Rainey’s “Prove It on Me Blues” or even the much-noted, outrageously
popular, and sexually decadent Harlem parties.89 Yet outside of the music
industry and within many working-class communities, publicly expressing
one’s sexuality and desire, whether single or married, was discouraged.90
Ironically, some black churches were discovering their own gay congre
gants during this time. The pulpit denouncement of such relationships,
however, conflated two distinct issues: same-sex desire and ministers who
preyed on young male congregants without condemnation from their pa
rishioners. Rev. Adam Clayton Powell of the Abyssinian Baptist Church,
a most vocal critic, briefly noted that young women were increasingly
engaged in same-sex relationships, although he did not distinguish con
sensual from predatory relationships. “Homosexuality and sex-perversion
among women,” argued Powell, “has grown into one of the most horrible
debasing, alarming and damning vices of present day civilization.” Powell
was not simply concerned that homosexuality was “prevalent to an unbe
lievable degree” but also that such relationships, according to him, were
“increasing day by day.” Powell’s conflation of same-sex desire and sexual
abuse of children gained strong support from his colleagues as well as his
congregation, whose responses on the day of his sermon indicated that his
“opinions were endorsed and approved without limitations.”91
Mabel Hampton (mentioned at the start of this article) was not a mem
ber of Powell’s church, yet it is not difficult to believe that she would have
understood the minister’s sentiments as representing the views of most
Harlem residents, since she actively sought to hide her sexual orientation
in her Harlem neighborhood before acting on her desire for women at
private rent parties. At the same time, while they may not have condoned
such behavior, most Harlemites in Powell’s congregation would not have
89 For analysis of the song see Davis, Blues Legacies, 39-40; and Carby, “It Jus Be’s Dat
Way Sometime,” 337.
90 See, for example, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, “Rethinking Vernacular Culture: Black
Religion and Race Records in the 1920s and 1930s,” in The House That Race Built: Original
Essays by Toni Morrison, Angela T Davis, Cornel West, and Others on Black Americans and
Politics in America Today, ed. Wahneema Lubiano (New York: Vintage Books, 1998), 157-77.
In the context of religion and the black working class Higginbotham notes that the “storefront
Baptist, Pentecostal, and Holiness churches along with a variety of urban sects and cults . . .
were doubtless more effective than middle-class reformers in policing the black woman’s body
and demanding conformity to strict guidelines of gender roles and sexual conduct” (171).
91 Eric Garber, “A Spectacle in Color: The Lesbian and Gay Subculture of Jazz Age
Harlem,” in Hidden from History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past, ed. Martin Bauml
Duberman, Martha Vicinus, and George Chauncey, Jr. (New York: Meridian, 1989), 318-31.
See also “Dr. A. C. Powell Scores Pulpit Evils,” New Tork Age, 16 November 1929, 1; “Dr.
Powell’s Crusade against Abnormal Vice Is Approved,” New Tork Age, 23 November 1929;
and “Corruption in the Pulpit,” New Tork Amsterdam News, 11 December 1929,20; George
Chauncey also discusses this issue in his Gay New Tork: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Mak
ing of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 (New York: Basic Books, 1994), 254-57.
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440 Cheryl D. Hicks
found the fact that Hampton frequented rent parties all that unusual. Large
numbers of working-class residents gladly paid fees to enjoy a night of
food, Prohibition Era drinking, dancing, and music while also contribut
ing financially to a fellow neighbor’s rent. They, like Hampton, attended
“pay parties” and “rent parties” in various people’s homes, and, according
to her, depending on the night and the residence, one could eat “chicken
and potato salad” “pig feet, chittlins,” and “in the wintertime” black-eyed
peas.92 She recalled that, having paid the fee, one could just “dance and
have fun” until the early hours of the morning. But Hampton partied
exclusively with other women. Her reminiscences about those moments
indicate that while black Harlemites may have acknowledged the existence
of rent parties, they would not have as easily accepted a party of women
desiring women. Explaining her predicament, Hampton revealed that, on
the one hand, as a young Harlemite she experienced a “free life” where she
“could do anything she wanted,” yet, on the other hand, publicly expressing
her developing and complex desires for women was out of the question.93
“When I was coming along everything was hush-hush,” she recalled. She
and women like her felt safer meeting at house parties?”private things,”
she noted, “where you’d go with” a woman without fear of reprisals.94
Hampton’s experience strongly suggests that black women who desired
women usually disguised their feelings in public, negotiating not only the
police but also black Harlem. She disclosed that when black women attended
house parties they made distinct choices about their public appearance that
depended on whether they walked or drove to a particular function. In the
privacy of an apartment they openly expressed their same-sex desires, yet
Hampton also emphasized how much more cautious they were about expos
ing their sexual desire when out and about within the larger Harlem commu
nity. According to her, when women attended various parties “very seldom
did any of them [wear] . . . slacks . . . because they had to come through the
streets.” Instead, they played it safe and dressed in women’s suits. She later
confirmed that she always wore women’s suits when attending parties. “You
couldn’t go out there with too many pants on because the men was ready
to see . . . and that was no good.” Instead, she explained that “you had to
protect yourself and protect the woman that you was with.”95
92 Nestle, A Fragile Union, 36. David Levering Lewis notes that “for a quarter, you
would see all kinds of people making the party scene; formally dressed society folks from
downtown, policemen, painters, carpenters, mechanics, truckmen in their workingmen’s
clothes, gamblers, lesbians, and entertainers of all kinds.” He stressed that “rent parties were
a function . . . of economics, whatever their overlay of camaraderie, sex, and music” ( When
Harlem Was in Vogue [New York: Oxford University Press, 1979], 107-8); see also Katrina
Hazzard-Gordon, Jookin’: The Rise of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture
(Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1990), 94-116.
93 Hampton, interview with Nestle, 10.
94 Ibid., 11.
95 Mabel Hampton, interview with Joan Nestle, “LFL Coming out Stories,” 21 June 1981,
8, Box 3, MHC. Another version of this interview is also in Nestle, A Fragile Union, 36.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 441
Hampton never revealed if she had ever experienced repercussions from
having expressed her attraction to women, but she seemed to have managed
her life by limiting her contact with men and those persons who were not
“in the life.” She told a personal friend later in her life that even during the
height of the Harlem Renaissance and pleasure seeking “you had to be very
careful,” which meant that Hampton and her friends “had fun behind closed
doors.”96 For her, going out to bars was too much of a hassle because, as she
put it, “too many men [were] taggled up with it;. . . they didn’t know you
[were] a lesbian . .. [and] they didn’t care.” “You was a woman … [so] you
had the public [and] you had the men to tolerate,” she recalled. She later
contended that while she met a number of girlfriends as a dancer in Harlem
cabarets such as the Garden of Joy, she eventually ended her dancing career
because it created unwanted exchanges with men. “I gave up the stage,” she
explained, “because unless you go with men you don’t eat.”97
In hindsight and as a gay rights activist, Hampton spoke about herself
as a young adult as having embraced lesbianism directly and publicly, yet
when she was arrested for prostitution in 1924 she may not have been
as forthcoming about her sexuality. Her arrest, after all, stemmed from
a heterosexual double date gone awry. Her experience suggests that her
later characterization of the solicitation arrest as absurd because she was
considered a “woman’s woman” might reveal more about her later life
than how she worked to address her feelings and desires for women and
men at that time.98 Hampton’s sentiments were shared by other women,
black and white, but the general focus of urban reformers and criminal
justice administrators as well as the federal government resulted from their
attempts to regulate the behavior of those they believed to be dangerous,
heterosexual, working-class women.
Alongside reformers’ and relatives’ concerns, young women’s arrests dur
ing and after World War I also reflected the federal government’s attempt
to prevent the spread of venereal disease. In particular, a series of vagrancy
and prostitution statutes landed primarily working-class women in state
reformatories and detention houses. For instance, reformers’ general anxiet
ies about sexually active young women resulted in the federal government
appropriating funds for at least forty-three reformatories and detention
96 Hampton, interview with Nestle, 9. The material cited in the text refers to Hampton’s
response to Nestle’s questions: “How would you describe the twenties? Was it a good period
to be gay?”
97 “LFL Coming out Stories,” 9.
98 Hammonds argues that “rather than assuming that black female sexualities are structured
along an axis of normal and perverse paralleling that of white women we might find that for
black women a different geometry operates.” She refers to Alice Walker’s The Color Purple in
raising the possible reality of “desire between women and desire between women and men
simultaneously, in dynamic relationship rather than in opposition” (“Black (W)holes,” 139);
I want to thank Doreen Drury for her critical questions regarding this issue. See also Nestle,
“Lesbians and Prostitutes,” 169.
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442 Cheryl D. Hicks
homes nationwide that housed, cared for, and treated “women and girls
who, as actual and potential carriers of venereal diseases were a menace to
the health of the Military Establishment of the United States.”99
The increased scrutiny of all working women’s sexuality directly influ
enced black women’s treatment in social welfare reform and the criminal
justice system. Originally, seventeen-year-old Amanda B. was arrested for
incorrigibility when her parents “could no longer keep . . . her from at
tending dances and associating with bad company.” Yet Amanda’s harsh
Bedford sentence stemmed from social workers’ discovery that she had
refused treatment for a venereal disease at the City Hospital even before
considering her mother’s initial court petition.100 Because of the nation’s
and particularly New York City’s heightened alert about the connection
between working-class women and venereal disease, Amanda’s family’s
concerns about her inappropriate behavior were virtually ignored. Their
attempt to regulate her youthful waywardness led to her imprisonment in
a state institution rather than in the local rehabilitative home as well as to
her permanent arrest record. Caught in a moment when their experimenta
tion with leisure and sexuality was perceived as a national security threat,
working-class women found that their behavior was deemed suspect. Black
women in particular discovered that the police’s perception of their sup
posed innate promiscuity and criminality shaped their arrests.
Ruby Brooks’s case shows how reformers’ as well as the federal govern
ment’s anxieties about working-class women’s sexual behavior and venereal
disease continued even after World War I. In 1924 the thirty-year-old do
mestic worker revealed that as she was walking home one evening she was
approached by a man who asked if he could go home with her. When she
responded, “No, I have no place to take you,” another man appeared and
arrested her for prostitution. Brooks, with no prior criminal record and a
solid work history, believed that her arrest had been a frame-up and con
tended that she would not have been sent to Bedford if she had not been
adamant about keeping “her arrest from her family,” with whom she still
lived. Other case file evidence, however, indicates that her imprisonment
more than likely stemmed from the fact that she had tested positive for a
venereal disease. Brooks’s claim that she had only had intercourse with her
fianc? was recorded but ignored, as he was investigated rather than clinically
tested. For prison administrators, regardless of Brooks’s verified background
and upstanding fianc?, her medical condition posed a danger to society, thus
justifying her yearlong imprisonment and multiple parole delays until she
99 Mary Macey Dietzler, Detention Houses and Reformatories as Protective Social Agencies
in the Campaign of the United States Government against Venereal Diseases (Washington,
D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1922), 27. See also Brandt, No Magic Bullet, 52-121;
and Clement, Love for Sale, 114^3.
100 Edith R. Spaulding, An Experimental Study of Psychopathic Delinquent Women (New
York: Patterson Smith, 1923), 271-72.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 443
was cured with medical treatments. For Brooks, the arrest and imprison
ment were simply unjust and disregarded all of her personal attempts to live
morally. “Being that I have worked all my life for 30 years,” she explained,
“I think it’s pretty hard to be arrested.”102 Imprisoned in the same year as
Mabel Hampton, Brooks believed that she understood the parameters of
moral and legal behavior, but Bedford officials felt differently. Their objec
tives entailed rehabilitating and controlling the purported sexual deviancy
of women as similar but distinct as both of these women.
Bedford and Racial Segregation
By the time of Brooks’s and Hampton’s arrests, Bedford had already long
worked to fulfill its basic objective to reform young women. The opening
of the institution in 1901 occurred simultaneously with changing percep
tions of aberrant female behavior, from nineteenth-century fallen woman to
twentieth-century sexual delinquent. During the 1870s reformers addressing
the growing number of young women in custodial prisons pushed for the
institution because they believed it would play a major role in rehabilitating
wayward women and primarily first offenders between the ages of sixteen
and thirty; they believed that young female offenders had the capacity to be
reformed.103 Thus, during Bedford’s initial years administrators believed that
working-class women’s delinquent behavior could be redressed and even
eliminated through proper training. The institution’s first superintendent,
Katharine Bement Davis, noted that Bedford received “women capable of such
education and industrial training” that “would restore them to society, self
respecting and self-supporting.”104 City magistrates and some state legislators,
however, found the practical application of the reformatory’s objective too
expensive, and it was consistently underfunded. Reformers protested, arguing
that expenses related to rehabilitation far outweighed the consequences of be
ing apathetic about urban crime and that the institution’s three-year sentence
was an insufficient training period for certain women. Bedford administrators
contended that “the cost to the State of allowing [young women] to lead
dishonorable, and perhaps criminal lives, . . . [perpetuating] their kind in
101 Inmate #3715, Recommendation for Parole, ca. 1925, BH. This inmate was considered
for parole from February until August 1925 but was not released because of her venereal
disease.
102 Inmate #3715, History Blank, 12 August 1924, BH.
103 See Barbara Brenzel, Daughters of the State: A Social Portrait of the First Reform School
for Girls in North America, 1856-1905 (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1983); Freedman,
Their Sister’s Keepers; and Alexander, The “Girl Problem. *
104 Katharine Bernent Davis, “A Plan for the Conversion of the Laboratory of Social Hy
giene at Bedford Hills in to a State Clearing House . . . ,” Bureau of Social Hygiene General
Material 1911-16, Box 6, Record Group 2, Rockefeller Boards, Rockefeller Archive Center,
Tarrytown, New York.
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444 Cheryl D. Hicks
succeeding generations in an ever-increasing propensity to evil [was] so very
great that the State [should consider these women’s] reformation … as the
cheapest means of securing the public welfare.”105
Reformers instituted a number of practical initiatives with varying degrees
of success. Over the years the institution maintained administrative policies
whereby inmates were constantly occupied through industrial classes, reli
gious services, and extracurricular activities. Instead of prison cells, women
resided in individual cottages with designated matrons who encouraged a
family-style structure. Some inmates seemed to enjoy this arrangement, as
a number of paroled women wrote Bedford for permission to come back to
visit their friends.106 Specific buildings separated inmates by age in 1901, but
by 1924, the year that Ruth Brooks and Mabel Hampton were admitted,
Bedford had become segregated according to an inmate’s psychological
diagnosis and race, with cottages designated for a range of inmates from
feebleminded white girls to newly admitted colored girls.107 Some women
found interacting with fellow inmates frustrating and even detrimental to
their eventual discharge. Brooks, for instance, was so anxiety-ridden about
how other black inmates’ behavior would affect her release that she wrote
prison administrators: “I was not brought up to fight and curse and I am
willing to take any kind of [parole] job … as long as I get away from
here.”108 Brooks’s trouble with unruly cottagemates and her location in
segregated housing reflected some of the major changes and problems
Bedford experienced in implementing reform.
Although administrators insisted that inadequate funding affected Bed
ford’s upkeep, hiring practices, and expansion, they also agreed that proba
tion (supervision of a woman within her community without imprisonment)
changed the type of inmate they received.109 Introduced in 1901, probation
105 New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills, Second Annual Report for the
New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford (Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon, 1902), 7. Almost
twenty-four years later Bedford still assessed its mission based on young women’s need to be
rehabilitated because, as administrators believed, young women were either “unfit to make
the fight alone” or represented women whose lives were “wrecked by chance misfortune.”
See New Tork State, Salient Facts about the New Tork State Reformatory for Women, Bedford
Hills (Bedford Hills, N.Y.: Reformatory, 1926), 3.
106 See, for example, Inmate #2507, Letter from Inmate to Superintendent Cobb, 1 March
1920, BH.
107 New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, Annual Report of the New Tork State
Reformatory for Women at Bedford for the Tear Ending September 30,1901 (Albany, N.Y.: J. B.
Lyon, 1902), 17-18. Expectant mothers and inmates with children no more than two years
old were also housed in a separate cottage. See Isabel Barrows, “Reformatory Treatment of
Women in the United States,” in Penal and Reformatory Institutions, ed. Charles Richmond
Henderson (New York: Charities Publication Committee, 1910), 156.
108 See Inmate #3715, Letter from Inmate to Superintendent Baker (Harriman Cottage),
7 August 1925, BH. According to a State Commission of Prisons report, Harriman Cottage
was designated for “more unruly colored girls.” State of New Tork, State Commission of Prisons,
Thirty-First Annual Report (Albany, N.Y.: Commission, 1925), 172.
109 Freedman, Their Sister’s Keepers, 138-39.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 445
slowly parceled out the most redeemable female offenders, according to
Bedford administrators, and left the institution with an incoming population
of probation violators, recidivists, and uncontrollable women.110 Superinten
dent Davis identified such inmates as the major impediment to Bedford’s
rehabilitation process. As early as 1906 Davis argued that if Bedford was to
“receive so large a proportion of ‘difficult’ young women, whom probation
and private institutions . . . [had] failed to help, the public must recognize
the task” Bedford had before it.111 Probation did not significantly decrease
black women’s presence, as they had difficulty obtaining it; however, their
numbers increased as the institution’s reputation as a model reformatory
declined. Thus, most black women who were first-time offenders, like Brooks
and Hampton, were admitted along with those white women whose behavior
failed to warrant probation or who had violated probation. These problems
were exacerbated by the fact that more young women overall were being
committed to Bedford, which led to subsequent overcrowding.112
Bedford’s problems with funding, increasing numbers of problematic
inmates, and overcrowding led to a scathing 1914 State Commission of
Prisons inspection report that culminated in several public hearings a year
later.113 While the commission report noted myriad problems with Bedford,
from its location to how it should be more self-sustaining because it held
“several hundred able-bodied young women delinquents whose labors should
suffice for their maintenance,” Inspector Rudolph Diedling focused on the
institution’s inability to properly address its disciplinary problems.114 In 1915
during public hearings Diedling’s criticisms were addressed, but investigators
added an issue to the investigator’s list by noting that the most troubling is
sue involved same-sex romances between black and white inmates. Bedford’s
administrators publicly disclosed that the institution’s primary disciplinary
dilemma stemmed from “harmful intimacy,” or, rather, interracial sex.115
When the State Board of Charities’ special investigative committee ad
dressed Bedford’s “harmful intimacy,” it focused on the fact that, unlike
most women’s prisons in the North as well as in the South, Bedford was
110 Charles L. Chute, “Probation and Suspended Sentence,” Journal of Criminal Law and
Criminology 12, no. 4 (1922): 559.
111 State of New York, New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, Sixth Annual Report
of the New Tork State Reformatory Women at Bedford (Albany, N.Y.: J. B. Lyon, 1906), 17. Davis
revealed that the change in the type of inmate committed to Bedford was noticed in 1905.
112 Freedman, Their Sister’s Keepers, 138-39.
113 For the report see State of New Tork, State Commission of Prisons, Twentieth Annual
Report of the State Commission of Prisons (Albany, N.Y.: Commission, 1914), 116-19. For
the hearings see State of New Tork, State Board of Charities, Report of the Special Committee
Consisting of Commissioners Kevin, Smith, and Mulry, Appointed to Investigate the Charges
Made against the New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills, N.T. (Albany, N.Y.:
J. B. Lyon, 1915), 3-29.
114 State Commission of Prisons, Twentieth Annual Report, 116-19, at 117.
115 For the administrators’ reference to harmful intimacy see Report of the Special Com
mittee, 7.
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446 Cheryl D. Hicks
integrated. When questioned about this policy, former superintendent
Katharine Davis explained that she did “not believe in segregation by
color in principle and [had] not found it to work well in practice.”116 The
committee strongly recommended otherwise. With Davis no longer the
superintendent, Bedford’s board of managers agreed with the committee’s
final recommendations, which cited segregation as the most viable solu
tion to inappropriate interracial relationships.117 Denying that its concerns
were based on racism, the board argued that it made no objection to the
housing of black and white inmates because of race. Its members’ deci
sion stemmed from the fact that they found “undoubtedly true that most
undesirable sex relations [grew] out of [the] . . . mingling of the two
races.”118 As such, the board defended its right to segregate inmates against
the protest of those who argued that racial segregation was “contrary to
the equal rights of all citizens under the Constitution.”119 Explaining
the discretionary power given to them by the State Charities Law, the
board argued that “individual [inmate] rights [were] not disturbed by the
separation of delinquents into groups when such segregation [was] likely
to promote reformation and prevent undesirable relations.”120 In 1917
Bedford institutionalized racial segregation, with two cottages “set apart”
for black women.121 Superintendent Helen Cobb also explained that in
addition to disciplinary concerns, the separate cottages were established as
a result of written requests by black inmates.122 During Mabel Hampton’s
and Ruth Brooks’s imprisonments at Bedford, designated cottages housed
black women who were characterized as “recently admitted,” “younger,”
“more unruly,” and “quiet.”123 Ironically, even after racial segregation was
established administrators failed to acknowledge publicly that “harmful
intimacy” persisted as inmates continued to pursue relationships with one
another.124
116 “Miss Davis Stands by Bedford Home,” New Tork Herald, 24 December 1914, 8.
117 Report of the Special Committee, 26-27.
118 Ibid., 26.
119 State of New Tork, State Board of Charities, Annual Report for the Tear 1915 (Albany,
N.Y., 1915), 96. Although the Bedford’s board of managers described its response to critics,
the report did not specify who had opposed its decision.
120 Ibid.
121 State of New Tork, New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford, Seventeenth
Annual Report of the New Tork State Reformatory for Women at Bedford Hills, NT (Albany,
N.Y.: J. B. Lyon, 1918), 8.
122 Ibid., 8, 16.
123 State of New Tork, State Commission of Prisons, Thirty-first Annual Report of the State
Commission of Prisons (Albany, N.Y.: Commission, 1925), 172.
124 See, for example, Inmate #4044, Conduct Record, 13 June 1926, BH. One white
inmate was cited in this record as having aided a black inmate who “passed a note from one of
the Gibbons girls [black inmates]” to a white inmate during an institutional baseball game.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 447
“Harmful Intimacy”: Interracial Sex within
and outside of bedford
The actions of Bedford administrators and state officials coincided with
the concerns of most early-twentieth-century women’s prison administra
tors, psychiatrists, and reformers. Generally, they addressed the issue of
female homosexuality by emphasizing, to the virtual exclusion of other
romantic and/or sexual attachments, the problem of developing relation
ships between white and black inmates.125 They portrayed white women’s
desires in same-sex, interracial relationships within the confines of the
prison as a longing for masculinity.126 The body of scientific observers
argued, as did psychologist Margaret Otis in 1913, that whether viewed
as “an affair simply for fun and . . . lack of anything more interesting to
take up their attention” or a relationship of “serious fascination and . . .
intensely sexual nature,” the racial and gendered identities of such affairs
were clear.127 “The difference in color,” Otis explained, “takes the place
of difference in sex.”128 Otis’s explanation of same-sex desire equated
black women’s darker skin color with virility; moreover, such relation
ships could be described as “racialized gender inversion.”129 In fact, she
revealed that one white woman “admitted that the colored girl she loved
seemed the man.”130 Similarly, in 1921 a Bedford official explained that
black women’s supposed “abandon and virility . . . offered” white women
“the nearest substitute” for the opposite sex.131 According to her, black
125 Estelle Freedman, “The Prison Lesbian: Race, Class, and the Construction of the Ag
gressive Female Homosexual, 1915-1965,” Feminist Studies 22, no. 2 (1996): 400-401.
126 Freedman notes that “at the same time, assigning the male aggressor role to Black
women and preserving a semblance of femininity for their white partners racialized the
sexual pathology of inversion. In this interpretation, white women were not really lesbians,
for they were attracted to men, for whom Black women temporarily substituted. Thus the
prison literature racialized both lesbianism and butch/femme roles, implicitly blaming Black
women for aggression and, indeed, homosexuality, by associating them with a male role”
(Freedman, “The Prison Lesbian,” 400-401). See also Anne Meis Knupfer, ‘”To Become
Good, Self-Supporting Women’: The State Industrial School for Delinquent Girls at Geneva,
Illinois, 1900-1935,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 9, no. 4 (2000): 437-41; and Sarah
Potter, “‘Undesirable Relations’: Same-Sex Relationships and the Meaning of Sexual Desire
at a Women’s Reformatory during the Progressive Era,” Feminist Studies 30, no. 2 (2004):
394-415.
127 Otis, “A Perversion,” 113-14.
128 Ibid., 113.
129 Regina G. Kunzel, “Situating Sex: Prison Sexual Culture in the Mid-Twentieth-Century
United States,” GLQ A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 8, no. 3 (2002): 262.
130 Otis, “A Perversion,” 114.
131 Edith Spaulding, “Emotional Episodes among Psychopathic Delinquent Women,”
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 54, no. 4 (1921): 305. As Hazel V. Carby argues in
her study of black female writers’ response to ideologies of white and black womanhood, “the
figurations of black women existed in an antithetical relationship with the values embodied
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448 Cheryl D. Hicks
women functioned as masculine substitutes who fulfilled white women’s
heterosexual desire. Observations of white women’s attraction for one
another were categorized as nothing more than crushes (young women’s
courtship of one another during which, according to one report, they
“vow that they will be friends forever, dream and plan together, confide
their deepest secrets”), with no serious connection to homosexuality.132
Thus, white inmates, whether aggressors in the affairs or not, maintained
a normative and heterosexual status. In this sense administrators failed to
address directly same-sex desire but rather constructed their explanations
so that, as Regina Kunzel notes, “homosexuality was heterosexuality; the
unnatural was natural.”133 In contrast to white inmates, black women at
Bedford were rarely portrayed as initiating relationships, although they
may have done so.134 They also were not characterized as responding in like
manner to the attention of white women.135 Black women’s sexuality on
its own terms, as a crush, heterosexual or homosexual, was ignored.136
Even though officials noted numerous instances of intense and sometimes
even violent romantic relationships among white women, they continually
focused on the impact of interracial sex. Accordingly, they consistently
agreed with the assessment of assistant superintendent Julia Jessie Taft,
who defined the disciplinary problem as stemming from “colored girls
[who were] extremely attractive to certain white girls” and who also noted
the fact that “the feeling [was] apt to be more intense than between white
in the cult of true womanhood, an absence of the qualities of piety and purity being a crucial
signifier. Black womanhood was polarized against white womanhood in the structure of the
metaphoric system of female sexuality, particularly through the association of black women
with overt sexuality and taboo sexual practices” (Carby, Reconstructing Womanhood, 32).
132 J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive?: A New Approach to the Problems of Human Inter
relations (Washington, D.C.: Nervous and Mental Disease Publishing, 1934), 229; see also
Elizabeth Lunbeck, Psychiatric Persuasion: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1994), 295-96.
133 Kunzel, “Situating Sex,” 262.
134 Otis, “A Perversion,” 114.
135 Moreno noted that black women were “the subject adored and rarely the wooer. . . .
While overtly she responds with affection, she almost invariably ridicules the courtship” ( Who
Shall Survive? 230).
136 Alexander, The “Girl Problem,” 92; Nicole Hahn Rafter, Creating Born Criminals
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 181-82. White working-class women’s arrest
and imprisonment for sexual delinquency departed from the traditional script of the virtuous
white woman needing protection from the black male rapist, yet administrators’ concerns and
responses to interracial same-sex romantic relationships showed how they were influenced still
by society’s longstanding anxieties about white female and black male unions, even to the
point of perceiving black women as men. See Freedman, “The Prison Lesbian,” 399^00; and
Kunzel, “Situating Sex,” 261-62. For more on the protection of white women from black
men see Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s cogent analysis of the rape-lynch narrative in her “‘The Mind
that Burns in Each Body’: Women, Rape and Racial Violence,” in Powers of Desire: The Politics
of Sexuality, ed. Ann Snitow, Christine Stansell, and Sharon Thompson (New York: New
American Library, 1983), 328-49. Bedford’s accounts were distinct from most institutions in
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Black Women’s Sexuality 449
girls alone.”137 Taft emphasized that black women had an “unfortunate
psychological influence” on white inmates.138 One white woman’s attrac
tion for black women, for instance, was noted as being so “extreme” that
she was described as staring at her “temporary object of. . . affection as an
animal might watch its prey, oblivious to all that was going on about her.”139
Yet such cases never diminished the number of similar incidents among
white women. What, then, did officials find so damaging about “harmful
intimacy”? Siobhan Somerville’s work suggests that interracial relationships
in reformatories highlighted “two tabooed sexualities?miscegenation and
homosexuality.”140 During the 1915 State Board of Charities inquiry inves
tigators certainly raised concerns about both “harmful intimacy” continuing
beyond the women’s release from Bedford and the concomitant possibility
of white women living in black neighborhoods.141 With no likelihood of
creating a separate state institution for black inmates (as some administrators
suggested), Bedford officials’ solution to this dilemma entailed imposing
racial segregation. Ironically, this decision failed to address how “harmful
intimacy” thrived among women living in different buildings. Indeed,
administrators ignored Taft, who testified that she dealt with same-sex
relationships “all the time” and stressed that these romantic attachments
usually occurred between women “in separate houses.”142 Racial segrega
tion, as a result, would not solve the problem of same-sex relationships, but
it would address institutional and national anxieties about interracial sex.
Between 1916 and 1918 psychiatrist Edith Spaulding of Bedford’s Labo
ratory of Social Hygiene conducted the most extensive and documented
study into “harmful intimacy.” Examining those women who were deemed
psychopathic, Spaulding concentrated primarily on white inmate behavior.
Although she diagnosed some black inmates, a number of the black women
whom she referenced worked in the hospital as laundresses, housecleaners,
and cooks. Bedford’s accounts were distinct from those of most institutions
in that they argued that black inmates were passive recipients rather than
aggressive participants in homoerotic relationships. Spaulding’s findings
that they argued that black inmates were passive recipients rather than aggressive participants
in homoerotic relationships.
137 Report of the Special Committee, 18.
138 Ibid.
139 Spaulding, An Experimental Study, 329.
140 Siobhan Somerville, “Scientific Racism and the Emergence of the Homosexual Body,”
Journal of the History of Sexuality 5, no. 2 (1994): 260. Somerville poses the cogent question:
“Did the girls’ intimacy trouble the authorities because it was homosexual or because it was
interracial?” (261). Also see Lisa Duggan’s discussion in Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and
American Modernity (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2000).
141 Report of the Special Committee, 18. Committee investigators asked Taft, “Do you think
the relations between the white girls and the colored girls may be continued after the white girls
leave the institution so that they may take up with living in colored neighborhoods?” (ibid.).
142 Ibid., 17-18.
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450 Cheryl D. Hicks
reinforced administrators’ premise that the attraction white women felt
toward black women stemmed from the fact that black inmates seemed
more masculine. One example may be found in her analysis of Amanda B.,
the seventeen year old noted earlier who was charged with incorrigibility
but imprisoned because she had contracted a venereal disease. When writ
ing about Amanda’s experience as an employee, Spaulding described the
teenager as a problem because white inmates desired her. Eventually, she was
removed from the hospital because of the “infatuation which two white girls
showed for her and the resulting disturbance caused by their jealousy.”143
For Spaulding, Amanda’s appearance as a “young colored woman with
thick lips and very dark skin” made her seem virile and thus accounted for
her popularity among white inmates.144 She further explained that Amanda
was “not unattractive in personality and always ready for fun, [but] she
readily supplied through her racial characteristics a feminine substitute for
the masculine companionship [white women] were temporarily denied.”145
Spaulding’s analysis implicitly contended that Amanda became a possible
partner for white women because of specific “racial characteristics.” She
rejected the possibility of genuine and mutual interracial, same-sex desire
because only “feebleminded” white inmates became “attached to” Amanda.
Interestingly enough, Spaulding also portrayed Amanda as an unwitting
and thoroughly desexualized object of desire who was “fairly passive in the
affair,” although “she enjoy[ed] the situation keenly.”146
The attraction that white inmates expressed for black women like Amanda
was usually diagnosed by administrators as mental deficiency (in ways that
ranged from feeblemindedness to psychopathy) as well as being symptomatic
of their working-class backgrounds. When defending Bedford from charges
that the institution fomented interracial, same-sex relationships, the president
of Bedford’s board of managers, James Woods, argued that these associations
were initiated before the women entered the reformatory. His brief discus
sion conflated inmates’ working-class status with deviant sexual behavior.
Addressing the overall problem without direct reference to black women,
Woods in fact suggested that white women desired women outside of the
143 Spaulding, An Experimental Study, 270.
144 Ibid., 272. In another case white inmates were equally attracted to Emily J., a black
inmate who in Spaulding’s assessment had “thick lips, [and] deeply pigmented skin” (306).
Charged with solicitation, the seventeen year old’s presence reportedly elicited an “emotional
disturbance” because, in Spaulding’s estimation, “unstable white girls were uncontrollably
attracted to [Emily] . . . because of her color” (308).
145 Ibid., 273; see also Edith Spaulding, “An Emotional Crisis,” Mental Hygiene 5 (1921):
279. Nicole Hahn Rafter contends that although Spaulding “racializes lesbianism from a white,
heterosexual perspective” and makes no attempt to “pathologize it,” her lack of interest in a
more sustained analysis stems from her study’s timing (Creating Born Criminals, 181); see
also Julian Carter, “Normality, Whiteness, Authorship: Evolutionary Sexology and the Primi
tive Pervert,” in Science and Homosexualities, ed. Vernon A. Rosario (New York: Routledge,
1997), 168-69.
146 Spaulding, An Experimental Study, 273.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 451
prison, concluding that this behavior was “not uncommon among the people
of this class and character in the outside world, and when inmates addicted
to these practices [came] into the institution it [was] practically impossible
to prevent them finding an opportunity in some way or other to continue
them.”147 Woods’s assessment provides an example of how administrators
attempted to deflect responsibility for an increasing disciplinary problem but
also raised the idea that these relationships should not be solely defined as
“situational homosexuality” or rather the consequence of a commitment in
a women’s reformatory.148 Instead, Woods’s perspective highlighted what
administrators had already discovered, that these homoerotic relationships,
as the earlier discussion of Mabel Hampton’s experience reveals, were a part
of developing sex practices in the larger society, black and white.
While officials writing about Bedford’s “harmful intimacy” framed these
relationships as aggressive white women pursuing passive black women,
the reality of their observations suggests more complex evidence of black
women’s individual sexual agency and desire. From their records, black
women seemed to be active participants in interracial romances. Spaulding,
for instance, observed but failed to reassess her conclusions about “harmful
intimacy” in light of a black inmate’s pursuit of a white inmate: “While the
girls were at chapel, a popular colored girl was reprimanded for talking to
the white girl of her affections. When asked to change her seat the colored
girl became defiant and there ensued an unpleasant episode in the midst
of the service, in which she had to be taken from the room for striking the
matron who had spoken to her.”149 Conduct infractions in black women’s
files?such as “passing a note” or “2 girls in room with door closed. In
room indefinitely”?indicate the possibility of same-sex relationships, but
the fact that these reports were written in race-neutral language also strongly
suggests the existence of intraracial romances.150 Spaulding’s observation
of a disturbance caused by the “deep affection” that one black inmate held
for another black woman mirrored the problems that she observed with
white inmates, in that the two black women created a disturbance when
one admired the other. Apparently more concerned with whether these
women finished their jobs as hospital laundresses, Spaulding seemed to
dismiss the sexual implications behind their actions and finally explained
the altercation by linking their conduct as “two tigresses” to racial violence,
noting that “primitive fires ofthat kind do not die down.”151 Like other
administrators’ observations of black women’s involvement in “harmful
147 Report of the Special Committee, 8. See also Potter, “Undesirable Relations,” 400.
148 Kunzel, “Situating Sex,” 253-70, esp. 253-56.
149 Spaulding, “Emotional Episodes,” 305.
150 Inmate #2466, Conduct Report, 12 May 1919,27 October 1919, BH. See also conduct
infractions such as “writing notes” and “receiving a note.” Inmate #2496, Conduct Report,
9 May 1918, 23 July 1918, BH.
151 Edith Spaulding, “The Problem of a Psychopathic Hospital Connected with a Re
formatory Institution,” Medical Record 99, no. 20 (1921): 818. Yet the issue of interracial
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452 Cheryl D. Hicks
intimacy,” Spaulding provided no sustained analysis of the detrimental moral
effects of such attachments. Her and other officials’ lack of concern might
represent what they saw as general knowledge rather than their ignoring
aberrant reformatory conduct. In this sense black inmates’ behavior seemed
to confirm prevailing beliefs about black women’s innate promiscuity and
resulting sexual deviancy.
While not contradicting general sexual stereotypes regarding black
women, the case of Lynette Moore does show how a black woman’s behav
ior and appearance disrupted prison administrators’ questionable premise
regarding “harmful intimacy.” According to one Bedford superintendent,
seventeen-year-old Moore did “fairly well” while imprisoned but had a
“great attraction for . . . white girls,” making her a “troublemaker.”152
Initially, Moore’s physical appearance?she was described as a “colored girl
with . . . light skin and rather pretty, wavy hair”?garnered just as much at
tention from officials as her incorrigibility.153 “I have an idea,” one physician
concluded, that “she has been rather good looking and considered clever by
her set and has managed to get off with a good many things.”154 In light of
their apathetic stance toward black inmates’ active involvement with other
women, administrators seemingly could not ignore Moore’s appearance
or behavior. Moore’s actions even prevented her from corresponding with
her parents, as the superintendent wrote her mother that Moore was in
“punishment for improper actions with another girl.”155 A black woman
whom even officials found physically attractive, she consistently pursued
“undesirable” relationships with other, primarily white, inmates while at
Bedford as well as when she was paroled.
After being discharged, Moore married but still maintained contact
with the same white inmate, Connie Carlson, with whom she had devel
oped an “undesirable friendship” in Bedford. In fact, after problems in
Moore’s marriage, the two women began living together while Moore
attraction and the developing romantic relationships in women’s prisons was more complex
than Spaulding’s observations suggested. For instance, one study completely disagreed with
Spaulding and in fact completely reversed her assessment by noting that white women were
not attracted to dark-complexioned black women but to those black women with a lighter hue.
Offering a distinct perspective, this study was still laden with racist stereotyping. It rejected
the premise that “some administrators of women’s prisons [thought] it [was] because white
women associate masculine strength and virility with dark color”; instead, the study noted
that “usually it is not the very dark negro women who [were] sought after for such liaisons,
but the lighter colored ones; and those who [were] most personable, the cleanest and the
best groomed” (ibid.). See also Joshua Fishman, Sex in Prison: Revealing Sex Conditions in
American Prisons (New York: National Library Press, 1934), 28.
152 Inmate #2503, Letter from Superintendent Helen Cobb to Department of Child
Welfare, Westchester County, 28 May 1918, BH.
153 Inmate #2503, Information Concerning Patient, 8 August 1917, BH.
154 Inmate #2503, Staff Meeting, 29 September 1917, BH.
155 Inmate #2503, Letter from Superintendent Helen Cobb to Inmate’s Mother, 29
October 1918, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 453
was still pregnant with her estranged husband’s child. Prison administra
tors gained access to this information when an anonymous letter was
sent to a charitable agency noting that Moore had become a beggar and
that Carlson was “usually with her.”156 While the interracial relationship
caused problems at Bedford, such a friendship was also problematic once
both women were released. Unlike Mabel Hampton’s attempts to keep
her relationships private, Moore’s case shows how her public display of
interracial romance prompted a neighbor to write a letter regarding the
possibility of “harmful intimacy” outside of prison.
Moore’s story did not end here. Five years later she was arrested for gun
possession and again sent to Bedford. Although Bedford officials refused
to keep her, they did interview her. While working as a nightclub hostess,
Moore explained, she had continued to experience relationship problems,
as she wanted to marry her boyfriend but had not divorced her first hus
band. Her second case file shows one documented instance of how women
charged with “harmful intimacy” struggled to maintain these relationships
once released from Bedford. Moore and Carlson learned tough lessons
about the possibilities for their love. As evidenced by the fact that Moore
was reduced to asking for charity, neither woman could support the other
or Moore’s infant. Yet it seems that they dealt with those outside forces
that challenged their intimate bond in distinct ways. Moore clearly estab
lished a life for herself in Harlem, and when rearrested she acknowledged
her continued connection with Carlson by listing her, along with family
members, as a friend who lived in Long Island.157
Mabel Hampton’s experience also complicated officials’ essentialized
portraits of homoerotic relationships. The story of her lesbianism, which was
never directly mentioned in her case file but revealed through her subsequent
social activism, challenged Bedford administrators’ constructed premise
about “harmful intimacy” and highlights many of the institution’s evalua
tive discrepancies. In Hampton’s brief account of her Bedford experience
she openly acknowledged the prevalence of as well as her participation in
same-sex relationships (she did not indicate whether they were interracial or
intraracial).158 She remembered such Bedford relationships as being comfort
ing. After she and another prisoner revealed their attraction to one another,
Hampton noted that her fellow inmate “took me in her bed and held me
in her arms and I went to sleep.”159 Although she desired women and dated
men before her imprisonment, her Bedford experience may have provided
156 Inmate #2503; see Letter from Church Mission of Help to Bedford, 9 June 1921, and
Letter from Church Mission of Help to Superintendent Baker, ca. June 1921, BH.
157 Inmate #4092, Family History, ca. 1926, BH.
158 Nestle, “Lesbians and Prostitutes,” 169. Although from a later period, Billie Holiday
noted the prevalence of same-sex relations when she was an inmate in the Federal Women’s
Reformatory at Alderson, Virginia; see Billie Holiday with William Dufty, Lady Sings the Blues
(New York: Lancer Books, 1969), 132.
159 Nestle, A Fragile Union, 34-35.
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454 Cheryl D. Hicks
Hampton with an opportunity to embrace fully her same-sex desire. For
instance, another inmate claimed that she learned about sex from “Bedford
girls.”160 Hampton’s looks also failed to fit administrators’ characterizations
of a black woman involved in “harmful intimacy.” Instead of being portrayed
as masculine, she was described in the most feminine manner by Bedford’s
superintendent, Amos Baker, as a “small rather bright and good looking
colored girl.”161 Because of her dissembling, Hampton never received any
conduct violations. Her family members, however, may have sensed that
she was not only being influenced by “bad company” but also expressing a
troubling affection for women. During her parole her aunt wrote to Bedford
officials, noting that Hampton was “very much infatuated with a middle-aged
colored woman, with whom she became acquainted a short time before her
arrest, and whom she [her aunt] thought was not a good influence on the
girl.”162 Hampton’s case strongly suggests administrators’ indifference to
black women’s sexuality within the prison and underscores why some black
women might have chosen to hide their same-sex relationships.163
Like Hampton, other black women made attempts to maintain intimate
liaisons, especially during their parole. Ironically, Bedford sought to create
a family-like atmosphere when young women were imprisoned but penal
ized parolees for interacting too closely with one another once they left
the institution. Twenty-one-year-old Addie King reportedly experienced
some difficulty keeping her distance from other Bedford women. Social
workers discovered that she lived with another black parolee as well as
a “masculine sort of woman known as ‘Alec.'” King was also found in a
cooperative living arrangement, more than likely a reflection of her dire
financial situation. When social workers decided to rearrest her as a parole
violator, they discovered not only that she lived intermittently with another
Bedford parolee and three other women but also that these women shared
an apartment with ten men.164
The nature of King’s associations with the black women and men with
whom she lived is not clear, but there is evidence that she attempted to
maintain at least one interracial sexual relationship. When she worked as
a live-in domestic, King’s different employers often complained that she
disregarded her curfew, sometimes arriving home late or never returning
home until the next morning. In one instance King brought a white Bed
ford parolee to her employer’s house and “tried to keep her there all night
unknown to the family.” When family members discovered her there, King’s
160 Inmate #4092, History Blank, ca. May 1926, BH.
161 Inmate #3696, Admission Record, 9 July 1923, BH.
162 Inmate #3696, Letter from Amy M. Pr?vost to Dr. Amos T. Baker, 13 November
1924, BH.
163 Nestle, A Fragile Union, 34. For more of Hampton’s observations regarding 1920s
Harlem see Lillian Faderman, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in
Twentieth-Century America (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 76.
164 Inmate #4501, Parole Report, 1-2 March 1929, BH.
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Black Women’s Sexuality 455
companion was asked to “get up and leave.” The white employer believed
that the interracial friendship was inappropriate but became increasingly
disturbed when evidence indicated that the two women’s relationship was
not platonic. Reportedly, the employer contended that the affection between
the women was “disgusting.”165
It would be impossible to gauge how many of these relationships con
tinued after a stint at Bedford, but evidence clearly shows that same-sex
desire was not simply a situational condition for white or black women
created by their imprisonment.166 Whether Bedford women gave up on
same-sex desire or became more adept at masking these relationships from
their employers and social workers, examples show that homoerotic rela
tionships existed outside the prison, however difficult. More importandy,
these examples reflect how some women managed multiple relationships
with men and women. Not surprisingly, social workers noted, primarily
through violation reports, that black parolees were still in contact with
their mates just as they were during their imprisonment. Sometimes their
relationships were discovered when former inmates obtained permission to
visit Bedford. A confiscated letter in one black parolee’s file, for instance,
explained how the former inmate “walked up to the Nursery” and picked
up the child of her white girlfriend, asking “her if she didn’t know her own
daddy.” Reportedly, “all the girls [in the nursery] laughed.”167 While some
inmates began these relationships as a sign of temporary rebellion that re
jected the controlling influences of Bedford administrators, other inmates
saw these relationships as more than a crush or temporary desire.168 Most
importantly, these inmates strove to maintain relationships developed in
Bedford; moreover, these inmates, as Mabel Hampton’s case indicates, may
have also desired women before their imprisonment.
Conclusion
Mabel Hampton’s experiences in early-twentieth-century New York as
understood through prison administrators’ notations and her subsequent
reflections upon her life provide a unique lens through which we might view
black women’s sexuality. She was not a reformer advocating the “politics of
respectability,” nor was she a blues singer expressing sexual desire through
performance. Rather, her life represents the complex ways that young women
acknowledged the relevance of proper decorum but also participated in the
growing consumer culture of commercial amusements. Women like her faced
enormous challenges as they sought to embrace their independence in a so
ciety that simultaneously offered carefree and uninhibited opportunities for
165 Inmate #4501, Parole Report, ca. 27 February 1929, BH.
166 See Kunzel, “Situating Sex.”
167 Inmate #2380, Conduct Report and Confiscated Letter, n.d., BH.
168 See Alexander, The ?Girl Problem,1’96-97′.
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456 Cheryl D. Hicks
pleasure while at the same time feeling threatened by working-class women’s
sexual behavior. As a result, relatives, community members, and law officers
monitored young women’s sexual expression and generally supported the
rehabilitative objectives of state institutions like Bedford.
By studying the case files of black women like Hampton, we get a sense
of the language that ordinary black women used to express heterosexual
and same-sex desire. Acknowledging that such evidence has been mediated
through prison administrators’ biases, we still can discern the stories that
black women chose to impart behind official responses to those narratives.
Although administrators’ actions reflected prevailing racial and sexual stereo
types, the experiences that they documented offer complex perspectives on
how working-class and poor black women dealt with chastity, premarital sex,
rape, prostitution, and same-sex desire. Black women revealed not only cer
tain aspects of their conduct but also how the concerns of relatives and other
community members regarding their behavior often conflicted with what they
wanted for themselves. Frequently, their interactions with the community’s
representatives were as heavily regulated as those with state representatives.
Indeed, Mabel Hampton’s reflections about Harlem highlighted how she
often dissembled in her neighborhood. As a black woman who desired women
she explained her caution about publicizing those relationships because “you
had to be careful” and “you had [to have] fun behind closed doors.”169
Although Hampton seems to have hidden her relationships with women
when she was incarcerated, other women, black and white, flaunted these
attachments. Bedford administrators claimed that the majority of their
disciplinary problems stemmed not simply from same-sex relationships but
rather from “harmful intimacy,” or interracial sex. Their anxieties about such
relationships mirrored the concerns of a nation that generally discouraged
interracial social and sexual relationships in law and practice. Attempting to
solve their dilemma by instituting racial segregation served only to temporar
ily assuage their racial anxieties more than it addressed the crux of the issue.
When some officials argued that young women brought same-sex romance
into the institution rather than those relationships being a consequence of
imprisonment, they illuminated the fact that sexual expression varied both
within and outside of Bedford. Emphasizing the latter point, this study offers
a perspective from which to understand the complexity of black women’s
experiences in early-twentieth-century New York by exploring how they ad
dressed the myriad pleasures and dangers of urban sexuality.
169 Hampton, interview with Nestle, 9.
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- Contents
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Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 18, No. 3, New Perspectives on Commercial Sex and Sex Work in Urban America, 1850-1940 (Sep., 2009), pp. 359-562
Volume Information
Front Matter
Introduction [pp. 359-366]
“Wouldn’t a Boy Do?” Placing Early-Twentieth-Century Male Youth Sex Work into Histories of Sexuality [pp. 367-392]
Saving Young Girls from Chinatown: White Slavery and Woman Suffrage, 1910-1920 [pp. 393-417]
“Bright and Good Looking Colored Girl”: Black Women’s Sexuality and “Harmful Intimacy” in Early-Twentieth-Century New York [pp. 418-456]
“Look for the Moral and Sex Sides of the Problem”: Investigating Jewishness, Desire, and Discipline at Macy’s Department Store, New York City, 1913 [pp. 457-485]
Barnum’s Brothel: P.T.’s “Last Great Humbug” [pp. 486-513]
Book Reviews
Review: untitled [pp. 514-517]
Review: untitled [pp. 517-522]
Review: untitled [pp. 522-526]
Review: untitled [pp. 526-532]
Review: untitled [pp. 532-536]
Review: untitled [pp. 536-541]
Review: untitled [pp. 541-544]
Review: untitled [pp. 544-547]
Books of Critical Interest [pp. 548-549]
Dissertations Recently Completed in Related Fields [pp. 550-552]
Back Matter
Positive Emotional Expression Among Couples: The Role of
Romantic Competence
Joanne Davila, Haley Wodarczyk, and Vickie Bhatia
Stony Brook University
We examined the association between romantic competence and positive emotional
expressions in a relationship-promoting task serving the dual function of (1) furthering
our understanding of the skills needed for adaptive expression of positive emotion that
can foster intimacy among couples, and (2) further validating the construct of romantic
competence. Eighty-nine emerging adult couples in different-sex relationships were
assessed with the Romantic Competence Interview for Emerging Adults and partici-
pated in an interaction task, which assessed their ability for adaptive positive emotional
expression. Results indicated that women’s romantic competence was positively asso-
ciated with both her and her partner’s ability for positive emotional expression, even
controlling for relationship satisfaction. Implications for understanding positive emo-
tional expression in young couples, as well as the need for increasing romantic
competence to facilitate it, are discussed.
Keywords: romantic competence, emerging adults, relationship satisfaction, positive
emotion, couples
The ability to express positive emotion to
one’s partner is considered an important aspect
of what makes relationships succeed (see Gott-
man & Gottman, 2015, for a discussion). The-
ory and research in a variety of domains support
this notion. For example, research on capitaliza-
tion indicates that perceiving one’s partner as
responding enthusiastically to the sharing of a
positive experience or event is associated with
greater satisfaction, trust, and intimacy, and less
conflict (Gable, Reis, Impett, & Asher, 2004).
Having partners talk about the positive aspects
of their relationship, often by reminiscing or
telling their story of how they got together, is a
common technique used in couple interventions
to reduce distress and create a platform for
increased relationship satisfaction (Buehlman,
Gottman, & Katz, 1992; Christensen, Dimi-
djian, & Martell, 2015; Cordova, 2014). Indeed,
satisfied couples are more likely than dissatisfied
couples to demonstrate more positive affect and
intimacy when positively reminiscing (Osgarby &
Halford, 2013), and married couples who tell
more positive stories about their relationship are
less likely to divorce (Buehlman et al., 1992).
Positive emotions also can serve to undo the phys-
iological arousal effects of negative emotions dur-
ing couple conflict interactions (Yuan, McCarthy,
Holley, & Levenson, 2010).
Despite the apparent importance of positive
emotional expression in couples, and as noted
by a growing number of researchers (Hershen-
berg, Mavandadi, Baddeley, & Libet, 2016;
Levenson, Haase, Bloch, Holley, & Seider,
2013; Osgarby & Halford, 2013), the field has
largely focused on negative emotion in couples
and on interactions that emphasize conflict and
problem-solving, and other challenging circum-
stances. These researchers are increasingly call-
ing for a focus on positive emotions and on
methods that can elicit them. Recently, Osgarby
and Halford (2013) provided a direct examina-
tion comparing behavior in a positive reminis-
cence interaction to that in a typical problem-
solving discussion task. They found, among
satisfied couples, that positive affect and dyadic
Joanne Davila, Haley Wodarczyk, and Vickie Bhatia,
Department of Psychology, Stony Brook Universit
y.
Haley Wodarczyk is now at the Center for Community
Independence in Somerville MA. Vickie Bhatia is now at
the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, Charleston, SC.
We thank Katie Chan, Alexandra Byrne, and Nicole
Barle for assistance with data collection.
Correspondence concerning this article should be ad-
dressed to Joanne Davila, Department of Psychology, Stony
Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 117
94
-2500. E-mail:
joanne.davila@stonybrook.edu
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Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice © 2017 American Psychological Association
2017, Vol. 6, No. 2, 94 –105 2160-4096/17/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000077
94
mailto:joanne.davila@stonybrook.edu
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000077
intimacy occurred at higher rates in positive
reminiscence than in problem-solving, attesting
to the fact that traditional types of behavioral
interactions used to study couples may not be
well-suited to fully understanding positive af-
fect and its effects on relationships. As such, it
is important that researchers continue to exam-
ine the expression of positive emotion in con-
texts that are relationship promoting.
Furthermore, given the evidence that express-
ing positive emotion is healthy for relationships, it
is critical that we understand what contributes to
partners’ ability to do so. Although there may be a
variety of factors involved, we focused on one—
romantic competence (RC)—which is defined by
a set of skills believed to contribute to a wide
range of aspects of healthy relationship function-
ing (Davila et al., 2009, 2017). The skills under-
lying RC are (1) insight, which reflects awareness
of one’s own and one’s partner’s needs, goals,
motivations, and effects on others, awareness of
causes and consequences of behavior, and ability
to learn from experience; (2) mutuality, which
involves consideration of the needs of self and
other, and attempts to maximize outcomes for
both; and (3) emotion regulation, which is the
ability to regulate emotions in response to rela-
tionship-relevant experiences (Davila et al., 2017).
As elaborated in Davila et al. (2009, 2017),
the construct of RC, and the three skills under-
lying it, was developed from social– cognitive
theories of interpersonal problem-solving, at-
tachment theory, and theories of emotion regu-
lation, and the common themes across them. For
example, social– cognitive models of interper-
sonal problem-solving stress the importance of
mutuality and consequential thinking by em-
phasizing the need to think through interper-
sonal situations in a way that recognizes conse-
quences and respects the needs and outcomes of
both people involved (Brion-Meisels & Selman,
1984; Schultz, Yeates, & Selman, 1989; Selman
& Demorest, 1984; Spivack, Platt, & Shure, 1976;
Yeates, Schultz, & Selman, 1990). Attachment
theory (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980) stresses that
adaptive relational functioning requires insight
and the ability to reflect on self and others and to
learn from prior experience (Treboux, Crowell, &
Waters, 2004). It also stresses the importance of
adaptively regulating distress and maintaining
self-worth in the face of threats to security (see
Cassidy, 1994; Cassidy & Shaver, 1999; Mi-
kulincer, Shaver, & Pereg, 2003). Theories of
emotion regulation similarly emphasize the adap-
tive nature of the ability to regulate distress and
maintain a coherent and positive sense of self (see
Cole, Michel, & Teti, 1994; Salovey, Hsee, &
Mayer, 1993).
Davila et al. (2017) demonstrated that the three
skill domains (insight, mutuality, and emotion
regulation) form a valid latent construct of RC,
and that RC is associated with key domains of
relational and individual well-being, including
greater relational security, healthier relationship
decision making, greater relationship satisfaction,
and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety.
In view of the fact that it is skill based, RC is a
particularly good choice to examine as a correlate
and potential predictor of positive emotional ex-
pression because it is potentially malleable. Other
individual difference variables, such as personal-
ity traits or attachment security, which are associ-
ated with the propensity for expressing positive
emotion (see Livingstone & Srivastava, 2014; Mi-
kulincer & Shaver, 2013), may be less open to
change. It may be possible to teach people the
skills that allow for greater RC, which may then
result in more adaptive couple behavior.
In the current study, we hypothesized that RC
would be associated with the ability to express
positive emotion in a relationship-promoting in-
teraction task. The task is designed to elicit posi-
tive emotional expressions from both members of
the dyad by creating a demand for establishing
intimacy (see Hershenberg et al., 2011). Behavior
in the relationship-promoting task was coded for
positivity of verbal expressions and congruence of
verbal content and affect displayed. The positivity
code reflects a person’s ability to say something
positive about the partner. The congruence code
reflects their ability to do so while expressing
congruent (i.e., matching) emotion. We included a
congruence code because how one says something
affects its meaning (e.g., giving a compliment
while rolling one’s eyes or in a sarcastic tone).
One might say positive words, but if the emotion
does not match, then the impact may be different.
More romantically competent partners
should be more appropriately responsive to
the demand this task creates owing to their
ability to understand and care about their part-
ner’s needs (which requires insight and mu-
tuality), to be aware of one’s true feelings and
how one expresses them, or not (which re-
quires insight), to recognize the effects of
their behaviors on the partner (which also
95POSITIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN COUPLES
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requires insight), and to adaptively experi-
ence and express their emotions when called
for and in appropriate situations (which re-
quires emotion regulation). As such, more
romantically competent partners should ex-
hibit more positivity and more congruence
than less romantically competent partners.
Therefore, we predicted that greater RC
would be associated with greater positivity
and greater congruence.
Examining the association between RC and
positive emotional expressions in a relationship-
promoting task serves the dual function of (1)
furthering our understanding of the skills needed
for adaptive expression of positive emotion that
can foster intimacy among couples, and (2) further
validating the construct of RC. If the skills under-
lying competence do form the basis for healthy
relationship functioning, then competence should
be associated with key behaviors exhibited by
partners. Indeed, this is one of the first studies
examining RC and observable couple behavior.
Using data from this same sample, we have shown
that RC is associated with more adaptive social
support behavior among couples (Bhatia & Da-
vila, 2017), strengthening confidence in the pre-
diction that competence also will be associated
with positive emotional expression.
We also examined whether predicted associ-
ations held accounting for relationship satisfac-
tion. We have already shown that RC is related
to satisfaction in this sample (Davila et al.,
2017), and it is typically the case that satisfac-
tion is associated with observed behavior
among couples, although this study will be the
first test of the association between satisfaction
and positive emotional expression using this
specific relationship-promoting task. Based on
Osgarby and Halford’s (2013) finding that sat-
isfaction was associated with positive affect and
intimacy expressed when positively reminisc-
ing, we predicted that satisfaction would be
associated with greater positivity and congru-
ence. However, we also predicted that RC
would retain its association even when control-
ling for relationship satisfaction. If so, it would
indicate that RC can provide a unique way to
understand the skills needed for adaptive behav-
ior that is separate from the effects of simply
being in a satisfying relationship.
The hypotheses were tested in a sample of
emerging adult couples. Emerging adults are an
important group in which to study relational pro-
cesses, and there is a growing literature examining
their romantic functioning. Not only are they look-
ing for relationships and trying to determine what
type of relationship/partner is right for them (Ar-
nett, 2000; Scott, Schelar, Manlove, & Cui, 2009),
they also have high rates of relationship involve-
ment, sexual activity, and cohabitation (Arnett &
Schwab, 2012; Chandra, Mosher, Copen, & Sion-
ean, 2011; Copen, Daniels, & Mosher, 2013), and,
for some, marriage (Copen, Daniels, Vespa, &
Mosher, 2012). Therefore, emerging adults are
making important decisions about relationships
that have the potential for long-term impact. In-
deed, the quality of their relationships is related to
a host of important outcomes (Braithwaite et al.,
2016; Norona & Welsh, 2016; Whitton & Kury-
luk, 2012) and may set the stage for future roman-
tic experiences. Studying romantic functioning
among emerging adults may, therefore, help iden-
tify ways in which we can help people increase
relational success early on and in the future, and,
consequently, reduce negative consequences.
Method
Participants and Procedure
Participants were 89 different-sex couples
(women: M age � 20.16, SD � 1.63; men: M
age � 20.65, SD � 1.82; M relationship
length � 73.9 weeks, SD � 76.5 weeks) re-
cruited from the Psychology Human Subject
Pool and via flyers and announcements on the
campus of a large state university in the North-
east United States. To be eligible for participa-
tion, participants were required to be between
18 and 25 years of age, in a relationship of at
least 3 months’ duration, unmarried and with no
children, fluent in English, willing to be audio-
and video-recorded, and free from reading, vi-
sion, or motor problems that would affect com-
pletion of study tasks.
Couples were racially/ethnically diverse;
52.8% of men described themselves as Cauca-
sian, 22.5% as Asian/Pacific Islander, 15.7% as
Latino, 4.5% as Middle Eastern, 3.4% as Black/
African American, and 1.1% as another ethnic-
ity; 41.6% of women described themselves as
Caucasian, 33.7% as Asian/Pacific Islander,
11.2% as Latina, 5.6% as Black/African Amer-
ican, and 7.8% as another ethnicity. The vast
majority of participants were students, with
96 DAVILA, WODARCZYK, AND BHATIA
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only four females and four males (4.5% each)
indicating they were not enrolled in school.
After providing consent, participants com-
pleted, individually, an in-person interview to
assess RC and questionnaires (using a Web-
based survey protocol), and engaged in the pos-
itive-interaction task. They received either
course credit or payment ($25) for participation.
The study was approved by the university insti-
tutional review board.
Measures
Romantic competence. RC was assessed
with the Romantic Competence Interview for
Emerging Adults (RCI-EA; available on request
from the first author). The RCI-EA was adapted
from the Romantic Competence Interview cre-
ated for adolescents (Davila et al., 2009). Davila
and colleagues (Davila et al., 2017) provided
evidence of reliability and validity of the
RCI-EA in three samples of emerging adults,
including the present sample. The RCI-EA is a
semistructured interview that probes, using de-
velopmentally appropriate language, scenarios,
and relationship contexts, participants’ thoughts
about, preferences for, and approaches to ro-
mantic activities and relationships. It probes
experiences in actual relationships and reactions
to hypothetical scenarios, both normative and
challenging. The RCI-EA interviewer codes re-
sponses based on all materials from the inter-
view. Codes are made for four skill domains
(insight, learning, mutuality, and emotion regu-
lation), as well as overall global competence.
The global competence code was used in the
present study, as prior research has shown that
the four skills domains form a coherent latent
RC factor, which is highly correlated with the
global code (Davila et al., 2017).
The global code was made on a scale, with
behaviorally specific anchors/examples, ranging
from 1 (low) to 5 (high) with [1/2] points al-
lowed. The interview and coding system can be
requested from the first author. Interviewers
were graduate students in clinical psychology
and undergraduate psychology majors who
were trained by the developer of the interview.
Interviews were audio-recorded to assess reli-
ability. Intraclass correlations (ICCs; two-way
random, absolute) were conducted on 20 ran-
domly selected women’s and 20 randomly se-
lected men’s interviews (40 total; 22.5% of the
sample) coded by the interviewer and one reli-
ability coder. The ICC for the global code
was .88.
Relationship satisfaction. Satisfaction was
assessed with the 16-item version of the Couple
Satisfaction Index (CSI-16; Funk & Rogge,
2007), a well validated, psychometrically sound
measure (Funk & Rogge, 2007; Whitton &
Kuryluk, 2012). The CSI-16 is a self-report
measure in which participants respond to 10
global evaluations of their romantic relationship
on a 6-point Likert scale (0 � not at all true/
never; 5 � completely true/all the time) and six
characteristics of their relationship on a bipo-
lar adjective scale (e.g., 0 � miserable, 5 �
enjoyable). A total score was calculated by
summing the responses to all items, with
higher scores indicate higher relationship sat-
isfaction (� � .91).
Positive interaction task. Couples en-
gaged in an unstructured 2-min interaction task,
where they were instructed to “spend 2 minutes
telling each other what you like most about each
other.” Following that instruction, the research
staff person left the room to begin video-
recording. Couples were made aware that re-
search staff would not be listening to their in-
teraction as it occurred but would be monitoring
it visually to make sure they were on camera.
Interactions were coded with a version of the
global coding system utilized by Hershenberg et
al. (2011) to code a similar interaction engaged
in by adolescent–parent dyads. Trained coders
viewed the entire interaction and made ratings
along 5-point scales on (1) how positively each
partner spoke about their relationship (1 � very
negative, 3 � mixed, 5 � very positive); and (2)
how congruent each partner’s verbal content
and affect was (1 � very incongruent, 5 � very
congruent). Coders also rated overall positivity
and overall congruence of the interaction as a
whole (using the same 5-point scales) taking
into account both partners’ behavior.
Twenty interactions (22%) were rated by an
additional coder. The ICCs between the two
coders’ ratings were: (1) positivity about the
relationship (women: .90; men: .80; overall:
.82), (2) congruence (women: .71; men: .68;
overall: .67), indicating acceptable interrater re-
liability.
There were two interactions during which the
man did not have the opportunity to speak (his
partner spoke the entire time) and one interac-
97POSITIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN COUPLES
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tion in which the woman did not have the op-
portunity to speak (her partner spoke the entire
time). It was decided by the coding team to code
the nonspeaking partner’s data as missing be-
cause it was not that they had nothing positive
to say, but that they did not get the chance to say
anything.
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Table 1 presents means, standard deviations,
and correlations between the variables. As the
means show, on average, both women and men
showed moderate to good levels of RC, gener-
ally positive and coherent interaction behavior,
and were generally satisfied.
The correlations indicated the following.
First, partners’ RC was correlated, as was their
satisfaction (which was shown in our previous
analyses; Davila et al., 2017). Next, women’s
RC was positively associated with virtually all
aspects of interaction behavior (hers, his, and
overall), and with her own satisfaction, in line
with predictions. Effect sizes were generally
small. Contrary to predictions, men’s RC was
not significantly associated with any of the be-
havioral data, and existing associations were
negative. Men’s RC and satisfaction also were
not significantly associated. This differs from
what was reported in Davila et al. (2017), where
RC and satisfaction were marginally associated
for men, likely owing to differences in the an-
alytic approach (Davila and colleagues exam-
ined Actor–Partner Interdependence Models
(APIMs) of the association between partners’
RC and satisfaction; the coefficients reported
are, however, similar in magnitude). Also un-
expectedly, men’s satisfaction was not signifi-
cantly associated with their behavior, though
women’s satisfaction was with their positivity
and the overall interaction positivity. Correla-
tions with men’s satisfaction may have been
affected by the restricted range on this variable.
Satisfaction scores for men ranged from 50 to
81, whereas for women they ranged from 31
to 81.
Primary Analyses
These were conducted as APIMs (Kenny,
Kashy, & Cook, 2006) using structural equa-
tions modeling in AMOS (v. 22). Data from
partners within couples are typically dependent
on one another, and this is true in this sample
(as shown in the correlations in Table 1). There-
fore, APIM was selected because it handles the
nonindependence of dyadic data by treating the
dyad, rather than the individual, as the unit of
analysis. It also allows for the independent and
simultaneous estimation of both actor (within-
partner) and partner (cross-partner) effects. Al-
though we did not make predictions about
cross-partner effects, the ability to examine
them with this analytic strategy is an advantage.
We specified two separate APIMs. We first
examined whether RC was associated with pos-
itivity and congruence of each partners’ com-
ments. Paths representing both within- and
Table 1
Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations for All Variables
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. RC-W
2. RC-M .26�
3. Positivity-W .26� �.09
4. Positivity-M .22� �.04 .45��
5. Congruence-W .09 �.09 .63�� .33��
6. Congruence-M .29�� �.14 .29�� .61�� .41��
7. Overall positivity .28�� �.14 .75�� .63�� .69�� .60��
8. Overall congruence .27� �.15 .75�� .65�� .63�� .53�� .82��
9. Relationship
satisfaction-W .30�� .14 .32�� .20 .21 .08 .28�� .16
10. Relationship
satisfaction-M .03 .17 .16 .10 .06 �.07 .13 .07 .48��
M (SD) 3.60 (.58) 3.57 (.63) 4.30 (.79) 4.30 (.79) 4.20 (.76) 4.07 (.77) 3.98 (.92) 4.20 (.84) 70.36 (9.8) 70.44 (7.6)
Note. N � 89 couples; W � women; M � men; RC � romantic competence.
� p � .05. �� p � .01, two-tailed.
98 DAVILA, WODARCZYK, AND BHATIA
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oc
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of
it
s
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pu
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rs
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T
hi
s
ar
ti
cl
e
is
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te
nd
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r
th
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pe
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on
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th
e
in
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to
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y.
cross-partner associations were specified be-
tween each partner’s RC and their positivity and
congruence scores. Partners’ RC was corre-
lated, and errors were correlated within and
across partner positivity and congruence scores
(all possible correlations). This resulted in a
saturated model for which fit could not be ex-
amined. However, paths from men’s RC to ev-
erything except his congruence were not signif-
icant, as was the path from women’s RC to her
congruence (all ps � .12), and when dropped,
the resulting model fit the data well (�2(4) �
3.17, p � .53, CFI � 1.00, RMSEA � 0.001;
see Figure 1). Partners’ RC was correlated, r �
.26, p � .02, and the paths from women’s RC to
her positive comments (� � .20, p � .01) and
his congruence (� � .30, p � .002) were sig-
nificant and positive. The path from women’s
RC to his positive comments, although signifi-
cant in the saturated model, became marginally
significant (� � .19, p � .06). The path from
men’s RC to his congruence was significant, but
in the opposite direction as predicted (� �
�.18, p � .03). All significant paths reflected
small effect sizes.
We then examined whether RC was associ-
ated with the overall positivity and congruence
ratings for the interaction. Paths were specified
between each partner’s RC and the overall pos-
itivity and congruence scores. Partners’ RC was
correlated, and errors were correlated for over-
all positivity and congruence scores. This re-
sulted in a saturated model for which fit could
not be examined, and all paths in the model
were significant (see Figure 2). Partners’ RC
was correlated, r � .26, p � .02. The paths from
women’s RC to overall positivity (� � .34, p �
.001) and overall congruence (� � .33, p �
.002) were significant and positive. The paths
from men’s RC to overall positivity (� � �.22,
p � .03) and overall congruence (� � �.24,
p � .02) were significant and in the opposite
direction predicted. Again, all significant paths
reflected small effect sizes.
Each of the two models was rerun including
both women’s and men’s relationship satisfac-
tion in the model. Within-partner correlations
between RC and satisfaction were specified, as
was the correlation between partners’ RC and
between partners’ satisfaction. Within- and
cross-partner paths were specified from satisfac-
tion to each interaction variable. Across all
models, all significant paths from RC to behav-
ior remained. In addition, in the first model,
women’s satisfaction was significantly associ-
ated with her positivity, r � .26, p � .03, and
her congruence, r � .23, p � .05. In the second
model, women’s satisfaction was only margin-
ally associated with overall positivity, r � .20,
p � .09. No other significant associations with
satisfaction emerged. Overall, these findings
suggest that RC has a unique association with
behavior controlling for associations between
satisfaction and behavior.
Post Hoc Exploratory Analyses
We conducted a set of post hoc analyses to
explore the negative associations between
men’s RC and behavior, which were opposite
Figure 1. Actor–Partner Interdependence Model predicting individual behavior from ro-
mantic competence. �2(4) � 3.17, p � .53, CFI � 1.00, RMSEA � .001. W � women; M �
men; RC � romantic competence; E � error term. Paths with dotted lines were nonsignifi-
cant. �� p � .01. � p � .05. p � .06, two-tailed.
99POSITIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN COUPLES
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of
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pu
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T
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s
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ti
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e
is
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than what had been predicted. Given that in the
APIMs women’s RC tended to be a more con-
sistent positive predictor of men’s behavior and
overall interaction behavior than was men’s RC,
we explored whether the interaction of partners’
RC could shed light on the negative findings. To
do so, we reconducted the APIM analyses using
the final models described above (not control-
ling for satisfaction, given that including it did
not change the findings). Interaction variables
were computed using each partner’s centered
RC score. The centered scores were included to
control for the main effects of each partner’s
RC, and the correlations between the centered
variables and the interaction term were included
in the model.
In the first analysis, we examined whether the
interaction between partners’ RC predicted men’s
congruence scores, as men’s RC was a significant
negative predictor. The interaction was not a sig-
nificant predictor (r � .02, p � .83).
In the second analysis, we examined whether
the interaction between partners’ RC predicted
the overall positivity and congruence ratings.
The interaction was a marginally significant
predictor of both positivity, r � .17, p � .08,
and congruence, r � .18, p � .07. Although
only trends, we elected to decompose the inter-
actions to explore their nature. We based this
decision on the fact that the small sample size
lowers power for detection of small interaction
effects. That the interactions were nearing sig-
nificance suggests a trend that may be poten-
tially meaningful and worthy of exploration. Of
course, that the effect sizes were small suggests
they should be interpreted cautiously, as does
the fact that the analyses were post hoc. The
interactions were probed using procedures for
examining simple slopes specified by Aiken and
West (1991). When women were coded as high
on RC (specified as one SD above the mean),
men’s RC was not significantly associated with
positivity, r � �.06, p � .64, or congruence,
r � �.08, p � .57. However, when women
were coded as low on RC (specified as 1 SD
below the mean), men’s RC was significantly
negatively associated with positivity, r � �.39,
p � .005, and congruence, r � �.41, p � .003.
This tentatively suggests that men who are more
romantically competent may fail to behave in a
positive manner only when they are partnered
with women who are low in RC. Again, these
results should be interpreted cautiously.1
1 Given that these findings emerged only for the overall
interaction variables, which reflect dyadic behavior, not just
men’s behavior, we conducted one additional post hoc analysis
to examine the extent to which each partner’s individual be-
havioral codes contributed to the overall interaction codes. An
APIM was run in which women’s and men’s positivity and
congruence codes predicted the overall positivity and congru-
ence codes. All possible paths were specified, as were all
correlations between the individual codes, as well as the errors
of the overall codes, resulting in a saturated model. Results
identified one nonsignificant path from men’s congruence to
overall congruence. This path was deleted and the resulting
model provided a less than adequate fit based on the RMSEA
(�2(1) � 2.13, p � .15, CFI � .99, RMSEA � .11). None-
theless, the model was compared with one that constrained
corresponding women’s and men’s paths from the individual
codes to the overall codes (e.g., women’s path from positivity
to overall positivity was constrained to be equal to men’s path
from positivity to overall positivity) to examine whether wom-
en’s and men’s individual codes equally contributed to the
overall codes. The constrained model also provided a less than
adequate fit based on the RMSEA (�2(4) � 7.83, p � .10,
CFI � .99, RMSEA � .09). Importantly, the �2 difference test
(�diff2 (3) � 5.66) was nonsignificant, indicating that the con-
strained model provides an equally good fit to the data (i.e., it
is not a worse fit than the unconstrained model). This suggests
that, except for men’s congruence, which was not a significant
predictor, women’s and men’s individual codes contribute
equally to the overall codes. Path coefficients from individual
codes to overall codes ranged from .25 to .43.
Figure 2. Actor–Partner Interdependence Model predicting overall behavior from romantic
competence. W � women; M � men; RC � romantic competence; E � error term. �� p �
.01. � p � .05, two-tailed.
100 DAVILA, WODARCZYK, AND BHATIA
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A
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of
it
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pu
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is
he
rs
.
T
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s
ar
ti
cl
e
is
in
te
nd
ed
so
le
ly
fo
r
th
e
pe
rs
on
al
us
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of
th
e
in
di
vi
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al
us
er
an
d
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no
t
to
be
di
ss
em
in
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ed
br
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dl
y.
Discussion
This study was designed to examine whether
RC was associated with more positive emo-
tional expression during a relationship-promot-
ing interaction task, serving the dual function of
increasing knowledge of the skills needed for
adaptive expression of positive emotion and
providing additional data validating the con-
struct of RC. The following findings emerged.
First, as predicted, among women, greater
RC was associated with their ability for greater
positive emotional expression, meaning that
more competent women were able to say more
positive things about their partner in a situation
that calls for doing so. Greater RC among
women also was associated with her partner’s
ability for greater and more congruent positive
emotional expression, meaning that partners of
romantically competent women were able to
say more positive things about the women, and
did so in a manner in which their affect matched
what they were saying.
These individual findings emerged at the dy-
adic level as well. Greater RC among women
was associated with greater positivity and con-
gruence as reflected in the overall interaction
codes, which take into account both partners’
behavior. This suggests that dyadic interaction
characterized by adaptive positive emotional
expression in a situation that has the potential to
enhance intimacy may be fostered by the wom-
en’s RC. Following from the definition of RC,
the ability to approach one’s relationship with
insight, from a place of mutuality, and in an
emotionally regulated manner can help women
behave in ways and create dyadic behavior that
can promote relationship health through intima-
cy-building positive emotional expression.
Interestingly, the post hoc, exploratory
analyses also highlighted the role that wom-
en’s competence may play in this type of
dyadic interaction, though they must be inter-
preted cautiously. These analyses were con-
ducted in an attempt to better understand the
negative association between men’s RC and
both their own and the dyadic behavior. It is
counterintuitive that men’s competence
would be associated with less adaptive posi-
tive emotional expression. The post hoc anal-
yses tentatively suggest that this is only the
case when women are lower in competence.
Therefore, men who are more romantically
competent may fail to behave in a positive
manner only when they are partnered with
women who are low in RC. That is, men who
are partnered with women who are not com-
petent may have a harder time adaptively
expressing positive emotion even in situations
that explicitly call for it.
On the other hand, one might interpret this
finding to mean that men who are less com-
petent may express more positive emotion
only when partnered with less romantically
competent women. The meaning of this is
unclear. Perhaps it could be an effort to com-
pensate for the partner’s inability to express
positive emotion in attempt to bolster the
relationship. Or, perhaps it does, in fact, re-
flect incompetent behavior on his part. Saying
something positive when your partner is un-
able to do so may be a sign of poor insight,
dependence on the partner for self-esteem
(which reflects poor mutuality), and/or poor
emotion regulation. Of course, all of this is
highly speculative and based on small effect
sizes that emerged from a post hoc analysis.
Future research will be needed to replicate
and further explore whether and how part-
ners’ RC may interact to predict positive
emotional expression.
That it was women’s RC that seemed to
drive the behavior of both members of the
couple is consistent with a fairly large body of
literature that points to women as being more
responsible for regulating the affective bal-
ance of relationships (Bloch, Haase, & Lev-
enson, 2014; Gottman & Notarius, 2000), al-
though this has not been found to be
exclusively so (see Bloch et al., 2014). Im-
portantly, most prior research has focused
more on negative emotion and behavior, and
so, continued examination of gender differ-
ences in positive emotion expression is need-
ed.
Separate from the notion of women’s com-
petence driving the behavior of both partners,
it is important to consider the following about
the negative association between men’s com-
petence and behavior. Specifically, it raises
the issue of whether the construct of RC is
valid for men. All of our prior studies have
suggested that it is (i.e., men’s relational
functioning was associated in expected ways
with competence, even with another behav-
ioral task; Bhatia & Davila, 2017; Davila et
101POSITIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN COUPLES
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ol
og
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A
ss
oc
ia
ti
on
or
on
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of
it
s
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li
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pu
bl
is
he
rs
.
T
hi
s
ar
ti
cl
e
is
in
te
nd
ed
so
le
ly
fo
r
th
e
pe
rs
on
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us
e
of
th
e
in
di
vi
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al
us
er
an
d
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no
t
to
be
di
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in
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ed
br
oa
dl
y.
al., 2017), but perhaps it is not as valid in
predicting positive behavior, or in this partic-
ular task. Perhaps the task is experienced
differently by men than women and/or has a
different meaning for them. This would be an
important area for future research.
Another important finding was that the re-
sults for RC held when controlling for rela-
tionship satisfaction. Indeed, for women, de-
spite that competence, satisfaction, and
positive behavior were all related to one an-
other, competence emerged as a unique pre-
dictor of positive behavior (separate from sat-
isfaction). If competence was simply a proxy
for satisfaction, this result would not have
emerged. This finding is important because it
suggests a way to help couples engage in
more positive adaptive behavior, specifically
by teaching them (at least women) skills to
become more romantically competent. That
satisfaction is associated with positive behav-
ior provides no specific direction for clinical
intervention. Therefore, the findings suggest
that competence can provide a unique way to
understand the skills needed for adaptive be-
havior that is separate from the effects of
simply being in a satisfying relationship.
The findings have a number of important
implications. First, they begin to shed light on
one, potentially malleable, factor—RC—that
may increase partners’— or at least wom-
en’s—ability to express positive emotion in
situations that have the potential to increase
relationship intimacy. This has important
clinical implications. Mirgain and Cordova
(2007) demonstrated that partners with good
emotion skills experience greater intimacy
and, consequently, are more satisfied. There-
fore, given that expressing positive emotion is
healthy for relationships, helping women be-
come more romantically competent may pro-
mote skills that allow them to create healthier
relationships. This suggests that programs
(e.g., relationship education) that focus on
increasing RC through training in the skills of
insight, mutuality, and emotion regulation,
may be beneficial, at least for young women.
Whether they would be for young men is
unclear from our findings, further supporting
the importance of clarifying whether and how
competence is related to positive emotional
expression for men.
The findings also provide more support for
the validity of the RC construct. Prior re-
search has demonstrated associations with
self-reported indicators of healthy relation-
ship functioning (Davila et al., 2017). This
study, along with that of Bhatia and Davila
(2017), shows that RC is associated with key
behavioral indicators of adaptive relational
functioning.
The findings also support the use of our pos-
itive interaction task to assess positive emo-
tional expression. There are few such tasks de-
scribed in the literature. This one is easy to
administer, brief for the couples, and able to be
quickly and reliably coded.
Naturally, the findings must be interpreted
with the following limitations in mind. First,
the study was cross-sectional in nature. Al-
though we view this as appropriate for an
initial test of associations between compe-
tence and behavior, future research would
benefit from prospective designs that can ad-
dress issues of temporal ordering (e.g., do
competent partners behave better? Do better
behaved partners become more competent in
their relationships?) and prediction of rela-
tionship outcomes (e.g., does positive emo-
tional expression mediate associations be-
tween competence and increases in
satisfaction or other indicators of relationship
health?). Second the study only included
emerging adults. Although they are a relevant
sample on which to focus because they may
be making decisions of consequence to their
future, we do not know the extent to which
the findings generalize to couples at other
ages and relationship stages, nor do we know
whether the findings generalize to couples in
same-sex relationships, as all participants
were in different-sex relationships. Addi-
tional research will be needed in examining
different types of couples at different ages
and developmental phases. In addition, the
task we used, because of its focus and brevity,
only captures basic positive emotional ex-
pression. It does not assess more complex
emotional processes, such as upregulation or
coregulation in couples (Levenson et al.,
2013). In addition, although the 2-min inter-
action creates a high-demand situation and
was successful in eliciting a range of behav-
iors in this study and in our prior research
(Hershenberg et al., 2011), the short time and
102 DAVILA, WODARCZYK, AND BHATIA
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A
ss
oc
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on
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of
it
s
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pu
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is
he
rs
.
T
hi
s
ar
ti
cl
e
is
in
te
nd
ed
so
le
ly
fo
r
th
e
pe
rs
on
al
us
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of
th
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in
di
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y.
the instruction to say what you like about
each other may have created an artificial sit-
uation, and may have contributed to the lim-
ited associations with relationship satisfac-
tion. Future research should examine
positivity in other types of interactions as
well as longer interactions (Laurenceau,
Kleinman, Kaczynski, & Carver, 2010). Fi-
nally, although the sample size was well-
powered enough to detect predicted effects
(though not the interactions), larger samples
are always necessary for purposes of replica-
tion and generalization. Related to this, effect
sizes were small. Their replicability and prac-
tical significance must be determined in fu-
ture research, particularly if they are to be
used to guide relationship education programs
as suggested earlier. Limitations aside, the
results provide important information about
how RC may allow young couples to engage
in adaptive expression of positive emotion,
and tentatively suggest that emerging adults
may benefit from learning the skills necessary
to be competent.
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Received August 16, 2016
Revision received April 17, 2017
Accepted April 20, 2017 �
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105POSITIVE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION IN COUPLES
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.40.2.295
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358%2890%2990097-T
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0272-7358%2890%2990097-T
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0018699
- Positive Emotional Expression Among Couples: The Role of Romantic Competence
Method
Participants and Procedure
Measures
Romantic competence
Relationship satisfaction
Positive interaction task
Results
Preliminary Analyses
Primary Analyses
Post Hoc Exploratory Analyses
Discussion
References
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International Journal of Sexual Health
ISSN: 1931-7611 (Print) 1931-762X (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wijs20
Seventy-Five Years Old and Still Going Strong:
Stability and Change in Sexual Interest and Sexu
al
Enjoyment in Elderly Men and Women Acros
s
Europe
Bente Traeen, Aleksandar Štulhofer, Tanja Jurin & Gert Martin Hald
To cite this article: Bente Traeen, Aleksandar Štulhofer, Tanja Jurin & Gert Martin Hald (2018)
Seventy-Five Years Old and Still Going Strong: Stability and Change in Sexual Interest and Sexual
Enjoyment in Elderly Men and Women Across Europe, International Journal of Sexual Health, 30:4,
323-336, DOI: 10.1080/19317611.2018.1472704
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Seventy-Five Years Old and Still Going Strong: Stability and Change
in Sexual Interest and Sexual Enjoyment in Elderly Men and Women
Across Europe
Bente Traeena, Aleksandar �Stulhoferb, Tanja Jurinc and Gert Martin Haldd
aDepartment of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; bDepartment of Sociology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia;
cDepartment of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; dDepartment of Public Health, University of Copenhagen,
Copenhagen, Denmark
ABSTRACT
Objective: The aim of this study was to test a conceptual model of retrospectively assessed
change in sexual interest and sexual enjoyment in the past 10 years among coupled older
adults in Norway, Denmark, Belgium and Portugal. To which degree do structural influences,
personal characteristics, and interpersonal factors predict the dynamics of sexual interest
and enjoyment in partnered persons? Methods: Data were collected as a cross-sectional pos-
tal survey, with national probability-based samples of the population aged 60-75 years
recruited by phone registers in Norway (676 men and 594 women), Denmark (530 men and
515 women), Belgium ( 318 men and 672 women), and Portugal (236 men and 273 women).
Results: Across countries, personal characteristics—primarily general health status—were the
most important predictors of change in sexual interest and sexual enjoyment in men.
Change in sexual interest and enjoyment among women (except for Portuguese women)
was best predicted by interpersonal factors. Conclusions: Good health, an active sex life
throughout the lifespan, direction of relationship, and feeling emotionally close to partner
during sex are important factors in maintaining sexual interest and enjoyment among part-
nered older adults in Europe.
ARTICLE HISTORY
Received 8 January 2018
Revised 12 March 2018
Accepted 1 May 2018
KEYWORD
sexual attitudes and
behaviors; sexual
development; cross-cultural
studies; elderly sexuality
It is well documented that sexual activity and
sexual satisfaction decrease as people age (Bell,
Reissing, Henry, & VanZuylen, 2017; DeLamater,
2012; Field et al., 2013; Herbenick et al., 2010;
Hinchliff & Gott, 2011; Kontula & Haavio-
Mannila, 2009; Laumann, Gagnon, Michael, &
Michaels, 1994; Lee, Nazroo, O’Connor, Blake, &
Pendleton, 2016; Lindau & Gavrilova, 2010;
Lindau et al., 2007; Palacios-Ce~na et al., 2012;
Schick et al., 2010; Traeen et al., 2018). However,
rather than focusing on changes in sexual activity
in aging individuals, Bell et al. (2017) suggested
that it is the change in sexual interest and enjoy-
ment that should be at focus. Further, it has been
suggested that sexual interest and enjoyment is
part of successful sexual aging, making the study
of these outcomes even more important among
older age cohorts (�Stulhofer, Hinchliff, Jurin,
Hald, & Traeen, 2018).
The literature on stability and change in sexual
interest and sexual enjoyment in older adults is
sparse. Two nationally representative cohorts of
57- to 64-year-old adults in the United States
were surveyed 10 years apart. Using a cross-sec-
tional study approach, interest in sex was rela-
tively stable among women of the same age in
the two studies; whereas, significantly more men
in 2005 than in 1995 reported an interest in sex
(Lindau & Gavrilova, 2010). Rather than using a
cross-sectional cohort study approach, changes or
stability in sexual interest and enjoyment in aging
individuals may also be studied by asking people
how they perceive their current sexual interest
and enjoyment compared to earlier in life. Such a
retrospective approach has the advantage of
studying change within individuals’ lifespan and
may be complementary to cross-sectional
approaches as previously used.
CONTACT Bente Traeen bente.traen@psykologi.uio.no Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Box 1094 Blindern, Oslo, Norway.
� 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH
2018, VOL. 30, NO. 4, 323–336
https://doi.org/10.1080/19317611.2018.1472704
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https://doi.org./10.1080/19317611.2018.1472704
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Study aims
In a recent extensive review of the literature on
sexuality after 60 years of age, Bell et al. (2017)
concluded that there were methodological diffi-
culties and significant inconsistencies in findings
across studies. This pinpoints the need for studies
that allow for cross-cultural comparison. Using
common methods for data collection in represen-
tative samples, the aim of this study is to test a
conceptual model for change in sexual interest
and sexual enjoyment compared to 10 years ago
in older adults in Norway, Denmark, Belgium,
and Portugal. This conceptual model is designed
to study the degree to which structural factors
(level of education), personal factors (sexual his-
tory and general health), and interpersonal fac-
tors (relationship characteristics) may predict the
retrospectively-assessed dynamics of sexual inter-
est and enjoyment. Because having a partner to
have sex with is the strongest predictor of having
sex and enjoying it (DeLamater, 2012; Palacios-
Ce~na et al., 2012; Traeen et al., 2018), this study
concentrated on older adults who have a partner.
Studying sexual interest and sexual enjoyment
in older adults may have personal, social, and pub-
lic health relevance, particularly regarding relation-
ship happiness, well-being, and the perception of
quality of life. The results from this study are likely
to be of importance for public health professionals
in planning and developing future interventions to
improve sexual health in future generations of
older adults (Traeen et al., 2016a,b).
The conceptual model
Structural factors
The relationship between socioeconomic status
and health is well documented (Pampel, Krueger,
& Denney, 2010). According to the European
Commission (2016), the disposable median net
income in 2015 was 8,435 EUR in Portugal,
21,654 EUR in Belgium, 28,364 EUR in
Denmark, and 41,483 EUR in Norway. The dif-
ferent socioeconomic realities are related to peo-
ple’s standard of living, which may be why
�Stulhofer et al. (2018) found that the average
level of successful sexual aging was lowest in
Portugal, but did not vary significantly between
Norway, Denmark, and Belgium. Many older
adults are retired from paid work and live of
their pension, which may make income a less
meaningful predictor. On the other hand, educa-
tion is usually correlated with income, which is
why the level of education will be interpreted as
a structural factor in this study.
Summing up the empirical evidence of factors
associated with sexual expressions in partnered
older adults, Kleinst€auber (2017) and Bell et al.
(2017), found few studies examining the role of
educational level and with conflicting results.
However, the level of education may be of import-
ance in deciding the position of sexuality in a per-
son’s life, and thereby also on sexual interest as
well as sexual enjoyment. Traditionally, highly
educated people are more likely than people with
less education to place a high value on sexuality
(Schmidt, 1989; Traeen & Stigum, 1998). This cor-
responds well with studies showing that older
adults with higher levels of education have higher
frequencies of sexual activity (Beckman, Waern,
Gustafson, & Skoog, 2008; DeLamater & Sill, 2005;
Palacios-Ce~na et al., 2012; Traeen et al., 2018), and
greater physical pleasure (Stroope, McFarland, &
Uecker, 2015). Studies have also found that level of
education of older adults can serve as a protective
factor against the diminishing of cognitive func-
tion (Kok, Aartsen, Deeg, & Huisman, 2017).
Furthermore, this should imply that the level of
education would play a role with regard to sexual
interest and sexual enjoyment in older adults.
However, a recent study among older adults in
Europe showed a significant, but small relationship
between what was denoted as successful aging and
tertiary education among only Norwegian women
and Belgian men (�Stulhofer et al., 2018). This sug-
gests that education does not play a crucial role in
aging well in developed countries characterized by
easily accessible health information and high qual-
ity medical services.
Personal factors
As stated in the introduction, many studies show a
negative link between sexual interest and age. Also,
sexual satisfaction has been shown to be affected
negatively by age. This strongly suggests that sta-
bility and change in sexual interest and sexual
324 B. TRAEEN ET AL.
enjoyment may also be associated with age, which
is why age is included in the conceptual model.
However, age is also a possible covariate for the
other factors, for instance health status.
Research suggests there are links between one’s
own and one’s partner’s health problems and sexual
activity (DeLamater, 2012; Dominguez &
Barbagallo, 2016; Field et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2016;
Lindau et al., 2007; Lindau, & Gavrilova, 2010;
Palacios-Ce~na et al., 2012; Stroope et al., 2015;
Syme, Klonoff, Macera, & Brodine, 2013).
Accordingly, change in health status is likely to be
associated with changes in sexual interest and sexual
enjoyment. In this regard, it has been shown that
people with poorer health are less likely to engage
in sexual interaction (Lindau et al., 2007). Further,
sexual interest and sexual enjoyment in older adults
may be affected by physical disabilities, making
some sexual positions uncomfortable or painful
(Lindau & Gavrilova, 2010; Woloski-Wruble, Oliel,
Leefsma, & Hochner-Celnikier, 2010).
Change in sexual interest and sexual enjoy-
ment may also be affected by the aging individu-
al’s level of sexual activity throughout his or her
lifespan. It has been observed that individuals
who were more sexually active at a younger age
are more likely to continue being sexually active
in older age (Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2009;
Woloski-Wruble et al., 2010). This indicates that
sexual interest and sexual enjoyment also should
be relatively stable throughout a person’s lifespan.
Interpersonal factors
The number of years one has been in the couple
relationship may affect their sexual interest and
sexual enjoyment. Research suggests that sexual
activity is negatively affected in a long-term rela-
tionship by the degree of routine, lack of vari-
ation, and boredom (DeLamater & Moorman,
2007; Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2009; Stroope
et al., 2015). Sexuality within the couple relation-
ship is shown to be dependent upon feeling close
to, and intimate with, one’s partner (Avis et al.,
2005; DeLamater, 2012; Galinsky & Waite, 2014;
Stroope et al., 2015; Traeen, Stulhofer, &
Carvalheira, 2013). According to Basson’s sexual
desire model (2000, 2002), this is particularly so
for women, as their motivation to move from
sexual neutrality to sexual arousal and potential
desire and to continue the experience, stems
from the need to enhance emotional closeness to
the partner, acceptance, bonding, toleration, com-
mitment, and love. In turn, this cyclic sexual
response pattern is likely to lead to enhancement
in sexual interest and sexual enjoyment.
Furthermore, during aging there may be a shift
of focus from vaginal penetration to other intim-
ate sexual expressions such as touching, caressing,
kissing, and cuddling, producing a sense of
intimacy and closeness in the couple (Dominguez
& Barbagallo, 2016). Resting on Bell et al. (2017)
suggestion that sexual enjoyment may be concep-
tualized differently in younger than in older indi-
viduals, feeling emotionally close to one’s partner
during sex, touching, and cuddling may be more
important than traditional penetrative sex for
older rather than for younger adults’ sexual inter-
est and enjoyment. This could in fact increase
sexual enjoyment in older individuals.
Method
Participants
The Department of Psychology at the University
of Oslo, Norway, in cooperation with the market-
ing research company IPSOS, conducted the
multinational survey of representative samples of
the population aged 60–75 years in Norway,
Denmark, Belgium, and Portugal. Initially, IPSOS
conducted a recruitment interview in each coun-
try by telephone to obtain a nationally-represen-
tative sample of this population. During this
recruitment interview it was emphasized that the
responses from those sexually inactive were as
important as from those sexually active. As part
of the study, a subsample of couples was
recruited in each country. When recruiting indi-
viduals, an effort was made to enlist both parties
in a relationship if they were in the age range of
60–75 years.
Recruitment and procedure
The questionnaire was developed in English and
subsequently translated into local languages by the
principal investigators and persons employed by
IPSOS in each country. Once the translation into
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH 325
native languages was finalized, randomized tele-
phone recruitment of participants began. With the
exception of Portugal, national phone registries
(landline and mobile phone numbers) were used so
that the sampling procedure would likely produce
representative samples of the target population. In
Portugal, a complete and updated telephone register
did not exist. For this reason, IPSOS used a fre-
quently used procedure when recruiting for tele-
phone surveys in Portugal: (a) telephone numbers
were first randomly selected from fixed phone
directories and IPSOS’s own database of phone
numbers; (b) to obtain a distribution representative
of the population, participants were selected by age
and gender; and (c) due to illiteracy problems, par-
ticipants who had not completed primary school
(ISCED 1) were excluded from the sample. For all
countries telephone recruitment was carried out
from October to December 2016. Ethics approval
was handled by IPSOS in accordance with
European standards. The ethical procedures fol-
lowed the standards of ESOMAR (The European
Society for Opinion and Market Research), as stated
in the general contract with the University of Oslo.
By the standards of ESOMAR, IPSOS is obliged to
follow national and international rules and guide-
lines for what is recognized as professionally sound
market analysis. The rules comprise treatment of
confidentiality, respondent anonymity, question-
naires and databases and methods for data collec-
tion etc. It is also referred to the ethical rules for
The Norwegian Association of Marketing and
Opinion Research. No compensation for participa-
tion was given.
Informed consent was obtained from the par-
ticipants when recruited received an anonymous,
postal, questionnaire, including a Freepost enve-
lope to return the completed questionnaire. Two
reminders were sent successively, starting 1 week
after the questionnaire was received by the par-
ticipant. After a discussion with IPSOS in
Portugal, it was decided to deliver the reminders
by phone. Unfortunately, 502 potential
Portuguese participants could not be reached. Of
the 1,498 Portuguese individuals contacted by
phone, 561 declined participation after having
received the questionnaire. Overall, the response
rates were 68% in Norway, 52% in Denmark,
57% in Belgium, and 26% in Portugal.
Survey questions
Most of the variables included in the question-
naire were selected from previous studies among
the target group. An overview of the included
survey questions is given elsewhere (Traeen
et al., 2018).
Measures
Outcome variables
Change in sexual interest and enjoyment was
measured by two separate questions: “Compared
to 10 years ago, how would you rate your overall
enjoyment in sex?” and “Compared to 10 years
ago, how would you rate your interest in sex?”
The response categories for both questions
ranged from 1 (much lower) to 5 (much higher).
Predictors
Age was measured as a continuous variable. Level
of education was assessed as the highest level of
formal education. In three countries the response
categories ranged from 1 (primary school [6–8
years at school]) to 5 (higher university level
[Master degree, Ph.D. level or similar]). In
Belgium, additional response alternatives were
added to mirror the educational system in the
country. To allow for cross-cultural comparisons,
the variable was recoded into 1 ¼ primary (1),
2 ¼ secondary (2 þ 3), and 3 ¼ tertiary educa-
tion (4 þ 5).
Sexual activity throughout life was measured
by the question: “In your lifetime, how would
you rate your sexual activity throughout most of
your life (until the age of 60)?” The response cat-
egories ranged from 1 (I was sexually very active)
to 5 (I was sexually very inactive).
General health status self-assessment was
measured by the question “In general, would you
say your health is … ” and the response catego-
ries ranged from 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor).
Relationship duration was measured as a con-
tinuous variable (in number of years) by the
question: “If you have a steady/committed rela-
tionship: How long have you been in this steady/
committed relationship?”
326 B. TRAEEN ET AL.
Emotional closeness during sex was measured
by the question “Thinking about your relation-
ship with your partner, how often does this apply
to your situation: I feel emotionally close to my
partner when we have sex together.” The
response categories ranged from 1 (always) to 5
(hardly ever).
Statistical analysis
Based on census data, weighting was used to
match national samples to their respective popu-
lation characteristics (age and gender;
DuMouchel & Duncan, 1983). To check for
robustness, the analyses presented in this article
were carried out on weighted and unweighted
data. With the exception of some estimates in the
Portuguese sample (presented in parenthesis in
the results section), the estimates were similar.
The relationship between the outcome varia-
bles and the selected predictors was studied using
hierarchical linear regression analyses separately
by country and gender (Pallant, 2010). First, the
structural variable (level of education) was
entered into the model, followed by personal fac-
tors (age, sexual activity throughout life, health),
and lastly, the interpersonal factors (duration of
the relationship, emotional closeness with the
partner during sex). Only the results from the
final models are presented in Tables 3a to 4b. All
data analyses were performed using IBM SPSS
22.0 statistical software package.
Results
Table 1 shows the rating of current sexual interest
and sexual enjoyment compared to 10 years ago.
Norwegian and Danish men tended to report their
interest was the same or somewhat less than 10
years ago, and the majority of men in Belgium
and Portugal reported less interest. Women’s esti-
mates were generally lower than men’s estimates
but showed the same pattern across countries.
Regarding the overall enjoyment of sex today
compared to 10 years ago, a minority of men
(4–7%) and women (4–10%) reported higher
enjoyment. The percentage of women reporting
less enjoyment ranged from 56% in Norway and
Denmark, to 70% in Belgium, and 75% in
Portugal. Most men in Portugal (73%), Belgium
(64%), and Norway (53%) reported less enjoy-
ment, and in Denmark (51%) claimed it was
about the same.
Tables 2a and b show a description of the key
variables presented in the conceptual model, by
country and separate for men and women. The
proportion of participants with tertiary education
was lowest Portugal and highest in Norway.
Men and women in Denmark reported the
longest relationship duration. The majority of
men in all countries rated themselves as having
been very to moderately sexually active through-
out life. Danish and Norwegian men and women
reported the greatest degree of emotional close-
ness with their partner during sex, and men and
women in Belgium the least closeness.
Table 1. Change in Sexual Interest and Overall Sexual Enjoyment Compared to 10 Years Ago in Men and Women from
Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and Portugal (Percent, Weighted Data).
Men Women
Norway Denmark Belgium Portugal Sign Norway Denmark Belgium Portugal Sign
Sexual interest
Much lower 13.5 13.6 31.0 20.4 ��� 25.1 23.2 46.2 32.8 �
�
�
Somewhat lower 39.7 36.3 27.6 52.1 43.3 41.4 27.1 43.9
About the same 43.5 47.8 37.2 24.2 25.7 32.9 22.5 19.6
Somewhat higher 2.5 1.6 3.9 1.9 3.6 1.8 1.3 2.1
Much higher 0.8 0.7 0.3 1.4 2.3 0.7 3.0 1.6
(n ¼ 519) (n ¼ 433) (n ¼ 384) (n ¼ 211) (n ¼ 439) (n ¼ 435) (n ¼ 236) (n ¼ 186)
Sexual enjoyment
Much lower 14.7 14.1 32.6 21.0 ��� 26.4 24.1 43.0 31.4 ���
Somewhat lower 38.6 30.5 31.6 51.8 29.9 32.1 27.1 43.4
About the same 40.2 51.3 27.9 22.1 33.9 38.1 22.2 21.4
Somewhat higher 4.8 3.8 6.6 2.6 7.8 3.6 4.1 1.9
Much higher 1.8 0.2 1.3 2.6 2.1 2.1 3.6 1.9
(n ¼ 505) (n ¼ 417) (n ¼ 377) (n ¼ 195) (n ¼ 425) (n ¼ 386) (n ¼ 221) (n ¼ 159)
Note. ***p < 0.001.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH 327
Ta
b
le
2a
.
A
Pr
es
en
ta
ti
on
of
th
e
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
U
se
d
in
th
e
C
on
ce
p
tu
al
M
od
el
in
Pa
rt
n
er
ed
M
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(M
,S
D
);
Pe
rc
en
ta
g
es
).
V
ar
ia
b
le
N
or
w
ay
(n
¼
51
9)
D
en
m
ar
k
(n
¼
43
5)
Be
lg
iu
m
(n
¼
38
5)
Po
rt
ug
al
(n
¼
21
6)
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
Si
g
n
.
A
g
e
(y
ea
rs
)
51
9
66
.6
8
4.
34
43
7
67
.9
6
4.
27
38
4
67
.5
6
4.
11
21
5
66
.7
6
4.
38
��
�
D
ur
at
io
n
of
th
e
re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
(y
ea
rs
)
48
0
31
.2
4
16
.2
3
41
8
36
.8
3
14
.2
7
36
8
36
.5
7
14
.6
5
19
5
29
.7
3
17
.2
7
��
�
Se
xu
al
ac
ti
vi
ty
th
ro
ug
h
ou
t
lif
e
(h
ig
h
er
va
lu
es
in
d
ic
at
e
m
or
e
in
ac
ti
vi
ty
)
50
4
1.
81
0.
63
41
7
1.
89
0.
62
37
6
1.
95
0.
76
19
6
1.
76
0.
57
��
�
H
ea
lt
h
as
se
ss
m
en
t
(lo
w
er
va
lu
es
,
b
et
te
r
h
ea
lt
h
)
49
6
2.
58
0.
95
41
5
2.
43
0.
99
34
3
2.
72
0.
79
21
3
3.
31
0.
91
��
�
Em
ot
io
n
al
cl
os
en
es
s
to
p
ar
tn
er
d
ur
in
g
se
x
(lo
w
va
lu
es
in
d
ic
at
e
h
ig
h
er
in
ti
m
ac
y)
49
6
1.
50
0.
78
40
3
1.
47
0.
79
35
4
1.
71
0.
94
17
8
1.
63
1.
01
��
�
Le
ve
l
of
ed
uc
at
io
n
Pr
im
ar
y
9.
6
27
.4
11
.2
35
.6
��
�
Se
co
n
d
ar
y
33
.1
37
.9
47
.5
47
.7
Te
rt
ia
ry
57
.2
34
.7
41
.3
16
.7
N
ot
e.
��
� p
< .0 01 .
Ta
b
le
2b
.
A
Pr
es
en
ta
ti
on
of
th
e
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
U
se
d
in
th
e
C
on
ce
p
tu
al
M
od
el
in
Pa
rt
n
er
ed
W
om
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(m
ea
n
(M
),
st
an
d
ar
d
d
ev
ia
ti
on
(S
D
);
Pe
rc
en
ta
g
es
).
N
or
w
ay
D
en
m
ar
k
Be
lg
iu
m
Po
rt
ug
al
V
ar
ia
b
le
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
n
%
M
SD
Si
g
n
.
A
g
e
(y
ea
rs
)
44
0
66
.3
4
4.
05
44
0
67
.7
9
4.
25
23
6
65
.5
9
4.
05
20
3
66
.3
8
4.
36
��
�
D
ur
at
io
n
of
th
e
re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
(y
ea
rs
)
41
1
34
.9
1
16
.0
5
42
0
40
.3
2
13
.3
5
22
6
32
.5
0
16
.5
5
19
0
34
.1
4
17
.1
2
��
�
Se
xu
al
ac
ti
vi
ty
th
ro
ug
h
ou
t
lif
e
(h
ig
h
er
va
lu
es
in
d
ic
at
e
m
or
e
in
ac
ti
vi
ty
)
43
0
2.
06
0.
71
38
8
2.
10
0.
67
22
4
2.
19
0.
81
16
1
1.
93
0.
73
��
H
ea
lt
h
as
se
ss
m
en
t
(lo
w
er
va
lu
es
,
b
et
te
r
h
ea
lt
h
)
40
5
2.
63
0.
95
38
8
2.
50
0.
94
21
6
2.
84
0.
86
19
8
3.
62
0.
83
��
�
Em
ot
io
n
al
cl
os
en
es
s
to
p
ar
tn
er
d
ur
in
g
se
x
(lo
w
va
lu
es
in
d
ic
at
e
h
ig
h
er
in
ti
m
ac
y)
41
1
1.
61
0.
86
35
9
1.
64
1.
03
21
7
1.
85
1.
06
15
2
1.
68
0.
92
�
Le
ve
l
of
ed
uc
at
io
n
Pr
im
ar
y
7.
8
25
.3
12
.9
44
.3
��
�
Se
co
n
d
ar
y
42
.9
39
.3
54
.1
39
.8
Te
rt
ia
ry
49
.3
35
.4
33
.0
15
.9
(n
¼
43
8)
(n
¼
43
8)
(n
¼
23
3)
(n
¼
20
1)
N
ot
e.
� p
<
.0
5,
��
p
<
.0
1,
��
� p
<
.0
01
.
328 B. TRAEEN ET AL.
A multivariate linear regression analysis was
initially carried out on the polled sample, with
countries as fixed effects. In the case of retro-
spectively assessed change in sexual interest
compared to 10 years ago, we found that Danish
men differed from Belgian men. Among women,
Belgian women significantly differed from
women in the Portuguese, Norwegian, and
Danish samples. Regarding change in sexual
enjoyment in the past 10 years, the analysis
showed that Norwegian and Danish men and
women differed from Belgian men and women.
As country was significant predictor of both
outcomes, it was decided to run regression anal-
yses by country to explore country-specific
structure of predictors.
Change in sexual interest
Table 3a shows the relationship between the
structural-, personal- and interpersonal factors
and level of sexual interest today compared to 10
years ago in partnered men. With regard to the
total explained variance of all the predictors
included in the model, the proportion of
explained variance in the outcome was 14.6% in
Portugal, 10.9% in Norway, 9.0% in Belgium, and
6.0% in Denmark.
In the case of Portuguese men, the most signifi-
cant predictors of level of sexual interest were sex-
ual activity throughout life (weighted data
b ¼ �0.21; unweighted data b ¼ �0.12), and rela-
tionship duration (b ¼ 0.19). Health was not sig-
nificant in the weighted data set (b ¼ �0.15) but
reached significance in the unweighted data set
(b ¼ �0.21). Portuguese men who had been in
their relationship for a longer time and had been
sexually active throughout their life were more
likely to have unchanged or greater sexual interest
compared to 10 years ago. In Norwegian men, the
relative importance of the statistically significant
predictors was health (b ¼ �0.20), duration of the
relationship (b ¼ �0.14), and closeness with the
partner during sex (b ¼ �0.10). This indicates
that Norwegian men who were healthy, had been
in the relationship for a shorter period, and per-
ceived themselves as being close with their part-
ner during sex were more likely to have
unchanged or higher sexual interest compared to Ta
b
le
3a
.
Th
e
Re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
Be
tw
ee
n
Ra
ti
n
g
of
Pr
es
en
t
In
te
re
st
in
Se
x
C
om
p
ar
ed
to
10
Ye
ar
s
A
g
o,
an
d
a
Se
le
ct
ed
se
t
of
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
in
m
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(H
ie
ra
rc
h
ic
M
ul
ti
p
le
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
A
n
al
ys
is
,
St
an
d
ar
d
iz
ed
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
C
oe
ff
ic
ie
n
ts
fr
om
th
e
Fi
n
al
St
ep
of
th
e
A
n
al
ys
is
).
Pr
ed
ic
to
r
N
or
w
ay
(n
¼
44
3)
D
en
m
ar
k
(n
¼
36
5)
Be
lg
iu
m
(n
¼
31
1)
Po
rt
ug
al
(n
¼
16
0)
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
St
ep
1:
St
ru
ct
ur
al
fa
ct
or
s
0.
00
7
0.
00
7n
s
0.
00
3
0.
00
3n
s
0.
00
0
0.
00
0n
s
0.
00
5
0.
00
5n
s
Le
ve
l
of
ed
uc
at
io
n
0.
04
7n
s
0.
04
4n
s
�0
.0
31
n
s
0.
00
3n
s
St
ep
2:
Pe
rs
on
al
fa
ct
or
s
0.
08
1
0.
07
5�
��
0.
05
4
0.
05
0�
��
0.
07
1
0.
07
1�
��
0.
10
6
0.
10
1�
��
A
g
e
�0
.1
14
�
0.
02
6n
s
0.
12
2�
�0
.0
74
n
s
Se
xu
al
ac
ti
vi
ty
th
ro
ug
h
ou
t
lif
e
�0
.0
45
n
s
�0
.0
98
n
s
�0
.1
41
�
�0
.2
07
��
H
ea
lt
h
�0
.2
00
��
�
�0
.1
96
��
�
�0
.1
95
��
�
�0
.1
51
n
s
St
ep
3:
In
te
rp
er
so
n
al
fa
ct
or
s
0.
10
9
0.
02
8�
��
0.
06
0
0.
00
6n
s
0.
09
0
0.
01
9�
0.
14
6
0.
03
9�
D
ur
at
io
n
of
th
e
re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
�0
.1
42
��
�0
.0
81
n
s
�0
.1
10
n
s
0.
18
5�
Em
ot
io
n
al
cl
os
en
es
s
to
p
ar
tn
er
d
ur
in
g
se
x
�0
.0
95
�
0.
00
1n
s
0.
06
8n
s
�0
.0
96
n
s
N
ot
e.
� p
<
.0
5,
��
p
<
.0
1,
��
� p
<
.0
01
.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH 329
10 years ago. Turning to men in Belgium, the most
important predictors were health (b ¼ �0.20), sex-
ual activity throughout life (b ¼ �0.14), and age
(b ¼ �0.12). Belgian men who had better health,
who had been sexually active throughout life, and
were younger, were more likely to have greater
sexual interest now compared to 10 years ago. In
Danish men, only health (b ¼ �0.20), was statistic-
ally significantly associated with change in sexual
interest. The personal factors made the largest con-
tribution to the explained variance (DR2) for men
in all countries.
The results for the analysis for women are pre-
sented in Table 3b. The total explained variance
of all the predictors included in the model was
18.3% in Portugal, 15.0% in Denmark, 11.6% in
Norway, and 10.6% in Belgium.
In the case of Portuguese women, the most
important predictors of change in sexual interest
were health (weighted data b ¼ �0.237;
unweighted data b ¼ �0.188), relationship dur-
ation (b ¼ �0.17), and emotional closeness with
the partner during sex (weighted data b ¼ �0.17;
unweighted data b ¼ �0.32). Portuguese women
who were in good health, felt emotionally close
to their partner during sex, had been in the rela-
tionship for a shorter period of time, and were
more likely to have unchanged or greater sexual
interest compared to 10 years ago. The personal
factors made the largest contribution to the
explained variance in Portuguese women. In
Danish women, perceived intimacy with the part-
ner during sex (b ¼ �0.31), and health evaluation
(b ¼ �0.15) were statistically significantly associ-
ated with change in sexual interest. Danish
women who had good health and perceived
themselves as close to their partner were more
likely to have unchanged or greater sexual inter-
est compared to 10 years ago.
Turning to women in Norway, the most signifi-
cant predictors were emotional closeness with the
partner (b ¼ �0.27), and duration of the relation-
ship (b ¼ �0.14). Norwegian women who felt close
to their partner during sex and had been in the
relationship for a shorter period of time were
more likely to have unchanged or greater sexual
interest compared to 10 years ago. In Belgium,
emotional closeness with the partner during sex
(b ¼ �0.22), and relationship duration (b ¼ �0.15)
were statistically significantly associated with
change in sexual interest. Women who perceived
themselves as close to their partner during sex and
had been in the relationship for a shorter period
of time had unchanged or greater sexual interest
compared to 10 years ago. In Norway, Denmark,
and Belgium, the interpersonal factors made the
largest contribution to the explained variance
in women.
Change in sexual enjoyment
Table 4a shows the relationship between the pre-
dictor variables and overall level of sexual enjoy-
ment in partnered men today compared to 10
years ago. The proportion of total variance
explained in the outcome, based on all of the
predictors included in the men’s models, was
18.2% in Portuguese men, 12.4% in Belgian men,
11.0% in Norwegian men, and 10.8% in
Danish men.
The relative importance of the statistically sig-
nificant predictors in Portuguese men, were emo-
tional closeness (weighted data b ¼ �0.20;
unweighted data b ¼ �0.13), previous sexual
activity (weighted data b ¼ �0.18; unweighted
data b ¼ �0.10), and health (weighted data
b ¼ �0.17; unweighted data b ¼ �0.26).
Portuguese men who had good health, felt close
to their partner, and had been sexually active
throughout their life were more likely to have
unchanged or greater sexual enjoyment when
compared to 10 years ago. In Belgian men, health
(b ¼ �0.28), and duration of the relationship
(b ¼ �0.16) predicted sexual enjoyment. Belgian
men who had better health, and who had been
with their partner for a shorter length of time
were more likely to have unchanged or greater
overall sexual enjoyment when compared to 10
years ago. Turning to Norwegian men, the most
significant predictors of enjoyment were health
(b ¼ �0.20), emotional closeness (b ¼ �0.14),
and relationship duration (b ¼ �0.13). Norwegian
men who were in good health, felt close to their
partner during sex, and who had been in the
relationship for a shorter time, were more likely
to report unchanged or greater overall sexual
enjoyment compared to 10 years ago. The most
important predictors in Danish men were health
330 B. TRAEEN ET AL.
Ta
b
le
3b
.
Th
e
Re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
Be
tw
ee
n
Ra
ti
n
g
of
Pr
es
en
t
In
te
re
st
in
Se
x
C
om
p
ar
ed
to
10
Ye
ar
s
A
g
o,
an
d
a
Se
le
ct
ed
Se
t
of
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
in
w
om
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(H
ie
ra
rc
h
ic
M
ul
ti
p
le
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
A
n
al
ys
is
,
St
an
d
ar
d
iz
ed
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
C
oe
ff
ic
ie
n
ts
fr
om
th
e
Fi
n
al
St
ep
of
th
e
A
n
al
ys
is
).
Pr
ed
ic
to
r
N
or
w
ay
(n
¼
35
5)
D
en
m
ar
k
(n
¼
31
5)
Be
lg
iu
m
(n
¼
18
6)
Po
rt
ug
al
(n
¼
13
8)
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
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D
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Ta
b
le
4a
.
Th
e
Re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
Be
tw
ee
n
Ra
ti
n
g
of
Pr
es
en
t
O
ve
ra
ll
Se
xu
al
En
jo
ym
en
t
C
om
p
ar
ed
to
10
Ye
ar
s
A
g
o,
an
d
a
Se
le
ct
ed
Se
t
of
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
in
m
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(H
ie
ra
rc
h
ic
M
ul
ti
p
le
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
A
n
al
ys
is
,
St
an
d
ar
d
iz
ed
Re
g
re
ss
io
n
C
oe
ff
ic
ie
n
ts
fr
om
th
e
Fi
n
al
St
ep
of
th
e
A
n
al
ys
is
).
Pr
ed
ic
to
r
N
or
w
ay
(n
¼
44
2)
D
en
m
ar
k
(n
¼
36
4)
Be
lg
iu
m
(n
¼
31
1)
Po
rt
ug
al
(n
¼
16
3)
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
St
ep
1:
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ct
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ct
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01
4
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n
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n
s
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n
s
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n
s
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n
s
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<
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01
.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH 331
(b ¼ �0.26), emotional closeness (b ¼ �0.14),
and previous sexual activity (b ¼ �0.10). Danish
men who had good health, who felt close to their
partner, and had been sexually active throughout
life, were more likely to have unchanged or
greater overall sexual enjoyment compared to
10 years ago. The personal factors made the larg-
est contribution to the explained variance in men
in all countries. The total variance explained
of all the predictors included in the women’s
models was 19.3% in Belgium, 16.0% in
Denmark, 15.2% in Portugal, and 14.3% in
Norway (Table 4b).
In Belgium, health (b ¼ �0.27), emotional
closeness (b ¼ �0.22), and duration of the rela-
tionship (b ¼ �0.16) were statistically signifi-
cantly associated with overall sexual enjoyment
today compared to 10 years ago. Women who
were in good health, felt emotionally close to
their partner, and who had been in the relation-
ship for a shorter period reported unchanged or
greater overall sexual enjoyment. The relative
importance of the statistically significant predic-
tors of Danish women were intimacy with the
partner (b ¼ �0.35), and health (b ¼ �0.15).
Likewise, the most significant predictors of
Portuguese women were emotional closeness
(weighted data b ¼ �0.25; unweighted data
b ¼ �0.27), and health (weighted data b ¼ �0.22;
unweighted data b ¼ �0.19). Danish and
Portuguese women who were emotionally close
with their partner, and in good health were more
likely to report unchanged or greater overall sex-
ual enjoyment compared to 10 years ago.
Turning to women in Norway, the most import-
ant predictors of change in sexual enjoyment
were intimacy (b ¼ �0.32), and duration of the
relationship (b ¼ �0.16). Norwegian women who
had been in the relationship for a shorter period,
and felt emotionally close to their partner during
sex, were more likely to have unchanged or
greater overall sexual enjoyment today compared
to 10 years ago.
In the analyses of the Norwegian, Danish and
Belgian women, the interpersonal factors made
the largest contribution to the explained variance
while in the case of the Portuguese women, the
personal factors made the largest contribution. Ta
b
le
4b
.
Th
e
Re
la
ti
on
sh
ip
Be
tw
ee
n
Ra
ti
n
g
of
Pr
es
en
t
O
ve
ra
ll
Se
xu
al
En
jo
ym
en
t
C
om
p
ar
ed
to
10
Ye
ar
s
A
g
o,
an
d
a
Se
le
ct
ed
Se
t
of
Pr
ed
ic
to
rs
in
w
om
en
A
cr
os
s
Eu
ro
p
ea
n
C
ou
n
tr
ie
s
(H
ie
ra
rc
h
ic
m
ul
ti
p
le
re
g
re
ss
io
n
an
al
ys
is
,
st
an
d
ar
d
iz
ed
re
g
re
ss
io
n
co
ef
fic
ie
n
ts
fr
om
th
e
fin
al
st
ep
of
th
e
an
al
ys
is
).
Pr
ed
ic
to
r
N
or
w
ay
(n
¼
35
1)
D
en
m
ar
k
(n
¼
31
2)
Be
lg
iu
m
(n
¼
18
4)
Po
rt
ug
al
(n
¼
14
3)
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
b
R2
D
R2
St
ep
1:
St
ru
ct
ur
al
fa
ct
or
s
0.
00
1
0.
00
1n
s
0.
01
3
0.
01
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0.
00
8
0.
00
8n
s
0.
02
9
0.
02
9�
Le
ve
l
of
ed
uc
at
io
n
0.
01
2n
s
0.
01
2n
s
0.
04
6n
s
0.
04
3n
s
St
ep
2:
Pe
rs
on
al
fa
ct
or
s
0.
02
8
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02
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0.
04
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0.
03
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12
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11
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09
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06
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g
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00
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s
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n
s
0.
08
6n
s
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19
n
s
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xu
al
ac
ti
vi
ty
th
ro
ug
h
ou
t
lif
e
0.
05
4n
s
�0
.0
18
n
s
0.
11
6n
s
0.
08
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s
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ea
lt
h
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n
s
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52
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ur
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n
of
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e
re
la
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on
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ip
�0
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62
��
�0
.0
79
n
s
�0
.1
63
�
�0
.0
20
n
s
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ot
io
n
al
cl
os
en
es
s
to
p
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tn
er
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ur
in
g
se
x
�0
.3
16
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45
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47
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<
.0
01
.
332 B. TRAEEN ET AL.
Discussion
Using a conceptual model to inform and orien-
tate the exploration, the aim of this study was to
investigate the change in sexual interest and sex-
ual enjoyment in partnered older adults today
compared to 10 years ago in Norway, Denmark,
Belgium, and Portugal. We found that across
countries, personal factors were most important
for predicting sexual interest and sexual enjoy-
ment in men; health most often being the most
significant predictor. In Norwegian, Danish, and
Belgian women, interpersonal factors were most
important for predicting sexual interest and sex-
ual enjoyment compared to 10 years ago.
Personal factors were most important for
Portuguese women in this respect.
We found that in all countries, except
Portugal, men’s evaluation of their own health
was important for current sexual interest. Health
was also of significance to women’s change in
sexual interest in Denmark and Portugal. Health
was of importance to overall sexual enjoyment
for men and women in all countries, with the
exception of Norwegian women. That health is
important for sexual interest and enjoyment sup-
ports previous research which has shown that
there is a relationship between reduced health
and diminished interest in sex, as well as fre-
quency of sexual activity (DeLamater, 2012; Field
et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2016; Lindau & Gavrilova,
2010; Lindau et al., 2007; Palacios-Ce~na et al.,
2012; Stroope et al., 2015; Syme et al., 2013).
Previous sexual activity in life was of import-
ance for current sexual interest in Portuguese
and Belgic men, and for current sexual enjoy-
ment in Danish and Portuguese men. However,
previous activity did not predict sexual interest
and enjoyment in women. Men who had been
sexually active throughout their life were more
likely to have unchanged or higher sexual interest
and enjoyment compared to 10 years ago. These
findings support Kontula’s and Haavio-Mannila’s
(2009) study, which found that Finnish men who
had been more sexually active at a younger age
were more likely to continue being sexual active
in older age. This could point to a gender differ-
ence in sex drive (Baumeister, Catanese, & Vohs,
2001), or what Baumeister (2000) denotes as
erotic plasticity, and that men’s sexual drive as
well as sexual habits are more stable across the
lifespan, whereas women’s sexuality is more plas-
tic and dependent on social and cultural factors.
With the exception of Belgian men and Danish
men and women, duration of the relationship was a
significant predictor of sexual interest today com-
pared to 10 years ago. Likewise, duration of the rela-
tionship predicted overall sexual enjoyment in
Belgian and Norwegian men and women but not
Danish and Portuguese men and women. Those who
had been in their relationship for a shorter length of
time were more likely to report unchanged or greater
sexual interest and enjoyment. These findings sup-
port previous studies which have shown that habitua-
lization of the sex life may occur in long-term
relationships (DeLamater & Moorman, 2007;
Kontula & Haavio-Mannila, 2009; Stroope et al.,
2015), and, as a result, both sexual interest and enjoy-
ment may be reduced. On the other hand, the sexual
frequency is probably higher in couple relationships
that have lasted for a shorter period of time (Stroope
et al., 2015), and where the partners are new to each
other both physically and emotionally.
Except for Norwegian men, perceived emo-
tional closeness with the partner during sex did
not predict sexual interest in men but in women
in all countries. On the other hand, emotional
closeness was a powerful predictor of current sex-
ual enjoyment in all respondents except men in
Belgium. These findings are consistent with pre-
vious research (Avis et al., 2005; Call, Sprecher,
& Schwartz, 1995; DeLamater, 2012; Galinsky &
Waite, 2014; MacNeil & Byers, 2005; Sprecher,
2002; Stroope et al., 2015; Traeen et al., 2013).
The findings not only support Basson’s (2000,
2002) hypothesis of women’s sexual desire cycles,
but extends this cycle to be valid also for aging
men. Thus, a perception of closeness with the
partner during sex is associated with unchanged
sexual interest in aging women, and with
enhanced sexual enjoyment in both aging men
and women across cultures. When sexual enjoy-
ment and emotional closeness are linked for both
women and men, this could indicate that sexual
enjoyment in aging men is being more connected
to emotional factors than earlier in a man’s life.
The largest contribution to the variance
explained in all of men’s current sexual interest
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUAL HEALTH 333
and sexual enjoyment was from personal factors
with health and sexual activity throughout life
being the most important predictors. For
Norwegian, Danish, and Belgian women’s current
sexual interest and sexual enjoyment, interper-
sonal factors were the most important; whereas,
personal factors were most important to
Portuguese women. This indicates a clear gender
difference, even more than cross-cultural differ-
ences, in what stabilizes sexual interest and
enjoyment over the lifespan. Men’s sexual interest
and enjoyment may be more dependent on the
biological aspects of the body, and women’s sex-
ual interest and enjoyment may be more depend-
ent on the psychological aspects of their
relationships.
Education predicted neither change in sexual
interest nor change in overall sexual enjoyment.
Since this result is derived from studies that allow
for cross-cultural comparisons, it is likely that in
older age the impact of education becomes less sig-
nificant compared to other factors that influence sex-
ual interest and sexual enjoyment. The same might
be true for age. Age predicted current sexual interest
in only Norwegian and Belgian men, and the direc-
tion of the relationship was expected as previous
research has shown that sexual activity decreases
with increasing age (DeLamater, 2012; Traeen et al.,
2017). However, age was not a significant predictor
of change in sexual enjoyment in men and women
in the other countries. This indicates that changes
may occur at a later stage of life, or that once the
other predictors have been controlled for, age is no
longer important by itself. Of particular importance
in this respect may be aspects of physical health (Bell
et al., 2017; Wang et al., 2015).
The strengths of this research are consistent
research design and method of data collection
across all four countries, the sample sizes, and the
use of mainly validated measures. However, the
present study has some limitations that need to be
addressed. There is reason to believe that the sam-
ples are somewhat biased towards older adults who
were sex-positive. Furthermore, the findings are
relevant exclusively for heterosexual individuals,
because only 1.9% of the recruited participants
identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and 3.2%
marked “other”. Another limitation was that while
the participants had agreed to complete the survey,
they may have experienced embarrassment in
responding to the questions about intimate details
of their sex life. Lastly, change in sexual interest
and sexual enjoyment in the past 10 years were
measured retrospectively. This means that the par-
ticipant had to remember his or her level of inter-
est/enjoyment 10 years ago. Taking into account
the findings suggesting that up to 20% of critical
details of a recognized event are irretrievable after
1 year and 50% after 5 years (Hassan, 2005), the
precision of our measure is problematic. However,
there is no reason to assume any systematic differ-
ences in memory bias above and beyond age differ-
ences (which were controlled for in the
multivariate models).
Conclusions and implications
Of importance to maintaining sexual interest and
enjoyment in partnered older adults across
Europe is good health, an active sex life through-
out the lifespan, duration of the relationship, and
feeling emotionally close to their partner during
sex. There is evidence that health professionals
tend to exclude sexual health as a topic in meet-
ing with older adults (Hinchliff & Gott, 2011;
Traeen & Schaller, 2013). However, this study
shows that sexual health is an important issue to
address as part of older adults’ well-being and,
therefore, an important issue to raise in meetings
with older adult patients, particularly the psycho-
logical and relational aspects of sexuality. To
achieve this goal, it is essential that sexual health
becomes an integral part of the curriculum in the
training of health professionals, and that policy
makers acknowledge sexuality as a priority area
in planning for health services.
Funding
This project was supported by The Norwegian
Research Council (Grant Number 250637).
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- Abstract
Study aims
The conceptual model
Structural factors
Personal factors
Interpersonal factors
Method
Participants
Recruitment and procedure
Survey questions
Measures
Outcome variables
Predictors
Statistical analysis
Results
Change in sexual interest
Change in sexual enjoyment
Discussion
Conclusions and implications
Funding
References
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