I’m sorry, I’m sure this has been asked before but I am really struggling with the concept of slavery, and female slaves specifically and the idea of them being free to be used by their masters.
The whole idea of capturing another nations women, enslaving them and then being free to use them sexually (regardless of consent? And if they’re married or virgins etc.)
I have never discussed this with anyone, but I did one day ask my husband if there was another religion out there that believed it could take over our land, kill or enslave you - and enslave me & our daughters and have their way with us theoretically, wouldn’t you hate them. He just nodded and I guess could see where I was coming from but had no answer for me, and never discussed this again.
Tldr: slavery works with the constant threat of punishment
The whole idea is very dumb when we understand that every person is not too different from ourselves.
For a really long time in human history, anyone captured during battles or sackings were part of the loot, objects of value. Slaves often organized to revolt, because any one alone trying shit would be made an example of (as was also the case with slave revolts after they were quelled)
Regarding religion, the big 3 (christianism, Judaism, Islam) were perfectly fine with slavery of people of different religion (so a Muslim could have christian slaves, a Christian could have Muslim slaves, etc). Nowadays, to my knowledge, Islam is the one that is still mostly ok with it, though that could be a country by country thing (Saudi Arabia is the biggest culprit of abusing immigrants and using them as a slave force). Given that Islam is, in its majority, extremely patriarchal, with women being seen as objects owned by the husband, I suspect it’s one of the worst religions to be a woman in today.
Some christian sects aren’t too far behind on that regressive worldview, but those tend to thrive mostly on poorer places. If you ever hear “prosperity gospel”, stay the fuck away from it.
Your failure to understand is a testimony to your empathy and viewing others as human beings. The conquering group spent a lot of time painting the slaves as a class of “wild savages” and at the most a higher form of animal. The weren’t people with lives and families, they were just another animal on the landscape. And like all animals and indeed, all of the natural world, was put there for the benefit of white land holding men. By serving these men, the savages were elevated into a proper place in the order of the universe of God and men. So really, the slave owners were doing the slaves a service. ^/s