ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I discuss stereotypes and social and cultural attitudes about Africana female identity and sexuality and how these ideologies and attitudes contribute to sexual violence. I also identify textual and interpretative cover-ups, which inhibit readers’ and interpreters’ ability to perceive the objectification, oppression, exploitation, commodification, and traumatization of African girls in the text. Euphemisms mask issues of gender and sexuality and soften the presentation of the sexual and gender-based abuse in the text. Finally, I discuss the application of the genre of humor to the book of Esther and some implications of this hermeneutical framing. I suggest that readers apply the genre of horror instead of humor because it better prepares readers for the gruesome sexualizes violence, affords a more serious framework, and brings the trauma and social injustices against the African female collective to the fore of the interpretative process. I also cite additional physical, psychological, biological, and spiritual impacts on both individuals and collectives as well as challenges to researching sexual trafficking as other manifestations of horror.
