Coerced, Indebted and Indentured Sex Slaves: Representations of Sex Slavery in Chinwuba’s Merchants of Flesh (2003) and Sanusi’s Eyo (2009)

Abstract

This qualitative study analyses two West African novels to examine sex slavery's new dimensions as depicted in prosaic works by Third-Generation female West African writers. Using Bales’ Theory of Slavery Forms (2009) and Weissbrodt’s Classifications of Slavery (2002), it categorises sex slavery as coerced, indebted, and indentured through Chinwuba’s Merchants of Flesh (2003) and Sanusi’s Eyo (2009). The findings identify demand variables—purchasers, exploiters, state and culture—and show variations in sex slavery representations across paradigms and modes. It concludes with a recommendation for further exploration on the male and female authorial voices on sex slavery in African literature from a post-colonial standpoint.