The Condemnation of Black Motherwork

Anti-Bodies and Sexual Assault Sentencing

Abstract

This essay argues that maternal condemnation is a key technique of carceral disciplining in sexual assault sentencing hearings in the US. The frequency, arbitrariness, and intensity of such condemnation demonstrate Black women’s susceptibility to public critique, even when they are not at the center of projects of carceral discipline. By engaging the concept of Black anti-bodies, the essay shows how carceral institutions extend a logic of caring for Black women and girls in the process of sexual assault prosecutions. The public nature of court proceedings produces a spectacle of condemning Black maternal figures in the name of this care. The forms of talk that are publicly uttered also become part of a public record, which forms the basis for future sentences.