Though Thistlewood never married, his sexual exploits were prolific with his diary chronicling 3,852 acts of sexual intercourse and/or rape with 138 women, nearly all of whom were black slaves. He favoured his black slave, Phibbah, who essentially became his "wife". Over their 33-year relationship, Phibbah and Thistlewood developed what Burnard calls "a warm and loving relationship, if such a thing was possible between a slave and her master." Phibbah would eventually acquire property including land, livestock, and slaves as well as a sufficient "respectability" among white women. She thus obtained a greater sense of self-worth and racial equality than was possible for other slaves, perhaps undermining the Jamaican slave system more effectively than slave rebellions.
