An African Woman Used as a European Circus Animal

 

An African Woman Used as a European Circus Animal Sarah Baartman was a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus, a name which was later attributed to at least one other woman similarly exhibited. The term "Hottentot" was the colonial-era term for the indigenous Khoekoe (formerly known as Khoikhoi) people of the southwestern area of Africa. The women were exhibited for their steatopygic body type uncommon in Western Europe which not only was perceived as a curiosity at that time, but became subject of scientific interest, albeit of racist bias frequently, as well as of erotic projection. However, it has been suggested by anthropologists that this body type was once more widespread in humans, based on carvings of idealised female forms dating to the Paleolithic era collectively known as Venus figurines, also referred to as Steatopygian Venuses. "Venus" is sometimes used to designate representations of the female body in arts and cultural anthropology, referring to the Roman goddess of love and fertility. "Hottentot" was the name for the Khoi people, now usually considered an offensive term. The Sarah Baartman story is often regarded as the epitome of racist colonial exploitation, and of the commodification of the dehumanization of black people. Subscribe For More!