The story of Sarah Baartman is very touching. As a black woman, she was dehumanized and humiliated in Europe. She went to Europe convinced that she would get rich by allowing scientists to study her body. She may have seen this opportunity as a way to better her life and after a while return to her homeland to help out her family. Poor Baartman whatever she tough this was turned into her worse nightmare. In England, she was forced to dance naked and her body was exploited. How humiliating? I could imagine her because I know what it feels like to be forced to do something I don't want to do. She was then sold to a wild animal keeper in Paris. Her name was changed in Hottentot Venus. Sara was considered inferior because of her unusual characteristics such as her big lips, large breasts, and buttocks and also her skin color. She was not human because of these features. The most shocking part of her story is that even after she died in 1815 at the age of 25, she was not allowed to rest in peace. Her anatomical parts such as her brain, her vagina were cut from her body, preserved and exposed for 160 years in a museum in Paris. Her remains were finally returned to her homeland and had proper burial in 2002.
No one deserves to be treated the way these Europeans treated Sara Baartman. She was deprived of her dignity, deprived of the right to live like a human being. Her privacy was violated when they willingly exposed her remains in a museum. I am sure she wouldn't want her body to be preserved if that wasn't her wish. When human died the Bible says we are made of The issue of race is very important here. Sara Baartman was not white therefore she could not possibly be human. The question I would like to ask is: if she was white with the same physical features, would she still be treated the way they treated her? As a black woman I am glad and grateful that these days are over even when racism still on a more subtle form.
Rotcabbage
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ReplyDeleteWow this is really interesting and true !!! Many black females do pose like this or join rap videos thinking this is cute when in fact is humiliating and to point out the history in this perspective is great !! I never saw it this way before and its just one more piece of knowledge to add to my book and share with other woman in my circle !! Today the hip hop industry has invested in this culture and each and every time is just continues to get worst. All the name calling and "sweet talk" is becoming a way to catch woman's attention and some actually like it which is degrading.
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This story was really disturbing, yet touched on many modern issues, such as human trafficking, and the overarching theme of women as less than men, and nothing more than the sum of their physical attributes. To answer your question, I do not believe that she would have received the same, inhumane treatment if she was a Caucasian woman with the same physical features. But I would have to say that if Sarah was a white woman in a society that was widely non-white, she would have been mistreated and mutilated in the same way.
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