Historical Comparison

Sara Baartman

There was a young lady called Sara Baartman from Khosia in Southern Africa who had a body that became the main attraction at public spectacles in both England and France for over five years. Baartman, who became known as the “Hottentot Venus”, was brought to Europe from Cape Town in 1810 by an English ship's surgeon who wanted to publicly exhibit the woman's steatopygia, a word that refers to an extreme accumulation of fat on the buttocks. Her steatopygic appendage became the focus when she was exhibited naked in a cage in Piccadilly, England. Abolitionists tried to put an end to Baartman's public display of her body. She even shared in profits with her exhibitor.

The showing of Baartman's body continued even after her death at the age of twenty-six. Pseudo-scientists interested in investigating "primitive sexuality" dissected and cast her genitals and put them on display.

This historical evidence is very closely linked to the exploitation of women in hip hop. Saarjite was one of the first black african women to expose her body infront of an audience of men who would pay to see her. The fact that she too gained profit off the sexual exposure of her body is something which women in hip-hop share in common. This also gives indications that she supports the ideologies and values of the man, once again placing the man in a dominant role in society. She was exhibited in a cage which can be compared to the way rappers display their 'Ho's' in music videos, they are seen as nothing more than sex objects. Both Sara Baartman and the women seen showing off their bodies in rap videos have one thing in common, that they put a price on their bodies.