Sarah Baartman and Sandra Laing

Mackenzie Dickson

The lives of Sarah Baartman and Sandra Laing were heavily complicated due to colonialism, followed by pseudo-scientific ideas concerning their gender and race.

Sarah Baartman’s true identity is still unknown; even her real name is still a mystery. Sometime during the 19^th century Baartman arrived in England and was dubbed “The Venus Hottentot” by the media and attendees of the inhumane circus-like act that Baartman was forced to perform. Baartman’s life was controlled and ruined by whitemangaze, leading her to become a commodity- not a person. Whitemangaze is the westernized perception of Black women as “objects and commodities, entities viewed exclusively through the prism of- either the lure or repulsion of- their corporeality” (Werbanowska, 19). The film Black Venus makes an effort to depict the range of reactions of the white male-dominated crowd, from disgust to attraction. The crowd was even encouraged to physically assault Baartman. Baartman was not a person; she was a victim of colonialism employed by western culture that ultimately led to the reduction of all “non-white women to the role of (not necessarily sexual) objects”. The “fetishization” and “otherization” that Baartman suffered as a result of colonialism steams from need for superiority (19).

The use of pseudo-science was used to establish this sense of superiority desired among westerners; white people wanted to hear that Africans were biologically unequal to Europeans. In 1816, Parisian scientists declared Baartman was “the missing link separating beast from man” (Spies, 2). She, along with other non-white people, was viewed as a savage from a “world populated by grotesque monsters- fat-arsed females, blood-thirsty warriors, pre-verbal pinheads, midgets and geeks” (Werbanowska, 19). Parisian zoologist Georges Cuvier dissected Baartman’s corpse and preserved her genitalia, spine, and brain out of scientific curiosity and potential obsession. As demonstrated in the opening scene of Black Venus, Cuvier provided pseudo-scientific evidence to connect Baartman with apes and baboons, focusing on Baartman’s bottom, skull, and her preserved genitalia- which he subsequently passes around the room. Moreover, comparing African women with primitive animals such as apes and baboons speaks to the European fantasy “of the ‘ignoble savage’ whose assumed lack of acculturation implies all sorts of ‘uncivilized’ sexual behaviors” (20). Pseudo-science performed by white men like Cuvier enforced the stereotype that African women are savage sexual beasts, who are commodities rather than an individual.

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The current day Venus Hottentot’s can be seen throughout the media; they’re called video vixens. Typically, video vixens are attractive, young, black, females that fall victim to the same fetishization and exploitation that Baartman faced in the 19^th century. Baartman’s story “has become synonymous with a past of sexual exploitation, lasciviousness, and likewise, that has presented opportunity for ruminating on the phenomenon of young black women play the roles of ‘video vixen’ or ‘ghetto chicks'” (Henderson, 528-529). Baartman and current day video vixens function “under the colonial and patriarchal gaze which perceived them almost exclusively through the prism of their race and gender” (Werbanowska, 26). Some video vixens interviewed in the VH1 Documentary Sexploitation on the Set insist they are not being exploited; rather, they are using their body as a form of empowerment. It is undisputable that video vixens are a commodity; they are selling their body and their image in order to gain profit and recognition. The black females who take rolls as video vixens are exploited the same way Sarah Baartman was. They are oppressed because of their race and gender, than transformed into a commodity by profiting from exposing their bodies.

In 1966, young Sandra Laing’s race was called into question by the Race Classification Board in South Africa; Laing was about ten at the time. In the first episode of the series, The Power of an Illusion, race is described as a clear distinction among humans; genes do not have to be closely looked at to determine an individual’s race. This was not the case for Laing, who was born from two white parents but had darker skin- thus, appearing black. The film, Skin, depicts the troubles Laing suffered through a time of racial segregation (Apartheid) and lack of legitimate science. Similar to Baartman’s story, race is a societal construct used to place non-whites lower in the hierarchal structure, which leads to “a life with or without resources, privilege and power” (Younge, 106). Pseudo-sciences used to prove/disprove Laing’s race was based on her physical appearance. As demonstrated in the film, the members of the RCB inspect Laing’s hair, bottom, and mouth. Another researcher offered the explanation of a genetic throwback, meaning Sandra’s white parents carried African genes. This was the only viable explanation for Laing’s skin color, but the courts found it absurd (Skin). The fact of the matter is that race is a biological myth, but it was believed that race was “rooted in biology, and linked to other, more complex internal differences. Like athletic ability. Musical aptitude. Intelligence” (Race- The Power of an Illusion). In the end, Sandra was ruled legally white. Despite being legally white, Sandra was shunned by other white people. After finding solace in black communities, Sandra faced legal regulations that prevented her from furthering her life because she was legally white. The forced racial categorization certainly complicated Sandra’s life.

Works Cited

Black Venus. Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche , MK2, 2010. Film.

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“Episode One: The Difference Between Us.” Race- The Power of an Illusion, directed by Christine Herbes-Sommers, California Newsreel, 2003. Television.

Henderson, Carol E. “African American Review.” African American Review, vol. 44, no. 3, 2011, pp. 528-530., www.jstor.org/stable/23316222.

“Sexploitation on the Set.” VH1 Video Vixen Documentary. VH1, 2005. Television. 

Skin. Directed by Anthony Fabian, BBC Films, 2008. Film.

Spies, Bertha M. “Saartjie.” African Arts. 2nd ed. Vol. 47. Regents of the U of California, 2014. 

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Print.

Werbanowska, Marta. “Reclaiming the Commodified Body: The Stories of Saartjie Baartman and Josephine Baker in the Poetry of Elizabeth Alexander.” Ethos: A Digital Review of Arts, Humanities, and Public Ethics. Ed. Katherine Walker and Benjamin Mangrum. Ethos, 2014. 18-32. Google Scholar. Web.

Younge, Gary. “The Margins and the Mainstreams.” Museums, Equality, and Social Justice. Ed. Richard Sandell and Eithne Nighingale. Routledge, 2013. Google Scholar. Web.