By Josephine Khamisi

Finally, almost 200 years after she left her native South Africa, Saarjie Baartmann is being allowed to return. Oh, you haven’t heard of Saartjie Baartmann, or the Hottentot Venus as she is also known? She was and is, a member of the Khoisan ethnic group, who was “discovered” and lured to England and France to be paraded around like a freak of nature. Her claim to fame? She had, according to European standards, a rather large posterior, and unusually large vaginal lips. She was mocked, and objectified, and according to some records, was raped between her “shows” by audience members who paid a little extra. When she died, a year after moving to Paris, of “inflammation” (whatever that is) Georges Curvier made a mould of her body and then pickled her genitalia (as well as her brain) and put them in jars. She remained as a permanent exhibit at the Musee de l’Homme in Paris until about 20 years ago. It was only on January 29,2002, that the French Senate finally agreed to the demands of the Khoisan people, some of whom are her descendents, and the South African government for her to be repatriated and buried. This was called science.

This very disturbing indignity that was visited upon this young woman, (she was in her mid-twenties when she died), is also a very extreme example of what happens when the aesthetics of a people are viewed with an outsiders gaze, in this case, a European gaze. Her features were not only considered to be “intensely ugly,” they were perceived to be indicative of a “primitive sexual appetite,” and she was presented an example of the possible missing link between the apes, and “modern”man – the Europeans. It is shocking, but not too much so. I’m not even going to get into a discussion of Anglo-culture and the bizarre, unhealthy and extraordinarily exclusive standards of beauty in regards to how they intersect with brown African bodies like mine. The problem that resulted in Ms. Baartman’s horrific experiences are broader than that. The essence of the problem is what happens when our bodies collide with our collective sense of the norm and the ideal. Not only do we often subject each other to the same critical and demeaning gaze that Ms. Baartman faced, we do it to ourselves.

The older I get, the more merciful my gaze becomes. The human body is a miracle of textures, contours and proportions. It has no mould. Let me repeat that. There is no mould. There has never been any singular way to be human, to be beautiful, to BE. We forget this, or are never told. For those of us who in this land are minorities, we manipulate our bodies, our hair, our colors. So, too, those of us with fat bodies, and thin bodies, bodies that are not tall enough, or too tall to get a date, bodies with proportions outside, or inside of what we “should”. We look at ourselves with the eyes of outsiders, and find ourselves to be as disgusting as Europe found Saartjie Baartman to be. In doing this, we will never be beautiful enough, smart enough, good enough.

There is a thing that happens on the WHAS-News 11 , I believe its every Monday. Anchor Jean West has a segment of “Medical Breakthroughs,” that is such a blatant example of catering to sponsors (that’s the only reason I can see for such advertising masked as news). The last couple of “Breakthroughs” involved techniques of “Body Contouring”, and “Plastic Surgery Procedures for the Face”, and that ever so popular, “Breast Augmentation and Reduction Now Done Without Scars.” These are presented as if they are rational “solutions” to a “problem.” One thing that all women learn, and very early on, is that our bodies are watched. The way women adorn their bodies, in many instances, is because of their awareness of being observed. The way women walk and move their bodies through physical space all reflect the inescapable experience that as females we are the focus of observation in ways that men never are. We are appraised, some parts of our bodies more than others.

But despite what the national narrative is, this is not the only country or culture in the world. These values are neither absolute, nor universal. Ms. Baartman was not unique in her culture, but even if she was, to put herself in an environment where she would be so denigrated (assuming she did so willingly, as the British High Court believed that she did), was her first mistake. When we do the same thing and surround ourselves with those who do not value us or our contributions, we should not be overly surprised when we feel devalued.