Venus

Sarah Baartman, often called by the diminutive “Saartjie,” was a Khoikhoi woman from what is now South Africa. The Khoikhoi people were referred to by the Dutch as Hottentots (now considered a derogatory term), which, combined with “Venus,” a term indicating fertility or femininity, created Baartman’s stage name, Venus Hottentot. Baartman grew up in the Dutch Cape Colony in South Africa, which later became an English colony. In the late 18th century, Baartman either moved or was forced to move to Cape Town, where Hendrik Cesars agreed to show her at a hospital for money. Cesars and a doctor, Alexander Dunlop, arranged to bring Baartman to England to exhibit her as they would animal specimens, drawing large crowds to see Baartman’s steatopygic body. Steatopygia is a body type characterized by large amounts of tissue on the buttocks and thighs, and this body type was considered rare in Europe in the early 19th century when Baartman was brought to Europe. Historians are unsure if Baartman willingly went to England, but she, Dunlop, and Cesars went to England in 1810 to begin their show.

The court took interest in Baartman’s show, worrying about indecency or coercion, though Baartman testified that she was not coerced into performing, and her show did not involve nudity. After the case, Baartman traveled around England and Ireland, arriving in France in 1814. In Paris, Baartman became the subject of scientific study that was heavily biased with scientific racism. Baartman was exhibited in France as well, often with a chain around her neck, and evidence suggests that she lived in poverty. After her death, the naturalist Georges Cuvier, upon whom the Baron Docteur of the play is based, performed a dissection of Baartman’s body, concluding that it was evidence of the link between African peoples and apes. Baartman’s skeleton and a cast of her body were displayed in France until 1976. They were returned to South Africa at the request of President Nelson Mandela in 2002.