Sara Baartman: From African Slavery to Caged Existence in Europe - Essay Sample

Introduction

Sara Baartman was a black woman from South Africa who was born at the end of the eighteenth century in 1789. She came from the Khoikhoi community, whose main economic activities were herding cattle. Baartman's parents died when she was still a young girl. She married a drummer from her village in her adolescent and had one child who died a few moments after birth. Baartman was sold to slavery after his husband was killed by the Dutch colonists and moved to Europe, where she worked as a caged freak because of her protruding posterior. She gained the attention of the Europeans in France and England, and her employer started exhibiting her in London and Paris for money under the name "Hottentot Venus" (Qureshi, 2004). Sara died at the age of 26 in 1815 from tuberculosis.

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On the other hand, Michelle Obama is the wife to the immediate former US president, Barack Obama. She was also the first lady for eight years from 2009 to 2017. Caster Semenya is a South African female athlete who competes in the middle-distance races. She is a renowned athlete, having won gold medals in the Olympics and World Championship tournaments (Ray, 2009). Semenya has been on the media and public discussions because of her physique, which appears very masculine. Serena Williams is an accomplished black sportswoman who plays tennis professionally. These four women have several similarities and distinctions in terms of the way they have been described and talked about in the public space. Reflecting on these black women, the similarities and differences in how they are described and talked about in the public spaces is based on their race and physique and sexuality.

Looking at the lives of these four women, they have all been talked and described in a demeaning, discriminatory and dehumanizing way within the public space because of their race. Reflecting on the life of Baartman, Scully, and Crais (2008) posits that Baartman lived in a period and in areas that made her encounter intense racism as well as exploitation. For instance, when talking about Baartman, Dunlop, her employer, described Hottentot Venus as a commodity rather than a fellow human being because of her racial affiliation. Dunlop marketed her as an African Khoekhoe, indicating that he used the racial tag to create a perception to his customers on how the blacks from South Africa looked during his England and France exhibitions. Gordon-Chipembere (2011) argues that the European travelers described the Khoikhoi women as being repulsive more than the Khoikhoi men. In addition, these European travelers described the Hottentots as ugly and filthy, especially the women who had flabby hanging breasts, their skins smeared with goat fat combined with soot, and had hair wetted with grease (Gordon-Chipembere, 2011). This description was racially inclined as these European travelers did not consider them as worthy humans because of their skin color.

Michelle Obama has also been described in a humiliating and demeaning manner by members of the public, mainstream media, and social media based on her race. Michelle has been compelled to defend herself from the inhumane castings thrown to her by media and public, which are racially motivated (Gordon-Chipembere, 2011). For instance, Mrs. Obama was described in the media and other public spaces as looking like an ape and being a terrorist just because of her dark skin. Furthermore, many described her as a furious black woman, while others talked about her being a president Obama's baby mama (Gordon-Chipembere, 2011). On the other hand, Semenya has been described severally within the public arena, especially in the media, in a dehumanizing way because of her race. It is worth noting that when it comes to testing for doping to ensure athletes are free from fraudulent performances in the field, Semenya is treated with intense scrutiny and lack of consideration for human confidentiality and human dignity (Mahomed & Dhai, 2019). The world athletics has disregarded human rights and failed to observe medical ethics, especially when testing athletes such as Semenya for doping, thus promoting racial prejudice and discrimination talks towards this sportswoman in various public spaces (Mahomed & Dhai, 2019).

Similarly, Williams has grappled with racially motivated descriptions from the public space because of being black. Despite receiving congratulatory messages from the public through the mainstream and social media, she has continued to receive racist comments from some of the members of the people. As an illustration, Desmond-Harris (2017) reports that during the French Open tournament, a member of the public tweeted that Williams looked like a gorilla, had a horrifying appearance, and sounded like an animal, especially when playing tennis.

Additionally, Michelle, Semenya, Baartman, and Williams have all been victims of sexism talks and descriptions from public space. Semenya, Michelle, and Williams have all been described as having physiques that make them more masculine than feminine. In the case of Michelle Obama, she has received sexist comments on social media from the members of the public, pointing out that she has several masculine features than her feminine features. For instance, a blogger from www.essence.com described Michelle Obama as having hands like those of a man and continued demeaning and disrespecting her by saying that she should use them to serve ham sandwiches (Gordon-Chipembere, 2011). Similarly, Semenya has been described severally as a man by her fellow athletes, fans, and the media. In most cases, she has been disrespected because of her masculine physique, which makes the many questions her gender. The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) has compelled Semenya to take several gender verifications tests (Ray, 2009). She has also been subjected to excess, unethical, humiliating, and biased doping tests because of her exemplary performance in sports, which they claim is linked to her high testosterone in her body. Williams has also been described and perceived as masculine than most of her competitors by both fans and fellow athletes. The tennis fraternity has also discriminated Selena Williams because of her huge and muscular physique and body curves, which has influenced the French Tennis Federation to forbid her from wearing catsuits when playing a tennis tournament (Desmond-Harris, 2017).

Unlike Selena, Semenya, and Michelle, who were talked and described negatively for their masculine bodies, Baartman descriptions and talks from the various public spaces were linked to her massive and protruding buttocks and breasts. These descriptions and talks represented the intense sexualization and objectification of Baartman's body because of her natural physical appearance. Due to the receptive comments and talks about Baartman's physique, Dunlop used her Baartman as an object of making money without considering her feelings towards the act of displaying her body physique in public forums for his financial gains.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Baartman, Michelle, Semenya, and Williams are just examples of the way women have been and continue being victimized and dehumanized because of their physical appearance and race despite their significant accomplishments in life. Black women have been the victims of racism and sexism in the past and the modern world. The sports and political fraternity are accused of highly orchestrating sexism and racism against black women. Hence, the governments and sports bodies should come up with measures that would protect black women from these dehumanizing and humiliating descriptions and talks from the public arenas.

References

Desmond-Harris, J. (2017). Despite decades of racist and sexist attacks, Serena Williams keepswinning. Retrieved 6 December 2019, from https://www.vox.com/2017/1/28/14424624/serena-williams-wins-australian-open-venus-record-racist-sexist-attacks

Gordon-Chipembere, N. (2011). Under Cuvier's microscope: The dissection of Michelle Obama in the twenty-first century. In Representation and black womanhood (pp. 165-180). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.

Mahomed, S., & Dhai, A. (2019). Global injustice in sport: The Caster Semenya ordeal-prejudice, discrimination and racial bias. SAMJ: South African Medical Journal, 109(8), 548-551.

Qureshi, S. (2004). Displaying Sara Baartman, the 'Hottentot Venus'. History of Science, 42(2), 233-257.

Ray, C. (2009). Caster Semenya: 21st Century'Hottentot Venus?'.

Scully, P., & Crais, C. (2008). race and erasure: Sara Baartman and Hendrik Cesars in Cape town and London. Journal of British Studies, 47(2), 301-323.