In class we watched a documentry film about the life of Sarah Baartman, an African American woman who was taken from her home and brought to Europe as many things, an attraction, an experiment, examination, a servant.
Sarah was brought into Capetown as a servant and made into a show, she was called The Hottetot Venus, Europeans were curious about this woman as she had different features than they were use to, she had wide hips and larger breasts which was uncommon for women in Europe. She was examined by the Natural History Museum before and after her death where they wanted to study her anatomy.
as I watched the film I tried to put myself in her perspective, I understood that I couldn't imagine what she had to go through being taken away from her home and being a servant in a place she'd never been, she was obviously unhappy with her situation and I felt the Europeans who only wanted to study her didn't seem to care for her in the slightest, she was not given much sympathy for her situation, it does make me sick that they couldn't see what they were doing to this woman and decided not to give her any respect.
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