Sarah “Saartjie” Baartman: Biography, all you need to know
Sarah Baartman was initially called Saartjie and known as Hottentot Venus.
She was an individual from the late 18th century in the Eastern Cape (now South Africa), who was exploited as a curiosity to amuse white owners across Europe.
Sarah suffered from steatopygia, leading to an accumulation of fatty tissue around her hips and backside. She was hypersexualized and ridiculed, representing a somber chapter in black history. Many still associate it with the objectification and hyper-sexualization of curvy black women by white people.
Born in the 1770s in the Camdeboo valley within the eastern part of the Cape Colony, present-day South Africa, Saartjie’s family later moved to Gamtoos Valley.
As she grew, she experienced steatopygia, which resulted in distinct fatty tissue around her waist...