Sarah Baartman

Sarah Baartman (Afrikaans: [ˈsɑːra ˈbɑːrtman]; c. 1789 – 29 December 1815), also spelled Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ˈsɑːrki]), or Saartjie, and Bartman, Bartmann, was a Khoekhoe woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus, a name that was later attributed to at least one other woman similarly exhibited. The women were exhibited for their steatopygic body type, uncommon in Northwestern Europe that was perceived as a curiosity at that time, and became subject of scientific interest as well as of erotic projection.

"Venus" is sometimes used to designate representations of the female body in arts and cultural anthropology, referring to the Roman goddess of love and fertility. "Hottentot" was a Dutch-colonial era term for the indigenous Khoekhoe people of southwestern Africa, which then became commonly used in English,and was shortened to "hotnot" as an offensive term, the term "Hottentot" refers to the tribe, eg. Zulu, Xhosa. The Sarah Baartman story has been called the epitome of racist colonial exploitation, and of the commodification and dehumanization of black people.