Black Female Sexualization in Art History

Sara Baartman was a South African woman born in 1789 that was brought to and paraded around Europe due to the way she looked. Baartman had abnormally large body parts, specifically buttocks, that the Europeans who came to South Africa found fascinating. With this, they forced her under incredibly violating and disrespectful situations like being groped and examined at auctions. When brought to Europe, she was exhibited in several cities including London and Paris. In each of these cities, Baartman was shown off to random citizens to look at her and objectify her. Not only her skin color, but the size of her body was so foreign to these people, that they would willingly starve her and deny her basic needs to live, for money. During the shows, she wore beads, feathers, and skin colored clothing. People named her the “Hottentot Venus,” describing the Khoikhoi people she is originally from. Research proves that she was most likely forced into prostitution as well as being constantly put into a drunken state. She was underfed in order to be unable to fight back or do anything that didn’t comply with the show. Amongst these performances and living situations, it goes to show that Baartman is an essential figure to learn about in order to fully understand the objectification of black women, from then to now, and how these themes are represented throughout art history. 

Primarily, works of art that play a tremendous factor in the objectification of Baartman and several other African women, are the illustrations, postcards, and advertisements created of them. Within a feminist methodology viewpoint, it is interesting to see these drawings through the lens that considers the socio-economic position of women being represented. Firstly, there is a popular drawing of Sarah Baartman that is an advertisement to come see her in a show. This drawing demonstrates her standing faced away from where the illustrator was most likely sitting. Being an enslaved woman at this time period, she is not allowed to make direct eye contact with her handlers or any white people for that matter. She faces towards the right and is practically nude. The illustration conveys her with exaggerated buttocks and minimal clothing. Additionally, the few things she does have on are feathers in her hair, straw wrapped around her knees, and a piece of cloth hanging in front of her torso. She is also wearing a headband with a tribal-looking print on it while she smokes a pipe. This entire illustration completely amplifies the idea that African women are foreign, exotic, and zoo-like creatures that are to be exhibited. She is also holding  a spear. This spear adds to the idea of Baartman being tribal and exotic and worth being shown off in an exhibition like an animal. However, this illustration shows her simply standing upright, feet together, facing to the right, avoiding eye contact. This couldn’t be less of an intimidating stance or expression from her. She is holding a weapon, yet she is not showing aggression or proving to be a threat in any way shape or form. If she were, she would be facing the illustrator, or maybe in a fighting stance. Therefore, it is clear that the spear is only a prop to further the exploitation of this tribal, fetishized version of Sarah Baartman. Just like Baartman, several African women were drawn or photographed, later on, and presented as things to be objectively admired. 

This brings us into the subject of the sexualization of black women and its origins. Stories like Sarah Baartman and the art created during these time periods are direct lines that can connect to the problem we still face today. This conversation begins with what we learned last week, the difference society has made between black and white and what connotations go with it. Historically, white has represented purity, civilization, and beauty. To counteract this, black has been seen to be impure, criminal, and undesirable. These words being associated with these colors is incredibly prominent during this time period and during the slave trade. To start, it is no secret that women were expected to be very modest during this time period according to European and western standards. Women would wear dresses that covered them head to toe and the exposed skin was limited to face, arms, and hands. Or at least, this was expected of white women. Black women, in the slave trade, were auctioned naked while slave owners went around examining and groping them correlating to the idea that white is pure and black is not. The auctions were a physical representation of how black is considered to be precisely impure. African women’s roles in their culture were also seen as sexual from the start. In many areas, there was minimal clothing due to the hot climate and some cultures even had polyamorous unions. This caused Europeans to identify African women as inherently sexual beings. Therefore, during slavery, the thought that African women were incredibly sexual was often used to excuse the fact that many were raped by their owners. It is unfortunate to continue to see these trends in different forms today. Black girls and women are still sexualized from a young age due to these origins. In movies, we often see black women to be similar characters that are not multifaceted. They are single mothers with several children, maybe even with several different men. They often don’t have jobs and are sexualized by showing off their bodies. All in all, it is disheartening to see the history of exploiting black female bodies for white pleasure. 

To continue the analysis of black art history and how it correlates with the objectification of black women, the subject of Sarah Baartman’s displayed body must be discussed. Baartman died only at the age of 26 years old. After being forced to perform in these shows around Europe, she passed away in 1815 to which was written off as alcoholism. After her death, which took place in Paris, France, her body was then taken by Georges Cuvier. Georges Cuvier was a French naturalist and zoologist. When obtaining Sarah Baartman’s body, he dissected it. He dissected her brains and her genitals. Before doing this, however, he made a plaster mold of her body. This mold is an art piece that was displayed in Paris’ Museum of Man. This piece is uncomfortably realistic. Her body is displayed standing upright and completely naked, her skin has several areas covered in stretch marks, like any living woman and her eyes are shut. The eyes being shut signifying that she is dead brings up the question of respect. Typically when a person dies, they close their eyes to symbolize them resting. To keep their eyes open would be disrespectful because one would not be allowing them to rest now that they are gone. However, why is Sarah Baartman only shown the slightest bit of respect  in one area but not all when she dies? She is respected enough to have her eyes be closed, yet not respected enough to be buried formally or at the very least returned to her family. This seems to be grotesque and goes to show the lengths, at this time, white people would go to to objectify black female bodies for their personal gain. The fact that this mold of her is also completely nude continues to prove how little they thought of her life and body. The fact that throughout her life on Earth she was examined, sexualized, and treated like an object, would make one think that after her death, she would finally get some privacy. However, Cuvier made sure for that not to happen. With this mold, her body continued to be looked at, judged and dehumanized against her will. It was not until 2002 that Baartman’s body would be returned home and buried. 

     Lastly, another art piece that is much more recent, but can definitely be interpreted within this context is Damsel created by Tschabalala Self. Self’s artwork is often paintings in which she depicts black women. In this painting, a curvy black woman, much similar to Baartman’s body type, is standing in the nude facing us. Looking closely, half of her face seems to be covered in makeup and she has a happy expression while the other side of her face is crying. Additionally, parts of her body have dark skin. Her arms and legs are clearly black, however the central part of her body is a lighter tone, almost resembling a white person, or at least a light skin person. She has one hand by her face in a dramatic way, and the other rested by her side. Assumingly, the different skin tones symbolize different things. Through iconography and as stated before, it is known that white represents purity and goodness. Therefore, the lighter the skin tone, the better. This painted woman in Self’s piece had dark arms, hands, and feet. However, her body parts that are perceived to be sexual, such as her genitalia, breasts, and buttocks are this lighter color. This conflicts with what it is known about the symbol of purity being light. This painting was created in 2019, but the sexualization of black women has continued throughout centuries. I believe that the lighter skin tones resemble that white people, or society that is dominated by white interpretation, still has an ownership mentality of black female bodies. In a way, this white societal misconception of black women being inherently hyper sexual still is expected today; therefore, her sexual body still belongs to the “white man,” hence her tears. Even the title “Damsel” seems to signify that she is in distress and/or in need of help because something or someone is keeping her down.