I had the chance to have a wonderful professor when I minored in African American Studies at UCF. Professor Gordon is a woman I will never forget. She made me so proud to be black and so proud of my history as a black woman. We studied ancestors from Africa made history all over the world. She taught me about Saartjie Baartman or the Hottentot Venus. Sold into slavery and used as an exhibit in France for her large buttocks and abnormally large genitals, Baartman was idolized for her frame, hated for her race, and degraded as a woman. I have no doubt that she was raped repeatedly as well. 
The one thing that always makes me think about Baartman is the fact that there is a fascination with the black body that white america holds as a secret. It always has been that way. Baartman was a "celebrity" in the 1800s for her frame. French fashion clearly imitated her body. It's crazy to know that because Baartman's frame was as such she was dissected after her death and preserved for exhibition on sexuality. The doctor who dissected her also took her skin off her bones and made a cast of her body. Reading the notes on his "study" is sickening. It said that black women are more promiscuous because of the climate in Africa, that their sexual organs are bigger than white people's because they may have mated with apes, that black people are destined to be inferior--it makes me angry to know that "science" can be made of anything. 
In conclusion--just between us girls--I would like Sarah Baartman idolized for her beauty in a positive way. I think she deserves to have her image reverenced for beauty because she was beautiful. It's so important that we as women don't forget what women have had to endure in order for us to be where we are today. Especially black women. I'm a woman who believes that there is nothing wrong with sexuality. The sexuality of a female is hers and hers alone. What women choose to do with their bodies sexually is their choice. I might choose to keep certain things for myself and my partner that the next girl might choose to expose. But at the end of the day it's her body not mine. But I think it does a woman no justice to have the physical assets that bring her attention and fame if she has no desire to better herself mentally as far as education and spirituality. There is a fine line between exploiting yourself and celebrating yourself, ladies. Although we are moving into 2010 women aren't allowed to embrace their sexuality like men can. Taking pictures of yourself with your ass out is your right but men are still scum and they would rather marry the chick that never does that and fantasize about the one that does. It's a double standard that doesn't seem to fade. History has proven that men are an oppressive gender and I'm not saying that all men are that way but I am saying that most men see women as things and not human beings that deserve to have their own sexual choices. A lot of men both embrace women for being sexual and condem them for it at the same time. It really and truly boggles my mind but that's a whole other blog. Stay beautiful inside and out!
