The Hottentot Venus and Her Elongated Labia and Large Buttocks

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During her life as a “freak show” performer, the slave abolition law came into existence and an exhibition held in London that Sarah was a part of, created quite an unrest. The showman insisted that Sarah had the right to earn her living by this means as there were many performers who earned their living in the same manner. Sarah was given the opportunity to express her thoughts on the same in court and she decided to stay loyal to the showman by stating that she was aware that she received half of the earnings and would like to make her living in the same manner going forth.

The case was put to rest however, it added to Sarah’s already growing popularity. She began traveling for exhibitions and visited various parts of Britain.

Around 1814, Sarah was sold to a Frenchman and was exhibited by an animal trainer in France from then. Various French naturalists like Georges Cuvier, Frederic Cuvier, Saint-Hilaire, etc. frequently visited her to examine her. Various paintings were made and detailed examinations were conducted. It was noticed during the painting sessions that though Sarah was accommodating enough to let them paint her in the nude, she always wore a garment to hide her genitalia. She had refused on various accounts, to remove the cloth even when offered money to do so.

As time passed, Sarah became depressed and drowned her sadness by drinking heavily and is also known to support herself with prostitution for a time. Sarah passed away in 1815 due to an unexplained inflammatory illness and that is when the scientists could truly answer the question that had become a mystery…did these women really have their labia minora enlarged to such extent that they could be used as a second skin to hide their genitals?

The answer was yes. After her passing, an autopsy was conducted on Sarah and it was noted that she has her labia minora elongated and could shape it in a way to cover her genitals.

The lack of exposure and resistance to accepting the difference in bodily structure as a possibility led the world to believe that the tribes in Africa had different body parts, for a long time. Sarah’s death gave them the answers and opened the doors to a new possibility, a possibility the advanced civilization had not yet thought of.

There were many other African tribes who practiced the same and many of them still indulge in the art of stretching their labia to add to their intimate lives and to be more appealing to their partners. The practice is now being adopted by various women from different races and cultures as well and has gained a lot of momentum and popularity.

After the conclusions from the autopsy were published, there was much research conducted on women in Africa. Various tribes were studied to find out the other possible differences and to understand this particular practice that had been with them for a very long time. Researchers either visited Africa to examine the women or conducted studies on the women who had been brought to civilization. It was found that the ‘strange’ structure was very common amongst the Khoisanids. In fact, it was found that the labial enlargement found on Sarah’s genitals was quite normal as quite a few women seemed to be supporting even larger labia minora in the regions.

It was this understanding that helped many researchers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and was the ground for many scientists to come up with various theories. Even the racial theorists came up with their own arguments and linked the moral and cultural statuses with biology. They indicated that intelligence and sensibility were connected to the differences in physiology. This was a time when the crania would be an indicator of intelligence and since the Hottentot Venus was regarded as a strong sample of her kind, she was believed to be an example of lasciviousness and bestiality so was her entire tribe. This also gave rise to another theory that the more these ‘lower’ races were from the Europeans, the less human they were since they had their sexual parts more enhanced than their ‘thinking’ parts which put them closer to the animals.