Sarah Baartman
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Sarah Baartman, also spelled Sara, sometimes in the Dutch diminutive form Saartje, or Saartjie, and Bartman, Bartmann, was a Khoekhoe woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century
Saartjie Baartman
La Belle Hottentote, a 19th-century French print of Baartman
A caricature of Baartman drawn in the early 19th century
Sarah Baartman's grave, on a hill overlooking Hankey in the Gamtoos River Valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Labia stretching
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Labia stretching, also referred to as labia elongation or labia pulling, is the act of lengthening the labia minora through manual manipulation or physical equipment. It is a familial cultural practic
Sarah Baartman
…her public exhibition became increasingly entangled with scientific racism. French scientists were particularly interested in whether she possessed elongated labia, a feature that French explorer and naturalist François Levaillant had previously claimed to have observed among Khoekhoe women at the Cape. In March…
Khoikhoi woman, drawing from the "Travels of Le Vaillant", 1783
Closeup of enlarged labia, standing