The Hottentot Complex
by Leatha J. Patton

Her name was Saartjie (pronounced Sarkey) Baartman, her first name meaning Little Sarah. She was from the South African Khoikhoi tribe/ethnic group, better known as a Hottentot (picture on the right)—a label deviously concocted by the Dutch which means stutterer. Since they could not fluently manage the language because of the phonetic clicking sound in the enunciation of specific words, the Dutch dismissed it with an arrogance that can be interpreted to mean defeat. Typically, Caucasians place a negative label on anything that is culturally or racially different. Therefore, they are driven to analyze, categorize, then belittle or demean whatever they cannot readily understand or explain. Last but not least, the very large posterior possessed by the Hottentot female has been decided by the Caucasian to be a defect—steatopygia, defined as protruding or abnormal (my emphasis) fatness of the buttocks.

This brings to mind my experience as a much younger woman when one of the Caucasian females in my office considered me shapely, but somewhat swaybacked. My retort was: By whose standards? She immediately retracted her statement and conceded that I had a nice figure. Amusingly, my body was being critiqued by someone with a flat butt. I consider flat behinds a negative, and unattractive, because they add no contour to that area of any garment. In garment construction, the longer the dart whether a bodice, skirt or pair of pants, means less contour. For years, this was the approach in garment construction adopted by U.S. manufacturers, specifically targeting the white female populous and damn everyone else. It was during this time that most Black women found it difficult to find pants, skirts and dresses with a suitable fit. Because there was lack of inclusion concerning the Black female anatomy in this industry, I can recall when sheath dresses and straight skirts crowded their behinds, causing horizontal wrinkles near the waistline. The pants also were cut so severely that the Black female’s derriere lacked room in the crotch area, resulting in discomfort. Again, the target population was not us. Consequently, some Black women thought there had to be something wrong with their bodies, never taking into consideration there just might be something wrong with the construction of the clothing because, again, all body shapes outside the majority population were never included. I am not discussing what my late mother would categorize as an extreme caboose (the Hottentot in the picture), but just an average Black female bottom. My mother often labeled behinds that possessed relatively more than average lift, capable of holding a saucer with a cup of coffee without creating a spill; again, her frequent description of big butts was ‘caboose.’ In defense of Black women, most do not fit the above description, but only a minority are without some lift no matter how slender and that, my friend, is a good thing.

Since steatopygia defines the so-called defective behind, what then do we call the much less prominent, flat butts possessed by countless Caucasian females? (Their male counterpart suffers the same fate.) In its heyday, the non-protruding posterior of the Caucasian female all over Europe adorned the popular bustle (example shown here), a fashion inspired by the Hottentot butt of Saartjie Baartman. It has been said that when the bustle moved, it indicated that the female wearing it had at least some behind. I am almost certain that most remained motionless. Pardon my redundancy, but I still want to know what label can be applied to a body that lacks adequate contour and, therefore, sufficient enhancement in the area of the derriere? In my humble opinion, it is definitely a deficiency.

But, ladies, guess what? My sentiments are not unfounded. Currently, we find the contemporary Caucasian female paying dearly to have contour created where there was once none. Of course, not one of these ladies would dare confess that it is the result of direct envy of behinds the Creator bestowed on African (Black) women. I might add that in the not too distant past, there was a time when our white female counterparts indulged in exercises to keep the behind from having the slightest amount of protrusion which translates to the flatter the better. However, flatness is no longer pretty or even sexy. Of course their choice is approached indirectly, for it is Jennifer Lopez that owns the ideal behind. Imagine that. And so, whereas the bustle was once the fad, now the desire is to have a permanent, pricey, surgically enhanced butt.

Approximately six months ago, I saw a TV special where this Black cosmetic surgeon was charging from $40,000-$70,000 for each butt implant. In cosmetic surgery jargon, these butt lifts are gluteal lifts, gluteoplasty, and gluteal shaping. Any one of these surgical procedures involves harvesting fat from more fleshy areas of the body and replanting it on the buttocks (my emphasis). Your search engine will immediately pull up all you need to know about improving the derriere if you type in those terms; simply key in ‘butt lifts’ or ‘buttock implants’ and come up with equally as much or the same information. Ladies, this is one hot topic. One website revealed that Jennifer Lopez (J-Lo) and even Beyonce have undergone butt enhancement. I cannot validate if these are truths or simply a marketing ploy, but based on my observation, Beyonce must be deranged if that is what she underwent. My question is: Beyonce, to achieve exactly what? The article stated that both celebrities wanted rounder behinds.

However, while this society consistently devalues the Black female, our white female counterpart undergoes injections to make the lips fuller, maintains her tan in tanning salons, and now her behind also matches ours—for almost a total body snatch! (I would venture to say that the boobs in both groups are somewhat similar.) Oh, I’ve got a great idea. Black women were employed to braid the hair of Bo Derek for the movie 10, but there is one hair style they might consider to convert their corn silk. Locks!! They can start wearing locks!!! Thus, they become the complete Black woman, and celebrate their win with R Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly as their victory anthem in a tribute to thorough ethnic adaptation.

On the serious side, I must say, in this particular scenario, that Saartjie Baartman was a female who, although somewhat innocently misguided, was made a complete, metaphorical ass that rivaled the one she personally owned. She toured Europe with her butt on display never to be financially compensated, as had been promised. Instead, exploited by two Caucasian males, she ended up dead at the age of 26 or 27 years—destitute! For the price of admission, Europeans scrutinized her butt in utter fascination while she was daily subjected to being caged like an animal, a freak, clothed in only a sheer all-over body suit, first in England and then in France. It is known that the life of this woman most likely ended sorrowfully from alcoholism and probably syphilis. Some of the records are scanty, but there is firm documentation to validate that her body was turned over to scientists who performed the autopsy. Both her brain and a portion of her genitalia were separately placed in jars of formaldehyde and her flesh then dissolved from her bones but, last but not least, only after retaining for preservation those amazing buttocks. Though she no longer existed as a person, her skeleton and all other aforementioned body parts existed to further exploit Ms. Baartman.

Lastly, the one specific area of genitalia that was separated from her anatomy which had aroused immense curiosity among Europeans while she lived was, after her death, at last on exhibit for them to view. The labia minora is inside the labia majora. In the Khoikhoi and Khoisan culture, the practice among the females was to oil and elongate the labia minora to three or four inches in length explicitly for the sexual pleasure of the Khoisan male (his preference), and is known as the ‘apron.’

Just to provide a brief history. To date, the Khoisan is near extinction for some of the following reasons: wars with the Boers; encroachment of their homes, along the coast that was desirable to Europeans, forcing them to eke out a living in barren lands (e.g., the Kalahari Desert); the Boers used to hunt them for sport. These are some of the atrocities that caused their numbers to dwindle to the few remaining.

For more extensive knowledge on the subject of the Hottentot Venus, please visit the internet. Also read one book in particular, Hottentot Venus by Barbara Chase-Riboud, which is told in an enjoyable novel format. Carefully researched and based on fact, it is very intriguing, culminating with this poor woman’s remains being returned to South Africa as late as this millennium in the year 2002.

Think of it—this young, South African woman, known as Little Sarah, exploitatively advertised and exhibited as the Hottentot Venus, experienced a very unusual, tragically eventful life all because of her butt!

Note: On May 20th, at the time this article was posted, I was not aware that the picture of the Hottentot is actually the one and only famous Hottentot Venus, so I have provided this information for the reader. Folks, that is her!!