tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684946039950733232.post1983475897282894028..comments2023-08-04T04:09:19.850-07:00Comments on CEREBRAL BOINKFEST: Racism and Sexism at its Most Outrageous!Linda Hedrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13518092321016623457noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684946039950733232.post-12957488688308455462015-08-27T16:44:07.430-07:002015-08-27T16:44:07.430-07:00William Somerville, a British naval surgeon servin...William Somerville, a British naval surgeon serving at the Cape (1799-1802) who sometimes treated Khoi women during pregnancies, noted that they were extremely reluctant - every bit as much as other women - to expose their genitals, which they always kept covered by a small apron-like garment. <br /><br />While Bartman was in England newspapers reported she wore a shockingly figure-hugging dress of thin fabric, designed to be as revealing as possible without actually outraging public decency. But she was not exhibited naked. (She also wore some traditional Khoi robes, but they weren't enough to keep her warm in England and she clearly felt the cold.)<br /><br />When she was in France, she at one time agreed to undress to allow some scientists to observe her body and even make measurements - but she would not remove the covering apron which concealed her genitals. She flatly refused this, even when directly offered money. She adhered to her own standards of what was decent.<br /><br />I'm not trying to imply the usual attitude to Baartman during her life was other than disgusting, or that the abuse of her remains after her death was not disgracefully racist. Nevertheless, it's unfair to her to suggest she was just some shrinking, abject figure cowering in a cage. Charles Matthew, an English actor who attended her show in London, saw an insolent woman poke Baartman in the behind to see if she genuinely was the shape she appeared to be: it took all Hendrik Cezar's authority to stop Bartman using her fists to teach that woman a lesson in manners. She seems to have spoken two languages (Khoi and Dutch) with perfect fluency, and was able to get by in two more (English and French). I doubt she ever got the "half the profits of her exhibition" she was promised, but she evidently supported herself successfully for years in societies which were completely alien to her. Nobody gives her credit for any of this - we only ever hear of Baartman the helpless victim. Had she been a white woman negotiating Khoi society with equal success, she'd have been hailed as a great explorer.slam2011https://www.blogger.com/profile/03112153426493772446noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684946039950733232.post-61386374013607864292012-02-19T04:34:22.680-08:002012-02-19T04:34:22.680-08:00Thank you so much, MsM! It's always nice to g...Thank you so much, MsM! It's always nice to get feedback, and I am so glad you are asking yourself questions - we all need to. Respecting others is not something we can just agree to and it's done. It is constant and hard work, but makes one a better person and makes one feel better as well.Linda Hedrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13518092321016623457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8684946039950733232.post-72053159250991253742012-02-18T20:16:27.846-08:002012-02-18T20:16:27.846-08:00I'm so impressed. You know things that matter...I'm so impressed. You know things that matter and you are presenting them in the way that respects us all. They need you in the trenches, where the best of us needs to save us all with a new conversation.<br /><br /> This is how we should be learning from History. I really am impressed.<br /><br /> You might be interested in that I'm asking myself questions that you've brought another face of into view. It might feel as though you're just stuck in your own head, sometimes, but you're putting out the good stuff. <br /><br />Thanks, MMsMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08781687565945887678noreply@blogger.com