Miley Cyrus, VMA performance 2013 still. Source: Ms. Magazine.

BIG BOOTY BODY TYPES:

11/19/13 Hanna Neumann ARTH 440 Fall 2013

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She is there to entertain guests with the naked image of Otherness. They are not to look at her as a whole human being. They are to notice only certain parts They were reduced to mere spectacle. Little is known of their lives, their motivations. Their body parts were offered as evidence to support racist notions that black people were more akin to animals other than humans. bell hooks, 1992 i

Modern and contemporary representations of the black female body have been exploited in western culture as a form of entertainment and spectacle. The specific anatomical parts of the black female nude are accentuated, most commonly linked to the big booty body type. This representation is expected from the past environment in which Blacks were engulfed. The historical treatment and representation of Blacks inevitably objectified and othered black female bodies. Although this is expected from a historical standpoint, can this still be the case in contemporary pop culture? Is there reoccurring evidence linking the historical representation of the black female body to their representation of their bodies in contemporary pop culture? Do the intentions of these representations differ from one another? Are the historical demeaning and harmful and the contemporary celebratory and used as a form of reclamation? An analysis of

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evidence from various artists and pop culture that enhance or support the representation of the black female body will enable these questions to be answered. A liberal cultural critic, bell hooks, notes in her Black Looks, that the bodies of black women were displayed readily for whites and degraded into mere spectacle, in to bodies lacking emphasis on the individual and intellectual and provided more emphasis on the body. Common representations of the black female body relate more to animals rather than humans which, in turn, others, exploits and dehumanizes the black female body. During the 19th century, the recognition of the black female body type of the Hottentot Venus arose. Europeans were fascinated by this body type and used it for scientific research and public entertainment. At this time, the practice of physiognomy, recognized as a science, was often linked to interpreting the bodies of Blacks. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, states the medical definition of physiognomy as the art of discovering temperament and character from outward appearance.ii This form of science at this time was used to attempt to unlock the mysteries of the Black race. The documentation and analysis of the black female body was used as evidence to prove that Blacks were of a separate origin of species. This process and analysis of the black female body was problematic and created the exploitation and dehumanization of black bodies. Saartjie Sarah Baartman is a prime component in the exploitation of big booty body types by the Europeans in the nineteenth century. She is the person behind the symbol of the Hottentot Venus. Saartjie Sarah Baartman was a South African woman that traveled to London around 1810 where she became exploited by the Europeans. She became a symbol that represented all African women during her time. The figure of Baartman was exploited and became entertainment. Her figure consisted of large breasts and an abnormally sized and shaped booty.

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Baartmans body figure was one that was never seen before, and her and her body became a fantasy for the European mind. Baartman was named the Hottentot Venus. Rachel Holmes, a cultural historian who focuses on bringing nineteenth century subject vividly to life, in her African Queen says To the audience that gazed up curiously at Saartjie, Venus was simply a synonym for sex; to behold the figure of Venus, or to hear her name, was to be prompted to think about lust, or love. At the same time, the word Hottentot signified all that was strange, disturbing, alien, and possibly, sexually deviant. iii Knowing the meaning of the terms Hottentot and Venus provides a better understanding of the exploited symbolic representation of Baartman and her body. Holmes provides context for the connotations that accompanied Baartman and her big booty body type by providing these meaning in relation to Baartman. Everything that Baartman was seen as, as a symbol at this time, is precisely described by the meanings of her Hottentot Venus description. Baartman was considered to be strange and beastly but was eroticized and a prime target for lust and love. She was fetishized and was exhibited and performed like a showgirl. Prior to becoming the symbol for African women and a spectacle, a man noticed Baartman and her body. Holmes describes this interaction and that the man emphasized the extraordinary shape and make of the woman, stressing her value as an object of great curiosity and arguing that she would make the fortune of any person by exhibiting her (for the said two years) to the public. The way in which this man describes Baartman is problematic. He refers to her as an object and emphasized the value in exhibiting her. He refers to her in ways that can be considered dehumanizing. This provides evidence of the belief that Blacks were a different origin of species.

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Holmes provides an example of an advertisement that announced the opening of Londons latest curiosity to the public, the Hottentot Venus. In this advertisement, Baartman was advertised as being in the interior of South Africa, a most correct and perfect specimen of that race of people She is habited in the dress of her country, with all the rude ornaments usually worn by those people. Baartman was advertised in a promising manner but the report provided little information. This drew in a curious audience. Baartman became a sensation and a desired commodity. The advertisement provided by Holmes describes Baartman as a perfect specimen of the race of her people. The way in which this is worded suggests the belief that Baartman was considered to be a different origin of species. She was a specimen and used as evidence with the practice of physiognomy, which was considered a form of science at this time. Saartjie Baartman was the subject of many artists illustrations at this time. In Fig. 1, drawn in 1810 portrays Baartman in the dress of her country, with all rude ornaments usually worn by those people, as described by the advertisement. This illustration provides her silhouetted with her backside turned toward the viewer in a position that emphasized her big booty. This illustration is accompanied by the engraving of Sartjee, the Hottentot Venus, and Now Exhibiting in London. This can be seen as a way in which the performances of Baartman were advertised to the general public. Also engraved below this advertisement is the statement Drawn from Life. This potentially can tell viewers that the illustration represents reality since it was drawn from life most likely from one of Baartmans performances. The illustration gives viewers a sense of how Baartman was represented. This illustration emphasizes the big booty body type of her and exploits it by making it the focal point. Baartmans body is exposed when dressed for performance. Baartmans body becomes objectified with this immense focus on her

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big booty. Baartman was entertainment. She was a spectacle that enabled her audience to lust after someone that deviates from the norm. She was exotic. She was exciting. She was entertainment. Michelle Wallace, an author whose has writings on literature, art, film, and popular culture, in her Dark Designs and Visual Culture discusses the Hottentot Venus and Baartman. Wallace notes that needless to say, these were no ordinary buttocks but huge, spongy appendages that seemed to possess a life of their own, so aggressively did they stand out from the body. Wallace goes on to critique using Baartman and her big booty as a spectacle. She describes this by noting that their large, complex configuration (probably a fair portion of which was cellulite) was considered at once a freak of nature and therefore an entertaining performance by the standard of the day, a scientific oddity, and emblematic of the combined racial and sexual inferiority of Africans. iv This reinforces the idea that Baartman and other Africans who had a Hottentot Venus figure were exploited and used as evidence to prove inferiority between races. Baartmans big booty body type was associated with negative and dehumanizing connotations. This creates problematic associations that coincide with big booty body types. Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling a leading expert in biology and gender development in her Gender, Race, and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of Hottentot Women in Europe, 181517 discusses Baartman and what happened to her body when she passed away. She brings up that after Baartman died in Paris one of the fathers of modern biology claimed her body in the interests of science, offering a detailed account of its examination to the members of the French Museum of Natural History. This shows evidence of the fascination and exoticism that described Baartman when she was exhibited. The link to science is evident and the further

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investigation of her body after she passed away can be seen as them trying to provide evidence that she and her race are from a different origin of species. Fausto-Sterling continues by noting that as recently as the early 1980s a cast of her body along with her actual skeleton could be found on display in case #33 in the Musee de lHomme in Paris; her preserved brain and a wax mold of her genitalia are stored in one of the museums back rooms.v Baartmans body was not only exploited while she was alive but also when she passed away. It was probed and used as scientific study and evidence linking with race exploration. The big booty body type linked to the black female body, in this context, is problematic and taboo. It holds negative connotation to Blacks and is deemed as evidence of them being of different origins of species. The historical context of big booty body types like the Hottentot Venus provides a negative connotation that dehumanizes and objectifies the black female body. Historically, the Black female body and big booty body types were demeaned and used as entertainment and for scientific research. How does this affect the black female body in contemporary visual and pop culture? In contemporary pop culture and art big booty body types are increasingly being celebrated by the general public. In her Black Looks, bell hooks notes that Although contemporary thinking about black female bodies does not attempt to read the body as a sign of natural racial inferiority, the fascination with black butts continues.vi She is right. It is progressive that there isnt the flux of empirical research that tries to prove that Blacks are a different origin of species; however, can we ultimately accept that the representations and the fascinations with the big booty body type and the black female body in contemporary pop culture and art? Modern and contemporary representations of the black female body have been

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exploited in western culture as a form of entertainment and spectacle. Contemporary performance, fashion, and body types of women who assume, accentuate, and represent this big booty body type can be considered to be done in a way to provide entertainment to an audience who objectify and dehumanize the black female body. Performances and fashion assumed by Nicki Minaj, the photograph image of Renee Cox in the Hottentot Venus, and the VMA performance of Miley Cyrus all provide representation of the black female body and accentuate the big booty body type. These representations provide evidence of the shift from, women as objects to women as both producing subjects and objects. Debra S. Singer, the executive director and chief curator of The Kitchen, an experimental, interdisciplinary performance space in New York City, in her Reclaiming Venus: The Presence of Sarah Bartmann in Contemporary Art initiates discussion on various artists including Renee Cox and says that each recognizes Bartmann as a powerful symbol of the continuing objectification of the black female body. When referring specifically to Coxs Hottentot Venus 2010 (Fig. 2), Singer notes that uses her own body, not necessarily to connect her own life directly to Bartmanns, but rather as a surrogate for a collective subject that can alternately be read as black, female, or both.vii In the Coxs photograph, she is portrayed in a silhouetted stance with her hand on her hip. Her sideways pose recalls both the scientific illustrations of Bartmann along with various other scientific studies of the black body. The photograph is in black and white and she is portrayed as nude merely wearing armatures of tits and ass. The armatures transform her body into one that resembles the body of a Hottentot Venus linking her to Bartmann. Cox, in this work, is making full eye contact with the viewer. This differs from the illustration of Baartman (Fig. 1) because Cox is making direct eye contact;

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whereas, Baartman is portrayed turned away, erasing her face, and creating the focus on her big booty. Renee Cox is a Jamaican-American photographer and political activist who attempts to reclaim the idea of the Hottentot Venus in her Hottentot Venus 2010. Cox uses herself, not only as the artist, but as the subject and object in this work. By doing so, Cox creates a larger impact of her performances by confronting her viewer with a challenge. This challenge is initiated and emphasized by her direct eye contact and armature exploited body parts. Cox reveals her naked body with these armature props in order to show that she, as an African American woman is incapable of portraying the image of the Hottentot Venus. By using the Hottentot Venus body type, Cox sets the dialogue for the colonial past ideas of the Europeans and also the modern and contemporary issues with the over-sexualization of the female black body. Cox addresses this issue in a forward manner, trying to reclaim the Hottentot Venus body type. She does this in a strategic manner that addresses and critiques the issues. By showing that she does not hold up to this specific body type can deconstruct the stereotype of this body type being the symbol of all African women; however, it can also be considered to target Bartmann. By showing that she does not hold up to the stereotype which enables viewers to see the exaggerated and deemed incorrect portrayal of the black female body can potentially offend the black women who do hold up to the stereotype. Although not her intention, Cox could, in a way, be considered to exploit and attack these women who have the stereotypical big booty body type. Altogether, Cox deconstructs the negative connotations of the Hottentot Venus with good intentions. The reclamation of such a negative and dehumanizing symbol is not an easy task. The representation of this big booty body type is still problematic in contemporary pop

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culture and art. The efforts of Cox cant be disregarded in the attempt to reclaim this historical negative symbol of the black female body. Nicki Minaj is known as being a rapper as well as a television personality. She is even considered to be one of the worlds most influential female hip-hop artists. In the 74th volume of Current Biography, Minajs biography was noted. Her biography mentioned in an interview that Ive always had this female-empowerment thing in the back of my mind --- because I wanted my mother to be stronger, and she couldnt be. I thought, If Im successful, I can change her life.viii Minaj has accomplished much in contemporary pop culture and she has called herself an empowered women. Regardless of these aspects, she is well known and celebrated for her big booty. Many people seem to associate the rapper with her big booty and they focus on this aspect. In a special Thanksgiving performance for radio station Hot 97, Nicki Minaj showed off her backside. At this event, Minaj performed at the Hammerstein Ballroom in her home town of New York with a host of friends, including Rihanna, Kanye West, Keyshia Cole and Drake. There was an overwhelming emphasis of her big booty at this event. Minaj was seen wearing a two-faced suit from fashion designer The Blonds. This suits front half was a normal black silk suit while the back half was a nude bejeweled body suit, exposing the entire backside of the rapper. Minajs fashion decision for this performance created an inevitable emphasis of the rappers celebrated big booty. The big booty body type was emphasized during this performance creating entertainment for her audience. Can this fashion statement made by Minaj be considered to be the reclamation of her booty or is she being over-sexualized and objectified for the pleasure of her audience? It is hard to say. Minaj deliberately turns the focus and gaze of

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her audience and brings them to her buttocks. She does this for a reason. Her booty is immensely popular among her fans and the general public. This could have influenced the rapper to wear the two-faced suit at this performance. Is Minaj reclaiming her body and taking control of her body or is she following her expected sexual scripted enforced by her audience? Minaj can be considered to have the body type associated with a big booty. This can relate her back to Saartjie Baartman and the Hottentot Venus. Historically, the black female body was objectified and portrayed as a spectacle. The Hottentot Venus was exploited with the emphasis on her big booty. Similarly to the historical context of the black female body, the modern and contemporary black female body still has the connotation of having a big booty. This characteristic seems to be desired and lustful. In both cases, the representation of the big booty can be considered to be exploited and over-sexualizing. By focusing attention on one aspect on the body of an individual is considered to be objectifying. This leads to the dehumanization of those who are objectified. Minajs intentions when performing in this twofaced suit was most likely not to exploit herself. Minaj produced and performed the subject and object in this case. Regardless, with the historical context in mind, contemporary displays of big booty body types like Minaj are problematic. They perpetuate the exploitation of the black female body which links it to the horrifying history of subjugation. Miley Cyruss performance in the 2013 Video Music Awards on MTV has been critiqued by many and it has been deemed extremely racist and that she exploited the black female body. At this performance, Cyrus performed her hit We Cant Stop and in this performance there were many back up dancers who were all black. These back up dancers had teddy bear heads on them; therefore, this erased their face and identity. This aspect of the performance can be seen as problematic. These dancers had their identity removed from them with an animal. This links

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back to the connotation that Blacks were a different origin of species and more animalistic. Cyrus, with this choice of outfit, dehumanized her black female dancers. Their faces and identities were masked; however, not to any surprise, their big booties were accentuated and fully visible. This, apparently conscious decision, is very problematic since the main focus was on their big booties. This was so due to the consistent dance moves that focused on the buttocks (i.e. twerking) as well as lyrics and gestures focused towards their buttocks. Cyrus arguably used her back-up dancers, these black women, as literal props. In the song, these lyrics can be recited, "homegirls with the big butts." This lyric directly points emphasis to her already arguably dehumanized back-up dancers big booties. At one point, Cyrus makes an arguably problematic gesture toward the back-up dancer with the largest booty on stage. In Fig. 4, Cyrus is portrayed smacking this dancer's booty and then simulated rimming by moving her head back and forth in front of the dancer with the largest butt. By partaking in this representation of her black female dancers, Cyrus provides evidence that she believes that black female bodies are to be enjoyed, put on display, and to be devalued. This creates a link to Baartman and the spectacle and entertainment that her big booty body type was devalued and used as. A Korra who writes for Jezebel Open Forums online in their Dear Miley, Keep Your F******* Hands to Yourself responds to Cyruss problematic manhandling of the dancer by stating What IS my business is how you treat the people in your employ and the message that sends to black and brown women about their worth. About their "rank" in the bodily autonomy food-chain. About how they can expect to be exploited by even their supposed sisters-in-arms. You wanna be down with black folk? With black women? Start by treating us like human beings, not like f****** pokemon. Learn more about the history of the people you borrow from, so you can avoid that Sarah Baartman s***. And, for God's sake, keep your f****** hands to yourself.ix

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This writer directly refers to the link of Cyruss manhandling to what Baartman had to deal with. The writer also brings up various important and crucial points that need to be discussed. This critique brings the issues of Cyruss performances to the forefront. Cyruss Video Music Awards 2013 performance was very controversial and problematic. Jody Rosen, a writer for Vulture, in her Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Mileys Minstrel Show critiques Cyruss performances and accused Cyrus by saying that she is annexing working-class black ratchet culture, the potent sexual symbolism of black female bodies, to the cause of her reinvention: her transformation from squeaky-clean Disney-pop poster girl to grown-up hipster-provocateur.x Although harsh, Rosen brings up a good point of the effect of Cyruss strategic decisions on the black female body. She exploits and dehumanizes her back-up dancers and can ultimately be considered doing the same or similar actions as the Europeans did to Baartman. Both Cyruss performance and the spectacle and performances of Baartman objectified, dehumanized, exploited, and over-sexualized the black female body. Both had immense emphasis on the big booty body type. Can either Cyrus or the Europeans of the 19th century be deemed worse than the other? They essentially are doing the same things to the black female body. Contemporary displays of big booty body types are problematic given the history and this is fully evident with Cyruss performance. Carole Boyce Davies, a professor of English and Africana studies at Cornell University and also the author of critical anthologies, in her Black/Female/Bodies Carnivalized in Spectacle and Space discusses the Black female body in Western culture by noting that it has existed in the context of either exoticization or abjection our bodies have been chained, sold, transported, paraded, flayed, pried open, discarded, and possessed.xi Boyce Davies emphasizes

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the historical connotations of the black female body and how it affects the contemporary portrayal of their bodies. Can the black female body be reclaimed? Boyce Davies continues on by stating So, how does one reclaim the female body now in the context of recent history? On the one hand it is possible to see the physical control that women take in attempting to do with their bodies as they please. She brings up a valid point. Can the context of recent history be forgotten and the black female body be reclaimed and stripped of those negative connotations? All of the dehumanization and exploitation of the black female body in history negatively affects the representation of the black female body. Is the contemporary big booty body type representation the continuation of the perpetuation of racism or is it merely the attempt to reclaim this body type in a more positive and celebratory lens? In her Black Looks, hooks notes that When calling attention to the body in a manner inviting the gaze to mutilate black female bodies yet again, to focus solely on the butt, contemporary celebrations of this part of the anatomy do not successfully subvert sexist/racist representations. Black female bodies historically and contemporarily are exploited and oversexualized by their audiences. Although there is an attempt to reclaim the historical symbol of the Hottentot Venus and big booty body types, contemporary displays of the big booty body type are problematic. This is so due to the negative historical connotations that linger and resonate still today.

hooks, bell. Black looks: race and representation. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1992.

ii

Merriam-Webster. "Physiognomy." Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/physiognomy (accessed November 15, 2013).

Holmes, Rachel. African queen: the real life of the Hottentot Venus. New York: Random House, 2007.

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iv

Wallace, Michele. "The Hottentot Venus." In Dark designs and visual culture. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. 426-427.
v

Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Gender, Race, and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of Hottentot Women in Europe, 1815-17. Skin deep, spirit strong: the Black female body in American culture. Kimberly Sanders. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002.
vi

hooks, bell. Black looks: race and representation. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1992.

vii

Singer, Debra S. "Reclaiming Venus: The Presence of Sarah Bartmann in Contemporary Art." In Black Venus, 2010: they called her "Hottentot". Deborah Willis. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2010. 186-198.
viii

"Nicki Minaj." Current Biography 74, no. 10 (2013): 62-68

ix

Jezebel. "Dear Miley, Keep Your F******* Hands to Yourself." Groupthink. http://groupthink.jezebel.com/dearmiley-keep-your-fucking-hands-to-yourself-1201998015 (accessed November 10, 2013).
x

Rosen, Jody. "Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Miley's Minstrel Show." Vulture. http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/jody-rosen-miley-cyrus-vmas-minstrel.html (accessed November 10, 2013).
xi

Boyce Davies, Carole. "Black/Female/Bodies Carnivalized in Spectacle and Space." In Black Venus, 2010: they called her "Hottentot". Deborah Willis. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2010. 186-198.

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Fig. 1: Sartjee, the Hottentot Venus, Now Exhibiting in London, Drawn from Life, read the caption on this engraving, circa 1810. Source: New York Times article. A Life Exposed

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Fig. 2: Renee Cox, Hottentot Venus, 2000. Source: Dr. Penelope Ironstone-Catterrall, York University.

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Fig. 3: Nicki Minaj, 2010. Thanksgiving performance for radio station Hot 97 at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Source: EUR/Electronic Urban Report (www.eurweb.com).

Fig. 4: Miley Cyrus, VMA performance 2013 still. Source: Ms. Magazine.

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Bibliography

Boyce Davies, Carole. "Black/Female/Bodies Carnivalized in Spectacle and Space." In Black Venus, 2010: they called her "Hottentot". Deborah Willis. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2010. 186-198. Fausto-Sterling, Anne. Gender, Race, and Nation: The Comparative Anatomy of Hottentot Women in Europe, 1815-17. Skin deep, spirit strong: the Black female body in American culture. Kimberly Sanders. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002. Holmes, Rachel. African queen: the real life of the Hottentot Venus. New York: Random House, 2007. hooks, bell. Black looks: race and representation. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1992. Jezebel. "Dear Miley, Keep Your F******* Hands to Yourself." Groupthink. http://groupthink.jezebel.com/dear-miley-keep-your-fucking-hands-to-yourself1201998015 (accessed November 10, 2013). Merriam-Webster. "Physiognomy." Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/physiognomy (accessed November 15, 2013). "Nicki Minaj." Current Biography 74, no. 10 (2013): 62-68. Rosen, Jody. "Rosen: The 2013 VMAs Were Dominated by Miley's Minstrel Show." Vulture. http://www.vulture.com/2013/08/jody-rosen-miley-cyrus-vmas-minstrel.html (accessed November 10, 2013). Singer, Debra S. "Reclaiming Venus: The Presence of Sarah Bartmann in Contemporary Art." In Black Venus, 2010: they called her "Hottentot". Deborah Willis. Philadelphia, Pa.: Temple University Press, 2010. 186-198. Wallace, Michele. "The Hottentot Venus." In Dark designs and visual culture. Durham: Duke University Press, 2004. 426-427.