DO WE NEED TO CAGE OUR WOMEN LIKE ANIMALS?

This essence of this write-up and the facts mentioned herein are taken from an article in the Sunday Express by T J S George with the same title. Before we start, the reader is cautioned that after reading this, he/she might be left with a sickening sensation or a lingering sense of poignancy. Ok, whenever we see those glamorous models participating in beauty pageants and willingly making themselves a party to the process of making a commodity out of the female body, we should remember the story of Saartje Baartman. Whenever we hear about the number of dowry deaths that happen on a single day in India and dismiss it as yet another one of those boring statistics, we should remember the story of Saartje Baartman. Whenever we hear about 50 % of Indian women being at the wrong end of domestic violence (across all social classes), and more shockingly when 60% of these very women justify the violence perpetrated against them by blaming themselves as the cause for that, we should remember the story of Saartje Baartman.

The tortured life of Saartje Baartman came to an end in 1814 when she was 27. In 2002, the mortal remains of this girl were excavated and flown from Paris to South Africa where she were buried with full state honours in a ceremony attended by none other than South African President Thabo Mbeki. Now, who is this Saartje Baartman? Was she an African nationalist? Was she a South African freedom fighter or a guerrilla leader a la Rani of Jhansi/Joan of Arc? Or was she a feminist of some hue or the other? Rest assured, she was definitely nothing of this sort.

In the early 19th century, the British colonized South Africa. Upon advancing on the Kalahari Desert, they hunted the native tribes like vermin to drive them away from their native land. Maybe they carried out these kind of operations as a part of what Rudyard Kipling euphemistically called as the 'White Man's burden' of 'civilizing' the dark continent. The woman of the Kalahari tribes were noted for their peculiarly shaped bodies. Here it is refrained from getting into the particularities of how exactly their bodies were different. Now, this girl Saartje Baartman's body was all the more different for its peculiar shape.

A British Marine surgeon got a brainwave after he saw her. He got her captured and transported her by ship to London. This kind of activity was legally permissible in those days as slavery was not yet abolished in the English empire. In London, she was displayed to the public. Where was she displayed? She was displayed in a cage in the London Zoo. And how was she displayed? - naked offcourse, we cannot expect the 'civilised' British folks to dress up their zoo animals, can we ? And obviously, the more ‘daring' of the Englishmen could also rent her out for a few days for more 'adventurous' pursuits.

After sometime, the London zoo authorities got bored of her and sold her to the French. The French, who are famous throughout the world for their 'Haute Couture' culture and more importantly had brought about the momentous French Revolution with its attendant soul-stirring slogans of 'Liberty, Equality and Fraternity', just 20 years ago(in 1789), also treated her in exactly the same manner as their English brethren. The only difference was that, the Paris Zoo, instead of the London zoo became the new home for Saartje Baartman. Maybe the French thought that their Liberty and Fraternity are applicable only to Francophone white men.

After sometime, death brought relief to Saartje Baartman. Her death is attributed to an illness that she contracted as she was not able to bear the rigours of the harsh Parisian winters on a naked body.

In recent times, the case of Saartje Baartman has become a Cause Celibre. She has become a strong symbol of colonial plunder, an inspiring symbol of resurgent African nationalism and a symbol of the redemption of African dignity. But most importantly she should be regarded as a symbol of all the things that have gone terribly wrong in the structured relationship between the male and the female of the homosapien species.

March 8…
Marching towards gender equality…
Hail international women’s day!