Bootyful World

I teach about Saartjie "Sara" Baartman, a South African Khoi Khoi woman who, at 20, was snatched from her home in Cape Town and exhibited as the "Hottentot Venus" throughout Britain; this fetichizing moniker preyed on Baartman's physical appearance, framing her ample derriere as so-called proof of her racial inferiority and innate sexuality. Baartman's tragic experiences with sexual trafficking have since informed legal and scientific thought and, blessedly, Avital Levy's short documentary, Bootyful World, which explores representations of the black derriere in American music and fashion, as well as several women's attempts to celebrate and relate to their own bodies. Levy calls forth Baartman's legacy with teachable respect and learned regard such that we can never think singularly or ahistorically about butts again. Lanita Jacobs, Ph.D. (Associate Professor of American Studies & Ethnicity, University of Southern California)