Brigit May, Post 2

I thought the story of the Venus Hottentot was such an interesting story, and I found myself throughout the video feeling so sorry for that girl, and wondering how people could do that to someone. Seeing as I am the same age as Sara was when she was taken from her home in Cape Town, I thought about what it would be like if I was in her shoes, and it was making me feel sick. I think stories like this are so important for people to hear. When I hear stories about racism, I always find myself thinking how could a society accept something like that, like black slavery and things of that nature, and then it also makes me think about if I lived back during those times, how would I react to slavery, or stories like Sara Baartman.
A few weeks ago I watched a documentary about the oldest Siamese twins in the United States, who are 50 years old. Throughout their story, they kept mentioning how when they were little, their father took them to fairs all over the United States, and people would pay money to go in and look at the twins, so essentially they were part of a freak show. When we were watching the video about Sara Baartman's story, I thought about the story of these two twins. Their father had entered them into all these fairs when they were young boys, and I believe it was for 30 years, they worked and the money they made from their freak show act supported their entire family, and continues to support them now that they are retired. When the two men talked about their time working, they seemed to take a lot of pride in the fact that they supported their family by doing this, and they also seemed to look back on those years fondly. However I couldn't help but think at first how cruel and sort of sick it was that they were part of an act that people would go to see, because they were essentially "freaks". I know their situation and circumstances were different from Sara's, but the one common thing that ties them together is that in both stories, Sara and the Twins were put on display because they were different from other people, and people would pay money to observe them. I am sure the twins were treated with much more respect than Sara Baartman was, however I can't help but wonder how it must feel to be put on display, and have people come in and gawk over how different and weird and whatever else they say, simply because you aren't the same as them. Both stories really made me think about how people can be so closed minded when it comes to others who are different. Watching Sara's video, I couldn't help but think how something like this was ever acceptable in a society, but then it also made me wonder, in 100 year will people be looking back at our society, and be disgusted with some of the things we deemed as acceptable as well?