Julia Pastrana

Thinking a little more into it, I find it a little odd that Sarah Baartman and Julia Pastrana were described as being   intelligent and good natured women. It seems that the scientists that studied them, and pronounced their bodies to be deviant would also want to make their personalities out to be deviant as well. I can't say that I would believe that they would try to make these two women seem more human by describing their personalities in this way, especially when both were thought to be the link between a monkey and human. Maybe these men had a bit of a guilty conscious about what they had put these women through and decided to tell a bit of truth? Or maybe it was to sell tickets or have people believe that Sarah and Julia were actually happy with the way their lives were going? Whatever the reason, I find it strange that these too women would be described to be animal or beast-like by these men, and yet describe as docile women...

Erin Pattridge