While reading the article about Julia Pastrana, I was very surprised to hear that her life was relatively normal. She was smart and talented and was able to show that in combination with her unique condition. I do not believe that she was displayed to be a sexual object as Sara Baartman was. Yes, she was different, but people were not curious about what was under her skirt but if she was the missing link.
I was more shocked hearing about the relationship that her and her husband had. He clearly did not marry her because he loved her but for power and control. I cannot believe that someone would use a person in the way that he did. It made it much worse when they had a child together and he was hoping that it had the same disability that Julia did. It was very sad that Julia died soon after the birth and so did her son, but her husband embalmed them and continued to tour them both around the world. The duo were displayed for over 100 years. It was very heart breaking to hear how she was treated after she was dead. Then he married someone very similar to Julia, which proved he never married for love in the first place.
Valerie Walden
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