Modern Day Sarah Bartmann?

Mary Beltrán’s article attempts to analyze Jennifer Lopez’s stardom in the late 1990s as it relates to her “cross-over butt” and star discourse. In examining the complexities of Latino stardom and Lopez’s mainstream stardom (as it relates to her backside), Beltrán compares Jennifer Lopez to Sartje Bartmann or Sarah Bartmann, “a South African woman with a large posterior who was dubbed the ‘Hottentot Venus’ (81).” This is where I really took issue with Beltrán’s assessments. Beltrán writes, “despite the generally positive discussion of Lopez’s acting abilities in her publicity in late 1998, it was pretty hard to focus on her acting when most of what we saw of her was her backside. From this perspective, Lopez can be considered a modern-day Hottentot Venus with respect to this publicity, kin to other nonwhite film actresses who have been constructed similarly before her (83).” Any serious academic or scholarly discussion about the popularity and fascination of the female rear end has to encompass Sarah Bartmann. Beltrán’s discussion of Jennifer Lopez rightly historicizes this relationship between the two, but wrongly attempts to compare them. In comparing Lopez to Sarah Bartmann, Beltran seems to gloss-over agency and the fact that Bartmann had no control over her own body and its public display. Beltrán is looking specifically at the way Lopez’s butt is displayed in popular magazines and in her late ‘90s film work, but after looking up the example from her Entertainment Weekly example I’m not quite sure what Beltrán is seeing. I could not find the exact centerfold image, but I did find the cover image (below). While it is obvious what aspect of her body she is choosing to accentuate and place on display, the gaze given to Lopez’s body is somewhat different from that given to Bartmann. Only real point of comparison is that both women were known for having large butts that were publicly displayed. However, the way in which they were displayed is not the same at all. I do not think that there is such anyone who qualifies as the modern day Venus Hottentot, but if there was, Jennifer Lopez does not meet the qualifications.

Life size sculpture and skeleton Sarah Bartmann on exhibit in Paris' Musee de L'Homme Museum until 1974.  

 

 

Not The Same At All!!!