Sarah "Saartjie" Baartman is a South African-born woman who stands out in a crowd because of a rare condition; she suffers from Steatopygia, which means that she has curves that defy nature and that also defy the rest of her body. It is the Nineteenth Century, when colonialism was in its heyday, and it is also the time of entertainment that bordered on the exploitative and cruel. The circus freak show was extremely popular in Britain at this time, and many a bearded lady or conjoined twin found themselves no longer people, but exhibits.
Sarah is lured away from her hometown in South Africa to London, having been dazzled by promises of riches and fame. Predictably, these promises are hollow and when Sarah arrives in London she finds that she has been sold to the highest bidder, the owner of a sideshow known publicly as The Mother Showman. He puts Sarah on display and gives her the stage name of "The Hottentot Venus" because of her Venus De Milo curves. Sarah quickly becomes extremely popular and her name on a billboard becomes the hottest ticket in town. Europeans travel to see her genitalia and voluptuous buttocks on display.
One man, Baron Docteur, takes a particular interest in Sarah, traveling to see her many times. He purchases her from the Mother Showman and takes her as his mistress, whisking her away to Paris. His actions are not as kind and altruistic as they seem to be at first; an inveterate ladies' man with many partners, Baron Docteur plans to study her after her death and use her to find out more about her steatopygia, keeping this intention a secret from his new lover.
Sarah contracts gonorrhea from Baron Docteur, who is furious, and arranges for her to be jailed for the rest of her life. She dies soon, in her jail cell, and even in death is exploited for financial gain; her skeleton and a plaster cast of her body are displayed at the Musee de l'Homme.
