Venus, Roman goddess of love, was born in the sea and came to earth floating on a scallop shell. The Hottentot Venus, otherwise known as Saartjie Baartman, was born in the Gamtoos River Valley in South Africa, and came to England as a stowaway. She was taken – along with a massive and stinking giraffe skin – by a British military doctor called Alexander Dunlop and his South African servant, Hendrik Cesars. Together, the men saw the potential of exhibiting Saartjie’s prominent buttocks and extended labia in a freak-show.

Literary Review

Mar 2007

Categories

Frances Wilson

Neo-Pagans at Large

Delights of the Public Catalog Room

A Place in the Sun

’Twas the Fight before Christmas

Fatal Hat-traction

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Poetry & Pose

Stepping Out

Fear and Loathing in LA

In Praise of Mad Books

Oh What a Feeling

Daggers Drawn

Testing Ted

Rebels With Causes

What’s Cooking?

The Rollicking Regency

From Aristotle to Amazon

Strange Rumblings in the Cannibal Club

Sister Act

All Shall Win Prizes

‘I’d Just Like To Thank…’

237 Varieties

Licence For Roving Hands

Scents and Sensibility

The Magnet of Love