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SA women continue to be objectified like Sarah Baartman: Author

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Author and poet Diana Ferrus says South African women continue to be objectified in the same way that Sarah Baartman was by her European masters.

She delivered a public lecture on the life of Baartman at the Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley on Thursday.

Ferrus who wrote the ‘I’ve Come to take you home’ poem back in 1998 about the life of Sarah Baartman, says the hardships that women faced many centuries ago still persist.

Baartman was caged and her half naked body paraded to Europeans due to her unique physique.

Ferrus says, “Close to 200 years ago she was ridiculed as a woman, she was mocked as a woman for how she looked because she was black, and specifically on her body. There were theories. Those theories followed us, what was said about her, was said about us. So we must remember her because we must destroy those stereotypes.”

Women who attended the Sarah Baartman public lecture, say her story has many similarities to the current realities that women are facing.

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