Sarah Baartman, a stereotyped female fashion inspiration.

Sarah Baartman, a stereotyped female fashion inspiration. What a mess for 19th century Europe.

While it has been widely reported that the young woman suffered humiliation in the hands of her captors who saw her as nothing more than a creature worthy to be displayed like an animal in a circus, the fact remains clear; with the racism of the time, she was objectified and with her tribe, relegated to the lowest rung of humans in the evolution ladder. If she and her kind inspired the fashion of an era, that implies that her shape was desired and secretly admired. So when you feel like you have to conform to stereotypes about what a woman's body should look like to be beautiful and desirable, take heart and be more confident. You may just be more beautiful than you know.