[Hottentots and prostitutes: on an iconography of the sexualized woman]

The subject of investigation is the historical evolution of the idea of the Hottentot woman and the prostitute, as well as the relation in which both were seen to each other. For both were regarded as representative categories. In the stereotype of "black sexuality" this sexuality is seen as antithetical to European sexual morals. In the late 18th and in the 19th century the physiognomical, physiological and anatomical characteristics of the divergence of the black woman were observed. The appearances of the genitals and the barrocks are regarded as something abnormal and even pathological, which again is said to be the result of "primitive" sexual desire and activity. The prostitute--in the 19th century representing the sexualized woman in general--becomes the subject of detailed investigation. It was said that her physiognomy and her physiology stood for her "primitive" nature, thus ranging at the very end of the beauty scale. This, together with the imagination of her sexuality (perceived as pathological) moves her image very close to that of the Hottentot woman. The "atavistic" character of prostitutes, it is assumed as well could be seen from the form of their genitals as well as from other physical characteristics (obesity, "Darwin's ear", as described by Lombroso, etc.). In the late 19th century the perception of the prostitute has merged completely with that one of the Hottentot woman, which may be taken as the general conception held of the "negro Woman". Both are outsiders bearing the stigmata of sexual deviation--i.e. pathology. The negative image of both and its synthesis is expressed as well in art, for instance in Edouard Manet's "Olympia" (1862/63) and "Nana" (1877). The cause of this negative perception of prostitutes and of black women lies in the inherent fear of "the other" for being so different. This implied the fear of losing control over ones own sexuality and of losing power over women in general.