In the early 1800s a South African woman named Saartje Baartman was exhibited in ‘freak shows’ in Europe. Her ‘unnatural’ body was placed on public display for a fee. Baartman was studied intensively by anatomists, zoologists and physiologists, and following her death in 1815, she was dissected and parts of her anatomy were displayed in Paris. They remained on show until the 1960s.