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(USA Today) – The Paper magazine cover photo of Kim Kardashian and her famous derriere has sparked a conversation about the exploitation and fetishism of the black female body.
In the photo, the reality TV star balances a champagne glass on her backside while popping a bottle of champagne.
The photo is actually a recreation that the photographer, Jean-Paul Goude, took of a nude black model as part of a 1982 book called Jungle Fever.
TheGrio.com columnist Blue Telusma likens the photos to images of Saartjie “Sarah” Baartman, a black South African woman brought to London in the 19th century and displayed for her large buttocks and genitalia. Baartman was on display even after her death. Her body was dissected and parts of her body displayed in a Paris museum until the 1970s.