ABSTRACT
The exotic is sexual, and the sexual is exotic. Exhibitions of ‘savage’ and ‘exotic’ peoples cannot be understood without consideration of sexuality as a key contributing factor. At the time of the exhibitions, conception of the exhibited subjects as exotic was closely linked with sexual perceptions. As discussed in Chapter 2 (Race Science and Racial Hierarchies), the exhibitions were closely linked with the prevailing concepts of race. Similarly, the prevailing views on sexuality cannot be understood without consideration of the period’s corresponding views on race. A significant component of the view White Europeans held towards non-White races was the notion that non-White people’s sexuality was inherently different from White Europeans’ sexuality. Just as Africans were considered less intelligent and more primitive than Europeans, they were also regarded as more explicitly sexual, with more direct and animalistic, or ‘lower’, sexuality. In this way, race and sexuality were inextricably linked at the turn of the twentieth century. 2
