Objectifying the stranger
The problem with the Europeans in this film is that they start from the belief that people from Africa are not as "human" as they are. In reality, this is just a prejudice from one culture who refuses to honor the value of another human culture. They participate in a dehumanizing treatment of Sara which defines the film. Ms. Baartman is treated as an animal whose capacity for tricks is very good. When she demonstrates her perfectly human intelligence or emotional depth, this offends those who have decided she is less than human, and she is mistreated more. After her death, she is treated like an animal and preserved by scientists who make racist conclusions about her from appearance.
Human decency and sexual abuse
The people who invite Venus into her role as an entertainer are depicted in this film as heinous liars who allow her to dance under false pretenses. She believes she is sharing art and culture, but when the patrons begin to touch her body, she realizes that she is entertainment of another kind. The "scientists" who dehumanize her also seek her sexually, but because of their cognitive dissonance, their sexual attraction is warped by a disturbing group think which makes them abuse her more. She ends up voicing concerns about her treatment, and that just leads to a future of actual molestation and rape. After she is discarded by them, her only way to survive is prostitution. This theme comments on a need for feminism and racial equality.
Shame and suffering
The shame of Black Venus's suffering is one that her community throws upon her. They molest and rape her and then tell her that she is to blame. She contests with obviously-human emotions and intelligence, but they are committed to their hateful beliefs about her nature because such beliefs entitle those men to behave in a sexually heinous way toward her. This shows that shame is part of her suffering, because she is martyred by a shame she does not deserve. She is forced to become a prostitute even though her sexual experience was only due to her abuse.
