The Ugliest Woman in the World?

Called by some, “the ugliest woman in the world,” Julia Pastrana, was buried this month, her life revealing hideous aspects of the feminine experience.

Born in Mexico in 1834, with a condition we now call “hypertrichosis,” Julia had the fur of our ancestors all over her body. Thick, black hair. Her ears were large “The better to hear you with.” Her nose as well. She had two rows of teeth and a jaw to accommodate them - jutting, pugnacious, unappealing in a woman. So her mother sold her as a teenager to Theodore Lent, an American impresario, who traveled the world with her, selling tickets to the curious. “Feast your eyes on the bear woman! Only 5 cents. Group discounts available.”

When Darwin met her he described Julia as “A Spanish dancer,” “a remarkably fine woman.” She spoke several languages and supported many charities. Eventually Lent married her. On tour in Russia, she bore him a hypertrichotic son, who died within days, followed by his mother. 1860. She was twenty-six.

Lent had mother and son mummified and continued to display their bodies. He later married a woman of similar features named Zenora, and exhibited her until he was admitted to a mental institution in 1884. But Julia and her son remained on display in Norway and parts nearby until the 1970s, when someone decided it was time for a U.S. tour. Disgusted by the prospect (maybe) someone stole the bodies and abandoned them in a dumpster. The baby was eaten by mice and the mother gnawed a bit until she was retrieved and, eventually, buried in her home state of Sinaloa, Mexico.

Laura Barbata, whose sister wrote a play about Julia, arranged for the burial. Preening a bit in the shine of the media, Laura confidently asserted that Lent embodied the male desire to exploit women. No, he could not have married Julia for love. Why not? I’d like to know. Why not? “Well,” Laura explained, “He continued to display her mummified body after her death.” Proof positive of indifference? Or could Laura be falling into the very trap she derided, thinking Julia so repulsive that no man could possibly love her?

No, It couldn’t have been love. She was so ugly. It must have been exploitation. Could it not be exploitation, Laura, to transport her body around the world yet again so you can bask in the limelight as the savior of her remains? So your name can be splashed across the New York Times along with your status as a “visual artist?” Who’s doing the exploiting here?

What is worse -- to be ugly or to be unloved?

My story of Julia is different. Julia is loved. Lent plucked her from obscurity to show her the world and, at first, to show her to the world. To make a few bucks, or more. . . but in time he fell in love with her grace and intelligence. Julia came to love and appreciate him and the two married. Together they agreed to exploit the public, to use her unusual appearance to fund their travels. They danced. They ate in fine restaurants. They went sightseeing and floated down rivers. They discussed literature and human nature. They made love and had a child.

Julia’s last words are said to have been, “I die knowing that I was loved.”

When he lost his family Lent was heartbroken and could not let go. He preserved their bodies and kept traveling. At night when the audience went home he took them back to an empty hotel room. He read her the newspaper and talked with her about the latest discoveries. She spoke to him in his dreams. He found a woman who reminded him of her, but it was never the same. He went mad and died.

What’s so impossible about that?