Julia Pastrana was an outstanding artist of the nineteenth century that lived her entire life indiscriminately as the ugliest woman in the world. Born in 1834 in Sinaloa, Mexico, Pastrana grew up with a genetic condition that made her face and body completely covered with straight black hair, while at the same time, she suffered from another rare disease that caused her lips and gums to grow excessively.
At the time, Pastrana was raised in the household of the governor of Sinaloa, when a customs official in Mazatlán -a city in the Mexican state of Sinaloa- purchased Pastrana and brought her to the United States performing under the management of J.W. Beach -now JW Marriott,- and later with whom will be her husband and new manager, Theodore Lent.
Pastrana toured throughout the U.S. and Europe advertised as a hybrid between ape and a human, as a "Bear Woman," and also as "The ugliest woman in the world", "the monkey woman", "the bear woman" or "the wonderful hybrid, the product of sinful love between a man and an orangutan female."
According to Infobae, after more than 150 years after her death, different organizations seek, in her native Sinaloa, to be recognized as an artist. "It is fair to be recognized as a dignified representative of the feminine gender that suffered discrimination and not only be remembered as a phenomenon, as the ugliest woman in the world," said to Infobae Ricardo Mimiaga, historian who was one of the most active in making visible the existence of this Mexican.
The report also says that there are already two theater plays based on her life, as well as books, documentaries and a performance inspired by the life of Pastrana.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
