Midget: Difference between revisions

[[Merriam-Webster]] states that the first use of the term "midget" was in 1816.<ref name = "MW def">[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/midget ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'' Entry for '''midget''': ''sometimes offensive: a very small person; specifically: a person of unusually small size who is physically well-proportioned. '']</ref> Midgets have always been popular entertainers but were often regarded with [[disgust]] and [[wikt:revulsion|revulsion]] in society. In the early 19th century, midgets were romanticized by the middle class and regarded with the same affectionate condescension extended to children, as creatures of innocence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/withamusementfor00ashb|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/withamusementfor00ashb/page/597 597]|quote=commodore nutt.|access-date=18 January 2018|last=Ashby|first=LeRoy|date=12 May 2006|title=With Amusement for All: a history of American popular culture since 1830|publisher=University of Kentucky Press|place=Lexington|isbn=9780813123974}}</ref> The term "midget" came into prominence in the mid-19th century after [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]] used it in her novels ''Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands'' and ''[[Old Town Folks]]'' where she described children and an extremely short man, respectively.<ref name='dwarfism-pbshome'>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2005/bigenough/special_dwarfism_ety.html |title=P.O.V. - Big Enough. What is Dwarfism? |access-date=2008-11-18 |last=Kennedy |first=Dan |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service }}</ref> [[P. T. Barnum]] indirectly helped popularize the term "midget" when he began featuring [[General Tom Thumb]], [[Lavinia Warren]] and [[Commodore Nutt]] in his [[circus]].<ref name="Thomson1996">{{cite book|last=Thomson|first=Rosemarie Garland|title=Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=djPCfSAsHN0C&pg=PA191|access-date=8 December 2012|year=1996|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=9780814782224|pages=191–}}</ref> "Midget" became linked to referencingreferring to short people put on public display for curiosity and sport.<ref name='dwarfism-pbshome'/> Barnum's midgets reached position of [[High society (group)|high society]], given fantasy military titles, introduced to dignitaries and royalty, and showered with gifts.<ref>[http://www.brightbytes.com/collection/tomthumb.html Charles Sherwood Stratton (AKA General Tom Thumb) and His Circle], ''Jack & Beverly's Images of Special Subjects'', December 2005.</ref><ref>[http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/lib/detail.html?id=693&page=all Exhibit: ''"Sketch Of The Life, Personal Appearance, Character And Manners Of Charles S. Stratton, The Man In Miniature, Known As General Tom Thumb, And His Wife, Lavinia Warren Stratton; Including The History Of Their Courtship And Marriage, With Some Account Of Remarkable Dwarfs, Giants, & Other Human Phenomena, Of Ancient And Modern Times, And Songs Given At Their Public Levees"'' 1863 pamphlet], Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck, New York (Robert Bogdan Collection), The Disability History Museum.</ref>

Towards the end of the 20th century, the word became considered by some as a [[pejorative]] term when referencingto people with dwarfism.<ref name="Shapiro2000">{{cite book|last=Shapiro|first=Arthur H.|title=Everybody Belongs: Changing Negative Attitudes Toward Classmates With Disabilities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hx63SN5Y9AkC&pg=PA284|access-date=8 December 2012|date=2000-09-01|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780815339601|pages=284–}}</ref><ref name='dwarfism-pbshome'/>{{sfn|Adelson|2005|p=6}}<ref name="RossLester2011">{{cite book|last1=Ross|first1=Susan Dente|last2=Lester|first2=Paul Martin|title=Images That Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PxcsMH5X8YEC&pg=PA285|access-date=14 December 2012|date=2011-04-19|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313378928|pages=285–}}</ref> Some, such as actor [[Hervé Villechaize]] continued to self-identify as "midgets".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newsfromme.com/pov/col325/ |title=Victor & Billy |website=News From Me |author=Mark Evanier |date=2001-01-19}} originally published in ''[[Comics Buyer's Guide]]''</ref>