Little People are Still Being Treated Unfairly
Short jokes aren’t funny, but another form of body shaming
In 2022, Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage made headlines by criticizing the Disney company for seeming to give itself a pat on the back for being progressive enough to cast a Latina actress in the role of Snow White while making no mention of how it intended to handle the presentation of the princess’s titular co-leads: the seven dwarves.
Though Dinklage later clarified that he was (rightly) very happy for the actress and the overall increase in opportunities for actors of color, he wanted to call attention to the way little people continue to be ignored even while other marginalized groups are finally being included more.
Dinklage was met with backlash for his comments, partly from those who misunderstood him as being among those needlessly complaining about the casting choice, but also from people who didn’t mince words about thinking his concerns were unworthy of consideration at all.
Little people are . . . still disrespected and neglected even within spaces that are inclusive to many others.
Little people are members of what we might call an “invisible” marginalized group, which is to say that they are still disrespected and neglected even within spaces that are inclusive to many others.
Most dwarves (using that term because, to my knowledge, it is considered acceptable by that community) would be considered disabled, as the genes that result in their small size are often comorbid with detrimental heart conditions and the like. Mobility is also an issue, as most buildings and objects of everyday use simply are not built with accessibility for small people in mind. Yet discrimination and bullying against them abounds in professional and personal spaces alike.
So, how do the rest of us hear about their plight?
Comics still consider little people fair game
Even when someone does try to point out that the short of stature deserve respectful representation as much as the rest of us, the most common response to that is a denial that small people are an oppressed group at all, usually while being viciously derisive towards them.
For example, comedian John Mulaney famously mocked a former boss for asking him not to include the word “midget” in a script. The man tried to help John understand that the word is a slur for little people (a hurtful word used to make them feel lesser, in case anyone forgot what a slur is), by comparing it to the n-word. Mulaney, completely missing the point, went on a diatribe about how much worse the n-word is, about how much worse black people have it than little people, apparently never once fathoming that black people with dwarfism also exist and would probably prefer to have neither word thrown around too lightly.
While diminishing the marginalization of little people, Mulaney simultaneously treated them as freakish objects of amusement. All because he was asked not to use an unkind word in a comedy bit.
He went on to repeatedly use the slur, which he admitted in the bit itself that he had been informed was a slur, in reference to little people. He said “I don’t mean to gloss over what little people have been through in this country” but then glossed over what little people have been through. He joked that “midgets were never enslaved . . . unless you count the Wonka factory,” apparently ignorant of the fact that people with dwarfism, like many others who suffer from disabilities, have a history of having their autonomy being stripped from them, leaving them under the control of and at the mercy of their legal guardians to a degree that, while it does not match slavery, mirrors it in many ways.
Also there were, y’know, definitely full blown slaves with dwarfism who were considered desirable as slaves because they were dwarves.
While diminishing the marginalization of little people, Mulaney simultaneously treated them as freakish objects of amusement. All because he was asked not to use an unkind word in a comedy bit.
People with dwarfism, like many others who suffer from disabilities, have a history of having their autonomy being stripped from them
I can only hope that Mr. Mulaney has learned better since then, and if he has then I would certainly commend him.
His past defensive reaction, however, to being asked to dial back on the mockery of the small is not at all an isolated incident. He is not the only one who has been seen acting as if he had some sort of God-given right to have fun at the expense of short people.
Let us as ourselves, then: why is that?
The Social Institution of “Short Jokes”
Why does mocking people for being on the small side seem to be the last bastion of mean-spirited humor for which so many are willing to die on a hill?
It’s probably because we are all, from a very young age, conditioned to perceive smallness as inferior.
We are raised, in this society, to aspire to tallness; to be the biggest and most powerful. We are taught to see those who are shorter as less desirable, as weaker and therefore easy prey, and deserving of derision.
Confronting such deeply ingrained and incredibly cruel beliefs is uncomfortable for many — much like confronting internalized fatphobia, racism, and misogyny — and leads to defensiveness and cognitive dissonance. How then, do we combat the extent to which this behavior is normalized?
We can start by listening.
Seen Yet Unseen
As Peter Dinklage, a dwarf himself, was trying to point out: the lack of decent representation for small people in popular media and society at large is one root of the problem. It perpetuates the sense that they are an “other.” Think about it: a little person with a passion for performance is much less likely to find a role as a human being with a story arc that doesn’t revolve around their size than they are to be cast as someone who isn’t even a human at all.
The Ewoks in Star Wars, the Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz, and yes, the Oompa Loompas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: in the classic productions of these films, all of these characters were portrayed by people with some form of dwarfism. The irony of Mulaney’s allusion to little orange men is that an Oompa Loompa was probably the only role in that movie those actors were able to get, because of their height.
Even on the rare occasion that a little person has the opportunity to appear as a human being in a film, it is almost always for the sake of using them as the butt of some cruel joke. Their bodies are treated with repulsion, shock, and amusement in almost every story in which they appear.
In the popular consciousness, they are almost never allowed to just be people, living their lives like anyone else. Why not change that?
What’s stopping us from doing better by them? Wouldn’t it be so much more humane of us to make certain their humanity is seen, too?
The Toll
At its root, making fun of someone’s height is body shaming. It is no less damaging than mocking their weight, or any other aspect of their appearance. Yet even as broader society moves toward taking fat shaming and colorism to task, height-related mockery continues to be defended as ultimately harmless and, worse, normal. “Natural,” even.
However, the detrimental effects of this behavior on people’s self esteem is self-evident.
Men stuffing their shoes until they destroy their feet, just to gain a few extra inches. Smaller trans men being further feminized against their will because smallness is associated with femininity (god forbid a woman take up too much space or cast a shadow over a man, right?) Painful and expensive surgeries to stretch the legs by shattering and regrowing the bones, potentially permanently damaging the ability to walk, are peddled to play on insecurities instilled in people by insidious and persistent messaging.
We’ve all seen a duo having an argument over who is bigger, haven’t we? Heatedly debating over mere centimeters, each desperate to be taller than the other by even a hair because, in our society, “taller” is less than subtly hinted to mean “better.”
It’s ridiculous.
Height Differences and the Human Race
Humanity stands to benefit from becoming more accepting of the wide spectrum of physical differences we are capable of. Skin color, hair texture, weight, height, and even more. To accomplish that broadening of our popular consciousness, we need to bring awareness of small people and their struggles to the forefront of progressivism alongside other groups who have long been told their physical features are inherently inferior.
At the end of the day, short jokes are body shaming. We need to retire them and all other forms of socially acceptable microaggressions like them once and for all.
With everything you’ve read here in mind, I will now ask you to scroll to the top of this very long article and look again at the photograph.
Who do you see standing there? What do you think his story might be?
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