Jillian IlanaAugust 25, 2022Comment

Words Do Have Consequences

Jillian IlanaAugust 25, 2022Comment

I’m writing this on August 24, 2022.

Earlier today, the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, during a stop on his “Keep Florida Free Tour” said the following in regards to Dr. Fauci, “I’m just sick of seeing him [Fauci]! I know he says he’s gonna retire - someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him across the Potomac,” to which the crowd cheered.

Someone needs to grab that little elf and chuck him…

Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, this language is incredibly offensive and ableist.

I…I don’t know where to start.

Throughout history, the image of dwarfism has been used for entertainment purposes. Dr. Erin Pritchard, a lecturer in disability studies at Liverpool University, wrote that there is a cultural fascination with little people that goes back hundreds and hundreds of years. The dwarf body has been put on display in royal courts, freak shows, circuses, etc going all the way back to ancient times. As Dr. Pritchard explains, “Humour has been derived from dwarfism throughout history, and that historical link remains unbroken to this day, with dwarfs still evident in contemporary humour in a way that other minority groups are not.” In mass media dwarfs are *rarely portrayed as ordinary people - we are munchkins, elves, mythological creatures, etc.

*Yes, there are exceptions. Actors including Meredith Eaton, Peter Dinklage, and Warwick Davis, and Selene Luna have played real, complex characters with dwarfism.

The representation of little people as humanlike rather than human perpetuates the narrative that little people are less than, are objects rather than people. By referring to Dr. Fauci as a “little elf” Governor Ron DeSantis is dehumanizing him, implying that Fauci is not human and therefore can be tossed like an object.

Dwarf-tossing is exactly what it sounds like. Also known as “‘m’-word tossing”, dwarf-tossing is “a pub/bar attraction in which people with dwarfism, wearing special padded clothing or Velcro costumes, are thrown onto mattresses or at Velcro-coated walls”. In simpler terms, dwarf-tossing is where people with dwarfism are thrown in the air, as far as possible, for the entertainment of others.

Dwarf-tossing, while defined as “entertainment”, can have fatal consequences. When accepting his Golden Globe in 2012, Peter Dinklage instructed the audience to “Google Martin Henderson”. Martin Henderson was a dwarf actor who, in 2011 was tossed against his will at a pub in England, leaving him partially paralyzed. It was reported that those who tossed him had recently attended a dwarf-tossing event in New Zealand.

It is interesting to note that dwarf-tossing has been banned in the state of Florida since 1989, though there was an attempt to repeal the law in 2011.

I don’t know what is more appalling. The fact that Governor DeSantis, an elected official, publicly called for someone to “chuck a little elf across the Potomac” or that people applauded him for saying so. This rhetoric reinforces the idea that people of short stature, whether they are a little person or not, are less than human, are objects without thoughts or feelings, and can be thrown around.