"Dwarf throwing": not just rugby's shame

The England rugby team’s off-the-pitch activities appear to have done little to improve their performance on the field. But as they slink home, Mike Shamash says it’s more than a nation’s sporting pride which is damaged

Well here we go again. Another story about dwarf throwing hits the nation’s news media. This time the culprits are the English rugby team who get totally pissed at a bar during the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, where they have a “Mad Midget Weekender” featuring dwarf throwing. The main focus is on the demeanour of the team, not what the hell is anyone doing watching and taking part in this and why people are crass enough to promote it.

Dwarf throwing and the fact that it takes place gives an indication of the levels of bigotry that small people have to contend with on a daily basis. We are regularly touched for luck, told that we are every drunk’s best mate and asked to be the subjects of photos from complete strangers.

Small people are the last group within the disabled person’s diaspora to remain imprisoned in the Freak Circus; we are over-represented in the media invariably in a purely negative manner. The recent programme on Channel 4, Seven Dwarves was supposed to give an insight, I presume, into the world of the small performer. What it actually did was create a bogus premise; seven pantomime dwarves living together shown in seven episodes, giving a voyeuristic gawp into the lives of small people. It was dopey, I was grumpy. We learnt that nothing other than size is no prerequisite for being interesting.

Similarly, the latest gem created by the odious Ricky Gervais, is a programme, Life’s Too Short, about the life of a small person actor with cameo appearances by a load of celebs. The excerpts and the internet plugs by Gervais seem to suggest a wanting to have your cake and eat it strategy. Namely, you think we’re taking the piss out of small people but actually we’re mocking those who take the piss which constitutes irony. Actually, Ricky, it’s simply unfunny, voyeuristic crap.

There is always the riposte that no one forces small people into these roles. However, this is not acting by small people. This is about size not skill. These are people paid to demean themselves and in the process reinforce prejudicial attitudes and stereotypes that ensure that, as part of a tragic economic cycle, the only means of financial security people of restricted growth have is public stripping away of dignity.

I once participated in a radio interview with a performer who had been in various pantomimes and films. He was grateful for the economic benefits and travel that as an unqualified working class lad of restricted growth, he would never have achieved. But that is the rub; people’s expectations for small people are governed by stereotype not understanding. The ultimate indignity is when people think that the only thing you are fit for is throwing. It is scary that what someone terms innocent fun could be construed as a hate crime.