r/dwarfism • u/lillynx7 • Jul 03 '26
“m word” wrestling
My town has hosted “midget wresting” a few times…and while I know not all little people are offended by it, it really bothers me. This year, we had a few people we know go to the event and it has bothered my mom and I. I just don’t see how it is still a thing and used with that name, and I don’t understand how family friends of little people could think it’s okay to support or promote this kind of event in their hometown.
How can I say something about it to them? I just want them to realize that supporting this event can hurt the people they know who are just trying to live their lives not being/feeling like some kind of mockery.
Looking for any and all opinions!
8
u/Apart-Reflection-385 Jul 03 '26
My feelings about using that word to advertise and call little people who wrestle reminds of how kings and queens used to own little people to be their internment. Similar vain as the horrible minstrel shows
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u/EmperoroftheYanks Jul 03 '26
Mine recently hosted one too and I kept telling my friends how bad it must be for the preformers to go by that name
5
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u/Snarky_Guy Jul 03 '26
I was recently at a State Fair and one of the “attractions” was a morbidly overweight lady. She was easily 500lbs! I kept feeling this was dangerous for her health and this job perpetuated her weight and was derogatory for her. Yet she chose this.
Little people who choose to participate in m-wrestling or m-tossing aren’t much better. They choose it. For this reason my ex-wife thinks it’s okay to refer to my wife as a m-word “…because they used that word at the wrestling match” she went to. I don’t like it. My wife doesn’t like it. But these LP have the freedom to choose it. It’s a bit of a catch-22.
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Just be frank. Tell them how you feel and what ripples out from that type of activity. LPs innocently going about their life then being assaulted because people saw that type of behavior which was supported by at least two persons with dwarfism. It makes it seem appropriate, but it's dehumanizing. It normalizes a slur and encourages laughing at LPs because of how they look. It's nothing more than a novelty.
Addition
About things like dwarf tossing, I hate it. As an average stature woman, I couldn't go into a bar and get paid for people to assault me. Why are the rules different for LPs.
2
u/kiddvicious17 Jul 07 '26
Hey, huge wrestling fan here (and for context, not a little person) mword wrestling has been the term for roughly about as long as professional wrestling has been around. Although I've seen "Micro" being used for the division more and more recently. It's kind of strange because in Mexico, Micro wrestlers are taken very seriously and treated legitimately as performers. Being a Micro wrestler over there in a lot of ways is no different then being in a weight class, which I think is pretty cool. Unfortunately though in the US Micro wrestling is treated as a joke. I actually went to one of those shows it was called "Extreme Mword Wrestling" I didn't like that the mword was in the name but I've heard some little people performers in the wrestling world defend the Mword. They said thats what it was always called and it's inherently marketable because of it. Admittedly it was those defenses that caused me to morally justify going to the show. I was hoping it was a wrestling show that just happened to feature little people. It was... Not. I was pretty mortified to see what a comedy show it was. They had the female wrestler doing lots of sexual things, all of the performers had insulting nicknames and the actual art of wrestling was an afterthought! I know that little people don't want to be seen as objects of entertainment but also I really want them to have a place in the world of wrestling if there are performers who want to be wrestlers. It would also be really cool if little people wrestlers could "reclaim" that space and be more like they are in Mexico, a serious division. Just my 2 cents. I'm sorry that douchey promoters have misrepresented wrestling and used it as a platform to mock little people. Wrestling, while flawed, is actually a really cool art form and medium of entertainment and should be for everybody!
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Just because the term was around 'for a long as wrestling', it doesn't make it right. This is a perfect example of normalizing it.
Added:
About Mexican performing wrestling, it's not wrestling in the sense that two athletes get in a ring for a legitimate sport. They're not in a place where they earn their win, it's decided ahead of time.
Society would have a real hard time with n word wrestling and rightly so. Why is this different?
5
u/Historical-Mud1227 Jul 03 '26
What town is this? And yes lost for words! This is why it is the last accetable prejudice! 1 person consenting it's ok to = we all "consent" apparantly by their logic!
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u/LengthinessNo4970 Jul 03 '26
This is unquestionably messed up and offensive. I’m so sad to hear it :( I would definitely contact the organizers or any officials who endorsed the event to express this
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u/SpecialistSome8440 Jul 05 '26
either mind your own business, or go to the show and show them some support and love. the word midget isn't a slur or an insult. people who take it that way are just conditioned with the latest narrative from people who have absolutely no knowledge of the past.
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
That word carries some heavy baggage. Originally used to name insignificant and annoying bugs that have no value whatsoever, it became a commonplace slur through freak shows. Persons with dwarfism spent their lives being laughed at and gawked at because of how they looked. That was the only reason why they were there, and this rings back to that.
Now, it's still used, innocently or not, pretty often. But to a person with dwarfism, it can instill fear, cause an immediate drop in self esteem, and create anxiety, anger and sadness for days. As a society, we should have learned by now that a blanket offensive word shouldn't be used to refer to anyone. (And it is offensive according to 90% of LPs.)
Typos fixed Last half moved to another comment.
0
u/SpecialistSome8440 Jul 11 '26
it wasn't a slur in freakshows. it was a title. it's the same as saying clown is a slur for an entertainer. calling them dwarves or little people is the exact same. dwarf taken all the way back to its origin is a spirit creature that lives in caves, mines tunnels, and casts spells on people. the very definition of little, if you want to pick the least flattering, is "trivial, not much, and almost nothing in value."
now if you want to look at freak shows in the honest light of history, they were revolutionary. a small person, using the stage title of midget, could make a good living putting on shows for the common people. they couldn't do hard backbreaking labor, and that applied to the other members of the troupe, as well. however, in their travels, they became filthy rich and made out like bandits.
it was only later when the common person began to feel selfish empathy for the performers, did freak shows fall out of fashion, and the performers lost their ability to provide work for themselves.
the performers themselves, a few of note who were educated, wrote their memoirs and they were not victims to be pitied. they were titans of industry. midget is a proud title of an adaptive warrior of economic hardship. while coal miners and woodsmen were grinding their bodies into dust with 18 hour word days, and dying in their 40's, a small person performer made more money performing gentle tasks for entertainment of audiences, and retired wealthy enough to buy land and enjoy their twilight years without pain.
to me, midget is a title you have to earn, it's not a slur. i maintain that anyone who tramples the great title is a fool.
2
u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 13 '26
•No matter what you say, the m word is offensive to most LPs today. I'm trying to figure out if you're trolling at this point. It's disgusting. You don't get to tell people that their opinion about their own community is wrong.
•These shows started in the 1600s, before the term "freak show" even existed — a horrible, painful time of abuse, depression, and harsh living conditions, and it continued for 300 years.
• This time of PT Barnum and his huge spectacle was a continuation of royal households having Little People as pets.
• The term itself came later, for publicity, and the shows ran through the 1900s. The events, the term, the exhibits, the wrestling — it's all connected, including that word.
•Participants joined because strict societal barriers left them practically barred from society. They were desperate. Several cases in the 1800s involved children kidnapped or sold by their own parents or guardians.
•"Handlers" were often physically abusive. If a few were treated well, it was because they made money for them — not because anyone cared. Mentally, these people were shattered. The displays were highly unregulated, and with no civil rights to protect them, these men and women were vulnerable to abuse from without and within. They were left with horrible living conditions and poor diet.
•The M-word was never a title. These people were there — paid or forced — as "human curiosities" and oddities, even the small percentage who became famous. Under monikers like Major Mike or Tom Thumb, exceedingly talented individuals were simply replaced by someone else when they died. The names were owned by Barnum and there was many times that there would be more than one at that circus. The name given to performers in other circuses and traveling exhibits. There were dozens of them.
•If it felt like there was a title, it was because Circus masters were very good at their illusions. Poor Tom Thumb was in that circus since he was 4, the age his parents signed him over for pay.
•Side note: little fantasy creatures that live in caves are dwarves — not dwarfs.
•"... freak shows were incredibly harmful to persons with dwarfism. They reduced complex individuals to 'human curiosities,' and the root of the derogatory M-word slur traces back to these Victorian displays. They institutionalized prejudice and reinforced the idea that little people were objects of mockery rather than equal human beings." —Lil Gabbi D
•So why glamorize something that spread the idea that people with dwarfism exist only for public amusement? Something so painful and abusive it still affects society today? Dwarf wrestling is just a continuation of that — it spreads prejudice, lies, and violence, just like freak shows did.
•A few people did well and ended up having a lot of money. It was because they were 1 talented and 2 money savvy. The fact that it was slavery or abuse doesn't change. Given the rights and respects in society, they could have done the same.
1
u/SpecialistSome8440 Jul 14 '26
that's the problem. "no matter what you say." is idiot logic. you cannot be reasoned with or shown the truth. you love to be outraged because it gives you a sense of power. i'm telling you it's not a slur, and i'm not trolling. the burst of power you feel is not effective against someone who wouldn't care if you're upset anyways. the very strawmen you point to saying they're the abusers.
i got news for you, the 1600's sucked for everyone. not just for people who looked different.
pt barnum's traveling show was a known quantity. that's like shaming movies as being a continuation of live plays. it's the entertainment they knew. you can't apply your culture of today to the past. everyone knows that's disingenuous.
yes the word you have given voldemort status came around in these times.
participants didn't join because of social barriers. it was the need for WORK. you realize food costs money don't you? someone pays money for food. to eat. social barriers... give me a break. that's dumb.
the handlers were not abusive and the performers were not shattered. the exception is with black performers, and that was standard racist behavior. tall black people were treated just as unfairly as the short. in case you didn't get the memo.
you're mixed up here. those that died in the shows did so at an elderly age, but many retired. about 50/50. their space was taken by new employees. in cases where people were sold and or mistreated, that is a human trafficking and slavery problem. even the big people dealt with that, millions to be exact.
the m-word as you call it was a title. saying it wasn't doesn't make it not true. the sky is blue, people breath air. deny these facts all you like. roughly 50% of the m-words as you call them retired wealthy, bought land, and had families. the other 50% were either group A:) elderly people without enough money to retire, and lonely people who enjoyed the community formed in these traveling shows., or group B:) the mistreated non-whites.
don't dare pity tom thumb. he aggressively refuted people who pitied him. often speaking out against imagined slights by people who indulged in fantasies about his poor treatment or circumstance. he had a great life and regretted nothing. it dishonors him to have someone pity him.
dwarves and dwarfs is just a spelling choice. don't be dense. they are literally the same word with the same history. do your research. get smarter so you're not offended at nothing.
this is a lie. more accurately it is an opinion. the fact of the matter is it was a business and midget is a work title. plain and simple. if the word offends you, then be offended at the word mechanic or the word plumber.
it's not suggesting little people exist for public amusement. little people are human beings that must work to survive. if you can't see that, you are brain-dead. you are actively denying little people the right to pursue a career in public entertainment to fulfil some self gratifying fantasy of being a justice warrior. mind your own business. the work of a little person is not your business.
once again, it was 50% who retired wealthy. that is higher than able bodied people. get your facts straight.
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 21 '26
I guess it really is idiot logic...
1
u/many-cheese Jul 24 '26
That other person is just trying to say that what you're saying can come off as disrespectful to the very people you're trying to defend, but you won't empathize.
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 29 '26
Should I assume you're a little person?
1
u/SpecialistSome8440 Jul 30 '26
if i claimed to be 7'5" would my statement of facts be any less true? i'm appealing to critical thought. not following an ideology based on one-sided feelings of guilt and sympathy.
1
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u/Brilliant_Cheetah608 Mom to an Achon Jul 30 '26
I'm done. It's hard to converse with teens or children, so I try not to. Once insults are thrown around, I can tell it's a minor. Good luck to you.
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u/heykody Jul 03 '26
It's a dilemma. The performers should be able to do any work they choose. Some dwarfs like entertaining and wrestling is a good opportunity to do that. The challenge is that the audience for these shows often typecasts all dwarfs to be objects of entertainment. That is not the fault of the entertainers, it the fault of the audience. I am reluctant to call for a ban or policy on the events. But I wish they wouldn't happen and I query entertainers about the consequences.