Why do you use offensive terms like freak, midget and albino?

FREAKS? In the history of show business human anomalies were called– and called themselves– “Freaks.” Why? Because “freaks” make money. Ultimately, “the business we call show” is about making a living. You gave the public what they wanted, and they gave you money. The public wanted (and still wants) to see Freaks. Calling yourself a freak in the business absolutely assured you that you would absolutely make a living. Very often a very good living. Some individuals who appeared in the shows did find the term offensive, and there were occasional efforts to find an alternative word or words. In January 1899 Barnum and Bailey’s Greatest Show on Earth was starting their second season in London when performers in the sideshow started a public protest against use of the word freak to describe them. The “rebellion of the freaks” is widely thought today to have been a publicity stunt to generate greater interest and attendance. Most of the performers were in on the “rebellion” and were only too happy to mount a fake protest to increase ticket sales. Robert Ripley used the term “human curiosities,” or even the portmanteau word “curioddities” to describe individuals with anomalous bodies. For historical purposes we use the word freak, though we are aware it has the possibility to offend. Consider the historicity of the term freak as it applies to human beings. The term monster was used to describe those born different, as both a medical term and in popular vernacular before freak was used. The earliest known use of the word freak was in 1567, in a translation by George Turberville, poet and translator, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The word’s original connotation was neutral, but it became negative only in the 20th century. Today, it’s considered a pejorative term, but it can also be used playfully to describe an enthusiast or obsessive person. MIDGET? Similarly, people of smaller than average stature called themselves midgets in the business. The term was not considered offensive until the organization Little People of America (LPA) deemed it offensive some time in the late-1990s. Why was the term midget used at all, and not the then less offensive term little person or dwarf? Because the show-going public had been trained and accustomed to use this vernacular, and to call oneself something different was to risk not making the money. Today many “little people” performers in the sideshow, new vaudeville, burlesque and contemporary freakshow business proudly call themselves midgets. They have reclaimed the dignity of the word in the same way “people of homosexual persuasion” have reclaimed the word “queer.” We have enormous respect for the many thousands of little performers who populated the business from the earliest days, and by no means wish to offend anyone who does not wish to be called by the “m word,” as the LPA now calls it. So we apologize in advance for offending any little person. ALBINO? Recently, “people with albinism” have decried the use of the world Albino to describe that condition. Again, in the historical world of yesterday about which we write, an Albino could make a good living in the business just by calling himself or herself an Albino. Words are thoughts put into action. The action these showman wanted was the action of a man putting his hand in his pocket to pull out money to buy a ticket to the show. That’s how he made his living. Again, the terminology used herein is such that it has the patina of the years upon it, and we are sensitive enough to not call anyone with albinism a word they decry.