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Midget (from midge, a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like dwarf (for a person with dwarfism, a medical condition with a number of causes, most often achondroplasia), midget long described anyone, or indeed any animal, exhibiting proportionate dwarfism. The word has a history of association with the Performance art, as dwarfism were often employed by acts in the circus, professional wrestling and vaudeville.
The term may also refer to anything of much smaller than normal size, as a synonym for "miniature" or "mini", such as midget cell, midget crabapple, midget flowerpecker, midget submarine, MG Midget, Daihatsu Midget, and the Midget Mustang airplane; or to anything that regularly uses anything that is smaller than normal (other than a person), such as midget car racing and quarter midget racing.
"Midget" may also refer to a smaller version of play or participation, such as midget golf; or to anything designed for very young (i.e., small) participants—in many cases children—such as Disneyland's Midget Autopia, midget hockey, and midget football. Some sports organizations, like Hockey Canada, have committed to removing the word, recognizing that it might be considered offensive.
Such performances continued to be widespread through the middle part of the twentieth century, with Hermines Midgets brought from their performances in Paris to appear at the 1939 New York World's Fair, the same year that MGM released The Wizard of Oz, which featured 124 little people in its cast, most of whom were from the Singer's Midgets troupe. GoogleBooks Image for The Making of the Wizard of Oz Page 193
Towards the end of the 20th century, the word became considered by some as a pejorative term when referring to people with dwarfism. Some, such as actor Hervé Villechaize, continued to self-identify as "midgets". originally published in Comics Buyer's Guide
There have been movements to remove the use of the word "midget" from age classification categories in youth sports, with Hockey Canada announcing that it would refer to the division as "U18" in 2020 as part of a wider renaming scheme.
In the United Kingdom, Liverpool Hope University academic Dr. Erin Pritchard who complained the word midget, considering its etymology and its use as a slur (often referred by people with dwarfism as "the M-word"), was offensive to people with dwarfism and campaigned to have it removed from the name of the confection midget gems. Marks & Spencer became the first retailer to rename their product, adopting the name Mini Gems. Other brands started to follow suit over the following months and years. Dr. Pritchard then petitioned to have a pub in Abingdon-on-Thames called The Midget, named after a vehicle produced by MG Cars which was formerly based locally, renamed. The pub's owners, Greene King followed suit in 2024 renaming it The Roaring Raindrop after another MG Cars model. However, this decision was controversial with a counter-petition to keep the old name.
In 2015, the McLaughlin, South Dakota School District, which stands on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, changed the name of their school's mascot after protests came from Little People of America. The school's basketball coach, an alumnus and proponent of the change, drew comparisons to the Native American mascot controversy.
In 2019, Hurley High School in Wisconsin changed its Mascot from midgets to the Northstars. In 2025, a Iowa State Senator Molly Donahue introduced a bill to prohibit schools receiving state aid , including Estherville Lincoln, from using "discriminary mascots" including midgets. Also in 2025, an advocacy filed a federal discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education against the St. Clair County school district over the mascot at Freeburg High School. State Rep. Maurice West submitted a bill to the Illinois House of Representatives that would ban the mascot by 2028. The House passed the bill on April 8, 2025. A similar bill was introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives.
In March 2025, after a long history of attempts, Dickinson High School (Dickinson, North Dakota) announced that it would be retiring the mascot at the end of the year. School officials cited concerns about students feeling uncomfortable with the name and legal risks of discrimination against disabled people.
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