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Human beings who suffer from obvious congenital deformities represent a form of monstrosity that is uncomfortable for us to confront on many levels (social, political, psychological, and even critical). This visceral discomfort is indicative of the taboos associated with mutations. The human monster or 'freak,' a result of genetic deviance, has existed for as long as the species itself has (ancient references to monstrosity occur in The Bible in 4 Ezra.5:
"There shall be a confusion also in many places, and the fire shall be oft sent out again, and the wild beasts shall change their places, and menstruous women shall bring forth monsters."
Almost unnoticed, eugenics has progressed in a little more than a century from an aspiration to a reality: few children with genetic abnormalities are allowed to come to term in advanced countries.
One of the most famous collections of prodigies was that of Pierre Boaistuau (d. 1566), Histoires prodigieuses, extraictes de plusieurs fameux autheurs, grecs & latins, sacrez & prophanes mises en nostre langue (Paris, 1567). Very widely documented in many contemporary publications, the monster of Ravenna was one of the earliest monstrous births to attain international … Read more
Ancient times Monstrosities have attracted notice from the earliest time, and many of the ancient philosophers made references to them. Monsters possessed of two or more heads or double bodies are found in the legends and fairy tales of every nation. Hippocrates, his precursors, Enlpedocles and Democritus, and Pliny, Aristotle, and Galen, have all described … Read more
These principles of teratology were put forth by Jim Wilson in 1959 and in his monograph Environment and Birth Defects. These principles guide the study and understanding of teratogenic agents and their effects on developing organisms: Susceptibility to teratogenesis depends on the genotype of the conceptus and the manner in which this interacts with adverse … Read more
It is estimated that 10% of all birth defects are caused by prenatal exposure to a teratogenic agent. These exposures include, but are not limited to, medication or drug exposures, maternal infections and diseases, and environmental and occupational exposures. A wide range of different chemicals and environmental factors are suspected or are known to be … Read more
“In the past, individuals born with bodily differences, such as Siamese twins, dwarfs and midgets, or the human torso, would premise their sideshow exhibits on displays of their normality, which demonstrated their ability to accomplish everyday tasks with ease, to think intelligently, and to engage in respectable relationships with others […] For example, the human … Read more
Greedy media have taken advantage of the old relationship between strangeness and fear. Most freaks have been presented as characters either shrouded in mystery, or dangerous due to lack of control. In litterature, two examples of the fear archetype are Lenny Small from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and Quasimodo from Victor Hugo’s The … Read more
The transgression of sexual taboos Some argue that the sideshow freaks were little more than prostitutes or predecessors to the exotic dancer, calling them the pornography of the disabled. It is true that sideshow freaks and prostitutes use their bodies and the fascination of others with said bodies for monetary gain. The freaks would often … Read more
The process of stigmatization A stigma develops when pejorative and condemning assessments of a group or trait affect ideas about every representative individual of this group or trait. In Stigma, Erving Goffman mentions three stigma types: tribal (heritage, class, religion), moral (addiction, criminal history, mental disability), and “the physical abominations” (chronic illness, physical disability, cosmetic … Read more