Dwarf-tossing, also called midget-tossing, is a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
/
bar attraction or activity in which people with
dwarfism, wearing special padded clothing or
Velcro
Velcro, officially known as Velcro IP Holdings LLC and trading as Velcro Companies, is a British privately held company, founded by Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral in the 1950s. It is the original manufacturer of hook-and-loop fast ...
costumes, are thrown onto mattresses or at Velcro-coated walls. Participants compete to throw the person with dwarfism the farthest. Dwarf-tossing was started in Australia as a form of
pub entertainment in the early 1980s. A related, formerly practiced activity was dwarf-bowling, in which a person with dwarfism was placed on a skateboard and used as a bowling ball.
Since its inception in the 1980s, the activity, due to its problematic name and nature, has been highly controversial and remains so in the early 21st century.
Legality
Australia
Australia is commonly thought of as the place where dwarf-tossing originated as a form of
pub entertainment in the early 1980s.
Laws may prohibit dwarf-tossing implicitly, but there are not explicit laws preventing a consenting dwarf from being "tossed".
Canada
In
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, the Dwarf Tossing Ban Act was introduced in 2003 by
Windsor West
Windsor West (french: Windsor-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1968. Geography
The district consists of the part of the city of Windsor lying west an ...
MPP
MPP or M.P.P. may refer to:
* Marginal physical product
* Master of Public Policy, an academic degree
* Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), Canada
* Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape), South Africa
* ''Merriweather Post Pavilio ...
Sandra Pupatello
Sandra Pupatello (née Pizzolitto; born October 6, 1962) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1995 to 2011 as a member of the Ontario Liberal Party, serving as a Minister in the government of ...
in the
Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
This
private member's public bill did not proceed beyond its introduction to second or third readings, nor did it receive royal assent, and therefore died at the close of the 37th
Legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
.
The bill proposed a fine of not more than $5,000 and/or imprisonment of not more than six months. The bill was hastily advanced in response to a dwarf-tossing contest
that was held at Leopard's Lounge in
Windsor
Windsor may refer to:
Places Australia
* Windsor, New South Wales
** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area
* Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland
**Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...
, Ontario with a dwarf nicknamed "Tripod".
France
The
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of the small French town of
Morsang-sur-Orge
Morsang-sur-Orge (, literally ''Morsang on Orge'') is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris.
Population
Inhabitants of Morsang-sur-Orge are known as ''Mor ...
prohibited dwarf-tossing. The case went through the appeal chain of administrative courts to the ''
Conseil d'État'', which found that an administrative authority could legally prohibit dwarf-tossing on grounds that the activity did not respect human
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
and was thus contrary to public order. It raised legal questions as to what was admissible as a motive for an administrative authority to ban an activity for motives of public order, especially as the ''conseil'' did not want to include "public morality" in public order. The ruling was taken by the full assembly and not a smaller panel—proof of the difficulty of the question. The ''conseil'' ruled similarly in another case between an entertainment company and the city of
Aix-en-Provence.
The
United Nations Human Rights Committee
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is a treaty body composed of 18 experts, established by a 1966 human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The Committee meets for three four-week sessions per ...
decided on 26 July 2002 that the ban was not discriminatory with respect to dwarfs. It ruled that the ban could be considered as "necessary to protect public order, which brings into play considerations of human dignity".
Nevertheless, dwarf-tossing is not prohibited outright in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. The ''Conseil d'État'' decided that a public authority could use gross infringement on human dignity as a motive of public order to cancel a spectacle, and that dwarf-tossing constituted such a gross infringement. However, it is up to individual authorities to make specific decisions regarding prohibition.
United States
Robert and Angela Van Etten,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
members of the
Little People of America
Little People of America (LPA) is a non-profit organization which provides support, resources, and information to individuals with dwarfism and their families.
Founding
LPA was founded in 1957 by actor Billy Barty when he informally called upon p ...
, convinced the
Florida Legislature in 1989 to make dwarf-tossing illegal. A measure banning dwarf-tossing was passed by a wide margin. The
New York State Legislature
The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...
later followed suit.
In 2001, Dave Flood, who appeared on the MJ Morning Show as "Dave the Dwarf", filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the 1989 law allowing the state to fine or revoke the
liquor license
A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages.
Canada
In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...
of a bar that allows dwarf-tossing. The pastime was popular in some Florida bars in the late 1980s.
In October 2011,
Ritch Workman
Ritch Workman (born May 3, 1973) is a former Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives, who represented the 52nd District, which includes southern Brevard County, stretching from Melbourne to Palm Shores, from 2012 to 2016, and ...
, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
Florida House of Representatives, introduced legislation that would overturn the ban on dwarf-tossing, claiming such a ban to be an "unnecessary burden on the freedom and liberties of people" and "an example of Big Brother government". Although not a personal advocate of the activity, Workman stated "if a little person wants to make a fool out of themselves for money, they should have the same right to do so as any average sized person".
In popular culture
During the Battle of the Hornburg in
Peter Jackson's 2002 film ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'', one of the heroes, a dwarf named
Gimli, reluctantly insists that another hero, a man named
Aragorn
Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Ar ...
, “toss” him across a dangerous gap that he cannot jump. (In the 2001 film ''
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'', Gimli refused similar assistance, declaring, “No one tosses a dwarf!” and had almost fallen to his death.) Gimli asks Aragorn not to tell “the elf”, their comrade
Legolas
Legolas (pronounced ) is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Sindar Elf of the Woodland Realm and one of the nine members of the Fellowship who set out to destroy the One Ring. He and the Dwarf Gimli ...
, and Aragorn promises. There is never any suggestion that recreational dwarf-tossing is part of the world envisioned by Jackson, much less
J.R.R. Tolkien, who published the books in 1954–1955, so it seems likely that these are allusions Jackson inserted with a wink to the audience. Aragorn does launch Gimli towards a door that is under attack, follows him, and the two hold it against a horde of evil orcs. It is worth noting that in Tolkien's stories Gimli is not a little Man, but a Dwarf, a member of “Durin's folk”, a type of being completely different from Elves, Men, Hobbits, Wizards, etc. It was
John Rhys Davies' double, Brett Beattie, who was actually thrown in the scene, as a dramatic picture of the rehearsal shows.
In the 2013 movie
''The Wolf of Wall Street'', a room full of boisterous stockbrokers can be seen taking turns hurling two dwarfs wearing helmets at a large dartboard. Jordan Belfort, the main character played by
Leonardo DiCaprio, offers a $25,000 reward to the first “cock-sucker to nail a bullseye”. Before the movie was released, protests were made to distributor
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...
to remove the scene. The non-profit organization Little People of America released a statement stating: "Little People of America (LPA) is angry, disappointed and concerned that ''The Wolf of Wall Street'', which opened in theaters on December 25, includes dwarf tossing scenes.
..No matter the intent of ''The Wolf of Wall Street'', any portrayal of dwarf tossing carries
the risk of condoning the objectification of and abuse against people with dwarfism. As ''The Wolf of Wall Street'' continues to play in theaters, Little People of America hopes that movie audiences, Martin Scorsese, and Leonardo Dicaprio join us in condemning dwarf tossing and the threatening behavior it promotes." In the book
''The Wolf of Wall Street'' the movie is based on, the tossing of little people is only discussed as a possibility and Belfort said (through a representative) that he merely heard from several people that they were thrown sometime after he left the firm.
See also
*
Midget professional wrestler
Midget wrestling is professional wrestling involving people of exceptionally short stature. Its heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s, when wrestlers such as Little Beaver, Lord Littlebrook, toured North America, and Sky Low Low was the first holder ...
References
Further reading
* Analysis of dwarf tossing prohibition in Morsang-sur-Orge, Paris, France.
External links
*
*Archived a
Ghostarchiveand th
Wayback Machine {{cbignore Video on YouTube of midget-tossing as part of the Marto Napoli show at the Balteck, Thetford Mines, Quebec, Canada.
Individual sports
Drinking culture
Sports entertainment
Throwing sports
Human rights
Dwarf sports