Sunday, October 08, 2006

Trivial Matters?

I looked up the word trivial in the dictionary the other day. Trivial is defined as small and of little importance; insignificant, not large enough to consider or notice. Isn’t it interesting considering the fact that trivial is a word that is so frequently used in response to any serious discussion about heightism? I find the word interesting because it is the same word that I as a short man would use to describe a general attitude directed at short statured adults. Imagine my frustration when not only am I trivialized, but so too are complaints of my being trivialized....trivialized. If heightism is so unimportant and not large enough to consider or notice, why are we injecting our children with human growth hormones to the tune of millions of dollars? Why are we breaking our bones in hopes of gaining 2 inches in increased height with limb-lengthening surgeries? Why are short statured adult men repeatedly reporting being rejected by women solely because of their height? Why are there still height requirements for employment and instances of height discrimination in the workplace still being reported throughout the world? Are we seriously saying that heightism is not important enough to explore? That it is something that we should just ignore? It is time we stopped laughing long enough to start reading the literature that is out there about appearance-based discrimination. It is time that we start encouraging more research into the issue. To those of you who believe firmly that heightism is trivial, what do you have to lose by exploring these matters fully?
 

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