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Further into Imperfecta Living Curiosities: Agency and Exploitation of the Teratological Body Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves. Seeing is Believing: Visualizing the Teratological Body When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death. What Does It Mean to be "Other?" What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.

What Does It Mean to be "Normal"?

Much of medicine depends on an understanding of what is “normal” and what is “abnormal,” or pathological. This binary is important to classifying many aspects of health: sick vs. healthy, disabled vs. able-bodied, or having sugar or cholesterol levels that are too high or too low. What does it mean to be “normal?”

This is a complex question with no simple answer. Modern medical professionals define “normal” based on studies of populations, large groups of people who are tested and scrutinized in order to determine a standard of health. Our personal physicians use the results of these studies in addition to the qualitative information provided by their patients in order to determine what might be normal and what might be pathological.

Yet each of us experiences our own health individually. We experience our health in comparison to its state over time. Perhaps you have felt sick, but your doctor tells you that you are not; perhaps you have been told you are sick even though you feel fine. Perhaps you see a body different from your own, someone who is an amputee or a dwarf, and you perceive that person to be abnormal. That person, however, experiences their body as normal and unremarkable.

The binary of “normal” vs. “abnormal” will continue to be challenged by other, fluctuating, binaries of quantitative vs. qualitative, populations vs. individual, ideal vs. experience.

This page has paths:

What does it mean to be a “monster?” What does it mean to be “normal?” These are not objective categories. They have changed meaning throughout history as people have become exposed to a wider diversity of nature, people, and ideas. From this path, you can explore some types of “Otherness” that have, throughout history, challenged apparently objective categories and shaped the direction of science.
Contents of this path:

Contents of this path:

Curiosity draws us to the monstrous. But seeing is believing: whether in a book, a museum, or in a show, for centuries people have flocked to see “monsters” for themselves. In the 19th century, many people born with non-normative bodies performed as “freaks” in circus sideshows. Circuses became a sensation and they served as a forerunner to the modern entertainment industry. This exhibit explores the lives of the performers and showmen whose livelihoods depended on the public’s curiosity about seeing wondrous bodies for themselves.
When it comes to the wondrous, seeing is believing. From this page, you can explore some of the ways that “monsters” have been depicted over the centuries. Woodcuts in early modern texts, preservation in medical museums, and photography all have been used to display people. These technologies allowed one person’s image to travel across the world and allowed their subjects to “survive” beyond death.

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