Freak Shows to Beauty Contests

From the 1840's to the 1940's, crowds of people used to gather at the circus tents or dime museums to look at people with anomalies, disabilities, and other differences. People stared in awe of exaggerated characters such as giants or someone without arms. Over time though, the performers at these shows viewed differently. According to Rosemarie Garland Thomson in "The Beauty and the Freak", those that were once viewed as marvels of nature, were now seen as medically abnormal and needed curing. Around the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century, beauty contests were quickly gaining favor. Ironically P.T. Barnum was the first to organize these beauty contests-the same man that helped make freak shows wildly popular in the 1800's and early 1900's. The freaks gradually faded from the stages and moved to asylums where they could be studied for scientific purposes. Is it right to exploit humans with disabilities for profit? Are Beauty contest and freak shows an acceptable form of entertainment and amusement?