Since at latest the medieval period, people with deformities have often been treated as objects of interest and entertainment, and crowds have flocked to see them exhibited.
A famous early modern example was the exhibition at the court of King Charles I of Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo, two conjoined brothers born in Genoa, Italy. While Lazarus appeared to be otherwise ordinary, the underdeveloped body of his brother dangled from his chest.
Honestly I kinda get it. Humans have a strong inherent desire to look at and visually study things which are unusual, particularly deformities. I’ve read speculation that this is some sort of assessment of contagion or something along those lines but regardless of why, it’s a normal compulsion.
But it’s rude af to stare in public, and photos of medical curiosity you could stare at without offending someone weren’t necessarily available so, yeah. I doubt it was particularly humane or desirable, but at a certain point a job is a job, and that’s probably not the worst one they could be doing.
I went down a deep freak show rabbit hole a few months ago. That’s basically what it came down to for a lot of the people in freak shows back then. It was either be in the freak show and have a job or be possibly locked up or not allowed in public. Theres a movie from 1932 called “freaks” it features a bunch of real performers and actually has a pretty good story. I recommend checking it out
guess what! they have not stopped. if you have any sort of unusual anatomy, guess what happens when you go to the doctor’s office. THE WHOLE DAMN OFFICE SHOWS UP FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT TO SEE IF YOU’LL GET IT OUT.
Oh lord we’ve had a rough time of it through history… and it’s not great now either. Biggest issue I have with mine isn’t the disability it’s people’s reactions to it
