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Ugly Laws: Difference between revisions
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==Dehumanization of Sub-5s== | ==Dehumanization of Sub-5s== | ||
These laws did more than exclude people. They dehumanized them. The unattractive were treated as a visual nuisance, not as people with lives and feelings. | These laws did more than exclude people. They dehumanized them. The unattractive were treated as a visual nuisance, not as people with lives and feelings. Identifying themselves as “unsightly.” Many were ridiculed, shunned, and made invisible. | ||
Society didn’t see them as unlucky. It saw them as offensive. This led to chronic isolation, untreated mental illness, and a learned belief that they were less than human. | Society didn’t see them as unlucky. It saw them as offensive. This led to chronic isolation, untreated mental illness, and a learned belief that they were less than human. | ||
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“Employers wanted ‘clean’ and ‘pleasant’ workers. That was the code. That meant beautiful.” | “Employers wanted ‘clean’ and ‘pleasant’ workers. That was the code. That meant beautiful.” | ||
— Early disability advocate testimony, 1940s, cited in Schweik | — Early disability advocate testimony, 1940s, cited in Schweik<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qgf13</ref> | ||
==The Law as Visual Filter== | ==The Law as Visual Filter== | ||
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“These laws were based on a visual ideology... That certain kinds of human bodies simply didn’t belong in view.” | “These laws were based on a visual ideology... That certain kinds of human bodies simply didn’t belong in view.” | ||
— Schweik, The Ugly Laws (UChicago Press) | — Schweik, The Ugly Laws (UChicago Press)<ref>https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qgf13</ref> | ||
They weren’t health policies. They were visual purges. Public space was curated like a showroom. If your face didn’t match the display, you were taken out. | They weren’t health policies. They were visual purges. Public space was curated like a showroom. If your face didn’t match the display, you were taken out. | ||