The world's tallest woman, all 7' 8" of her, has passed away, likely leaving behind an entry in The Guinness Book of Records. She was 39, and living in Beijing, a victim of gigantism and an overly active pituitary gland. Because of her height, she saw herself as a freak.
"I am very unhappy. Why am I so tall?" she said from an interview conducted while she lay in her bed, despondent. "If I were not this tall, others would not look at me like this."
I'm not sure an American would have expressed herself in the same way had she had the same condition. The comments seem unguarded. You can almost feel her anguish.
In America, she likely would have been allowed to monetarize her grotesqueness, appearing in some kind of "Take the Freak Out to the Mall for a Make-Over" reality shows that are so popular on cable TV nowadays. Perhaps she would have entered kick-boxing competitions and participated in Coney Island hot dog eating contests. Had she lived in the 19th century, she would have been paired with a midget and cavalcaded throughout the nation, appearing in carnival sideshows.
But in America, except for the poets we posthumously honor, real anguish (as opposed to that reality show he dumped me! aguish that can be Kleenexed off the face just in time for the next commercial break) does not sell tickets. So she would have been coached to hide her anguish, or, at very least, funnel it into the more culturally accepted troughs of drug, alcohol, and/or sex addiction, making her subject to the kind of tabloid frenzy that has served, say, Lindsay Lohan so well.
"I am very unhappy. Why am I so tall?" she said from an interview conducted while she lay in her bed, despondent. "If I were not this tall, others would not look at me like this."
I'm not sure an American would have expressed herself in the same way had she had the same condition. The comments seem unguarded. You can almost feel her anguish.
In America, she likely would have been allowed to monetarize her grotesqueness, appearing in some kind of "Take the Freak Out to the Mall for a Make-Over" reality shows that are so popular on cable TV nowadays. Perhaps she would have entered kick-boxing competitions and participated in Coney Island hot dog eating contests. Had she lived in the 19th century, she would have been paired with a midget and cavalcaded throughout the nation, appearing in carnival sideshows.
But in America, except for the poets we posthumously honor, real anguish (as opposed to that reality show he dumped me! aguish that can be Kleenexed off the face just in time for the next commercial break) does not sell tickets. So she would have been coached to hide her anguish, or, at very least, funnel it into the more culturally accepted troughs of drug, alcohol, and/or sex addiction, making her subject to the kind of tabloid frenzy that has served, say, Lindsay Lohan so well.
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