[etccarmageddon]

Originally Posted by towny

'Freak' in the Victorian sense is probably best translated today as 'different'. I'm not sure how far, even back in the 19th century, the freak show was intended to make value judgements on its 'exhibits'. I'm certain that C4 isn't saying these people are in any way worthless (I'm not saying that either).

But there is no doubt in my mind that C4 expects, at least in part, that entertainment value of these particular 12 people being in the house is that they are sufficiently different from the majority of everyday British people that people will want to pay a ha'penny to come and stare at them.

I don't think we have a houseful of 'dwarfs' either. 'Gay' certainly isn't adequate as a single categorisation in this case. They have all got their own particular 'flavour' of sexuality, from the transsexual to the militant lesbian, to two women who aren't avowedly bisexual but have enjoyed liaisons with other women, to the outrageous mincer (who strangely calmed down a lot within about 12 hours of being inside) to the homosexual male who uses the word 'gay' to refer to outrageous mincers who give all homosexuals 'a bad name'.

so we have a houseful of 'exhibits' then?