In 1945, two sculptures depicting the average man and woman in the United States were exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History.
They were called Norma and Norman and based on the measurements of tens of thousands of young men and women.
That same year, a contest was held to find a living embodiment of Norma with the premise in mind that “normal” is often used as a synonym for “typical”, “expected” or even “correct”.
According to this logic, most people would have to fit the description “normal.”
And yet, not a single one of the nearly 4.000 women who participated in the contest matched Norma, the supposedly “normal” woman.
Time and time again, so-called normal descriptions of our bodies, minds and perceptions will fit almost no one.
In statistics, a normal distribution describes a set of values that fall along a bell curve. The average or mean of all values lie exactly in the middle, and most other values lie within the hump of the bell.
These curves can be high, with most values falling within a narrow range, or long and flat, with only a slight tendency toward the average.
At best, such definitions of normal do not capture the variation.
But often our calculations of normal are even more flawed.
Take the Body-Mass-Indes for example. The BMI does not take into account body fat percentage, body fat distribution, level of physical activity or blood pressure.
Nonetheless, those who are outside the so-called normal range are often advised that weight loss or gain will improve their health when the opposite could be the case actually.
Historically, such concepts of normality have been very influential.
The eugenics movement of the early 20th century weaponized the concept of normal, using it to justify exclusion, violence, and even extermination
of those who were not considered normal.
Even today, people are often segregated on the basis of disabilities, mental health issues, sexual orientation, gender identities, and other characteristics that are considered “not normal”.
However, the reality is that differences in our bodies, minds, perceptions and ideas about the world around us — in short, diversity, is what is truly normal.
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