Last night, I watched the story of Yao Defen on TLC (this documentary had already aired a while ago on Discovery UK, if I am not mistaken). Yao Defen is apparently the tallest woman in the world, measuring more than seven feet, eight inches (7′8″), and her story is appalling for several reasons.
TLC seems to have a fondness for airing these kinds of stories. Amid advice about what not to wear, how to flip houses and redo your neighbours’ living room in 48 hours, they will happily tell you about the girl with two heads, the family with twenty-five kids or the smallest people on the planet. I usually stay away from these shows; they thoroughly annoy me because regardless of the random educational properties they could have, it seems to me that they are mostly just an excuse for people to gawk in the comfort of their own homes.
But late last night, I was bored and did not feel like going to bed so I channel-surfed in the hopes of finding a good movie to fall asleep on. Unfortunately, despite the fact that we have like 300 channels or something, the airwaves were barren. I landed on TLC and this show about the world’s tallest woman and despite myself, started watching the story of the totally unnecessary suffering this woman has endured for the last thirty odd years.