[There was a video here]

On last night's episode of Lifetime's housewives-with-a-genetic-twist reality show, Little Women L.A., the titular women frolicked around Las Vegas for dual bachelorette festivities. One of these was a scavenger hunt, which found them intermingling with the general public. There were two confrontations resulting from the rudeness of gawking average-sized people (or A.P.'s for short). In one instance, a guy openly took pictures of them, and in another, a woman referred to cast member Brianna as "cute."

Brianna's response? "Excuse me, bitch?" Heh.

Little Women L.A. is fantastically entertaining, though it often seems more staged than most reality shows (Terra in particular seems to have a producer-given m.o. to stir shit). In addition to the possibly manufactured, popcorn drama, though, it does sometimes hit on big issues for little people. It's quite possible that both the camera guy and the "cute" A.P. woman were planted, but the unwanted attention that little people receive when they leave their house is clearly very real (in an earlier episode, the saleswoman at a lingerie store repeatedly told Terra she was "adorable" while she tried to shop for something sexy).

I hadn't spent too spent much time thinking about the challenges little people face (beyond the obvious), or how much hassle they receive just by existing—even by well-meaning people who think it's flattering to infantalize adults. This show is like sugary cereal with a giant message on the back of the box: CONSIDER THE LITTLE PERSON.

This scene from last week's episode, in which Traci discusses getting in vitro in order to ensure she has an average-sized child ("I don't want to bring someone else into the world that has to deal with it"), and the ensuing conversation about self-acceptance, was similarly eye-opening.

[There was a video here]