Relationships5 min(s) read
Having a healthy love life is tough enough as it is, but dating with dwarfism brings an entirely different set of challenges. This is partly why reality TV contestant John Ferguson leapt at the chance to star on a new TLC show called Little Singles.
The show follows a tight-knit group of friends within the little people community who reunite in Palm Springs for a wild vacation to party and explore romantic connections in a space where they feel fully understood.
John, a 28-year-old prank influencer, used the time to reconnect with old friends and explore dating while being surrounded exclusively by other people with Dwarfism, a very rare opportunity for people within the community.
For years, John admitted that romance wasn’t even on his radar. Heartbreakingly, he told VT: “I was never really interested in relationships or any of that, just because, like, at 4 feet, it was challenging.
“I learned the hard way that I wasn't really gonna find any average-sized women who I could hook up with, so I wasn’t really focused on any of that. I’ve lived single forever.”
Interestingly, John confessed that his own internal biases initially hindered his romantic hopes, because as he admitted: “Forever, I only wanted average heights. I was like, I don't want anyone small."
However, a turning point came in his early twenties that forced him to reevaluate his outlook and reconsider sexual partners he had previously dismissed.
John revealed: "When I was about 22 years old, I hooked up with one little person, and then I guess I was like, 'oh, well, you know what? This isn't horrible.' And then I hung out with a few other women, and then I was like, who am I to claim I won't want anything with someone little if I'm angry that averageites won't want me, you know?
“It's a bit hypocritical. So then, one thing led to another, I kind of shifted how my brain works, and… I think I would happily love someone small.”
Through the annual Little People of America convention that John has attended since he was eight years old and taking part in Little Singles, John has realised that dating and socialising within the dwarfism community feels different, as you are finally compared to your peers.
John explained: “When you're with your little friends, it's more like, 'oh, wow, like, I need to look great, because we're all just having fun,' but there's also that opportunity to hook up, or even end up in a relationship."
The show also put a spotlight on the darker sides of dating, including being fetishized. John claims that women in the dwarfism community have it far worse than men because, “when a man wants to hook up with you, they’re creepy.”
He pointed out that while unwanted sexualization happens to most women regardless of height, one reason women with dwarfism are more highly sexualized is that the majority of OnlyFans creators in the community are women. They are often seen as a fetish that men want to tick off.
John’s own experiences of being fetishized tend to lean more bizarre than threatening. Occasionally, he is approached by older women who bluntly say: "I've never been with a little person before, I want you."
Recalling the few times this has happened, John prefers to take it in stride, telling VT: “You can just kind of laugh it off, you know? If I'm at the club or whatever, and they're like, 'we would like to hook up with you,' it's happened to Sammy and I, and we're just like, 'That's awesome!'”
Despite finding comfort among his peers, he doesn't necessarily want to live in a bubble, explaining: “I would assume a lot of us in the community wish that our whole lives were just with everyone else who is also small.
"Personally, I kind of… I like having a world where there's small, and then there's average height.”
For John, joining a reality show was an opportunity to bridge the gap between these two worlds. He said: “There's obviously a lot of differences living small through your young adulthood, but we also wanted to show that we kind of have a lot of similarities as well with the average size and the average world.”
Of course, those similarities include the inevitable, messy reality TV drama. As John explained: “When there's emotion and love within the house, and we're all… we're all living in that house. Like, I… I'll be honest, I truly felt uncomfortable, and I hated it when there was tension within the house, because usually when you're young and you're hooking up with whoever, you don't live in the same frickin' house.”
Thankfully, the unique bond shared by the cast, which you definitely do not see on Love Island, outlasted the film crew’s presence.
Fortunately John said: “We were able to go through this roller coaster of drama, craziness, all of this, and at the end of it, we're just all friends. Like, even currently, we're all chatting in a group constantly.”
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Viewers of UK mid-morning TV show This Morning were left stunned when a man who claims to have the 'world’s smallest penis' appeared on the sofa to share his deeply personal story.
Michael Phillips, 38, from North Carolina, revealed that his manhood measures just 0.38 inches — significantly below the average of 5.5 inches — and it's a reality that has impacted every aspect of his life.
Speaking candidly to hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, Michael shared that he first became aware of his condition during his teenage years but held on to hope that things would change.
"I was probably in high school, and dealing with girlfriends and stuff like that, I thought I was a late bloomer, maybe one day it would be normal size. But it never happened."
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When asked whether it was something he could talk about with his family, Michael — who also revealed he was adopted — admitted he struggled to open up about his condition.
"I kept it to myself, when I was in my teens and twenties, I was always single even though I had friends.
"They wondered why I wasn't dating and I didn't want to go through that."
For years, he kept his condition a secret, choosing to avoid the subject altogether.
As a result, no one around him suspected anything.
“I didn’t get picked on because nobody knew,” he said.
But in adulthood, the hidden burden became much harder to manage.
Michael revealed that his condition has brought unexpected daily challenges, far beyond just dating.
"I can't go out and have a one night stand but it also affects my ability to use a restroom, my confidence.
Even sitting down can be tricky with the clean up and everything. I've tried everything possible. You can be upfront, you can try to talk to somebody, sometimes you don't say nothing at all."
As Michael's story unfolded on live TV, This Morning viewers rushed to social media to share their reactions — ranging from sympathy to outright confusion.
"Suppose it’s easy to slag the bloke with the smallest penis. Must be horrible for him," one person said.
Others questioned the motivation behind going public: "Why would you go on #thismorning and tell everyone you have a micropenis?"
One viewer poked fun at part of the segment: "When Ben asked the man with the micro penis how it affects his day to day life, he replied that he can't go on one night stands!
"Is that day to day life? I must have had a very boring life if it is."
A man who is said to be the love interest of a woman "trapped in the body of an eight-year-old" has hit back at critics who trolled him online.
Shauna Rae Lesick - star of TLC's I Am Shauna Rae - is 3 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 50 pounds at 23 years of age after undergoing treatment for brain cancer as an infant which subsequently affected her pituitary gland, resulting in her developing pituitary dwarfism.
Due to her condition, Shauna has been open about how finding love can be tricky and that she worries that she will attract the wrong sort of attention.
Another factor that makes a romantic life tricky is the negative attention that any potential partner will receive online, as one man, unfortunately, came to find.
Dan Swygart, 26, reached out to Shauna after seeing the show and the pair began chatting which led to them meeting up on more than one occasion.
After appearing on the TLC show, Dan was met with a wall of online abuse, with some branding him a "creep" for his alleged interest in Shauna.
The Welsh traveler has since hit back at his critics via Instagram, where he has responded to the unfounded claims that his interest in Shauna wasn't sincere.
Dan said in a video: "Me and Shauna are still just really good friends getting to know each other, but I think it’s absolutely disgusting, the attitude of some people.
Check out what Dan had to say below:"She’s been through so much in her life - she survived cancer as a child, she’s always felt different and been treated differently by society.
"But how dare you take away her right, her human right, to have a connection, a friendship, a relationship with someone else? Who are you to say that she can’t have that?
"I am absolutely disgusted about some people’s attitudes towards her and my friendship with her. I cannot believe some people who deny her the right to have a friendship or a connection with someone else."
Dan stated that nobody has the right to take away Shauna's opportunities to have real friendships and connections with people after what she has been through.
"She is a human being, she’s a cancer survivor, she’s got a disability, she has dwarfism [...] How dare you? How dare you?" Dan concluded.
The 26-year-old's parents have also jumped to his defense, claiming that there is nothing romantic happening between the pair and they have struck up a platonic relationship.
People often say that size isn't everything, and that, regardless of your height, you're capable of achieving greatness. Think of some famous high-profile dwarf actors for example, like Warwick Davis or Peter Dinklage, who have successfully raised the profiles of short people with their incredible acting skills. But one area that's sadly lacking when it comes to representation is the world of fitness, sport, and weightlifting. However, maybe that perception is about to change.
Mikey Witous, who has dubbed himself "fittest dwarf on earth", is on a mission to prove that people with dwarfism can still have fitness goals, and lift weights that taller folk would baulk at. To that end, Mikey works out seven-days-a-week, and is now capable of squat lifting 34st, deadlifting 22st 8lb and benching 20st 3lb, even though he only weighs 9st 6lb. Because of his incredible gains, Mikey has become something of a social media star, and now boasts over 23,000 followers on Instagram.
Commenting on his skills, Mikey stated: "It’s great to see all this positivity in the way the world looks at little people now. It’s good to know for the next generation – and I try to be someone that shows them we can achieve anything we put our minds to. People shouldn’t second guess us." This is especially important to Mikey, since his wife Jessica and son Michael were also born with dwarfism.
"I’d be competing against average-sized people, so I’d be facing difficulties others didn’t, but I like to test myself," he stated, "I thrive off the challenge of competing. I chose those particular sports as I’ve never wanted to pick the easy option. You wouldn’t think a dwarf would want to do contact sports, but I excel when I’m pushed. I worked hard to ensure I wasn’t injured, and I was younger back then so nobody was big enough to really hurt anybody else.”
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He added: "A few kids made fun of me, but kids will make fun of anything. You can get teased for having the wrong-coloured shoes. I’d get occasional ignorance and people reacting poorly to my disability, but most people were very accepting. Through sport, I gained exposure so people knew who I was anyway, and I also had a great group of friends who had my back. Because I’m competitive, if anybody did underestimate me, I’d be motivated to prove them wrong and show them I’m capable of far more than they think."
Mikey has even managed to achieve a black-belt in tae-kwon-do, and is currently training for an athletics event in Miami, where he hopes that his story will inspire others to hit the weights. So if your gym membership card has been lying in your wallet neglected, then maybe you should take a leaf out of Mikey's book and get back to it!
A man who was rumored to be dating Shauna Rae has opened up about being called a "p*do" by a handful of people on the internet.
Shauna Rae Lesick - star of TLC's hit show I Am Shauna Rae - is 3 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 50 pounds at 24 years of age after undergoing treatment for brain cancer as an infant which subsequently affected her pituitary gland, resulting in her developing pituitary dwarfism.
Due to her condition, Shauna has been open about how finding love can be tricky, worrying that she will attract the wrong type of attention from men.
But last year, she allegedly started bonding with a British man called Dan Swygart who reached out to the star after seeing the show.
The pair started chatting and eventually even started meeting up. On one occasion, they even went on a "water date" and posted photos of themselves on social media.
While the the pair didn't confirm their relationship at the time, Swygart was heavily criticized for his interest in the reality TV star.
Even when it was confirmed that the pair were merely friends and had a platonic relationship, the barrage of hate slamming calling him a "creep" did not stop.
Now, months after the fiasco, the 28-year-old has finally spoken out about the ups and down that came with dating someone unique in the public eye.
When questioned on a podcast about what happened during that period, he said: "Literally all my social media feed I was just seeing my face everywhere - like me and Shauna's face everywhere."
He continued: "The entire world is like 'This guy's a p*do.' And I'm sitting there like 'No, I'm not."
He then went on to state that during the "dark" time when he was forced to speak out and address all the rumors, a message that Shauna said to him stuck with him.
"[She told me] Any PR is good PR as long as you handle it the right way," he said during the interview. "Which I felt like I had to do and I wanted to do because it was kind of like a f*** you to the media."
He added that while he had a lot on the line, like his business and potential future relationships, he had to continue to plough through all the hate and come out stronger on the other side.
"It sort of just came out and I stood my ground and I felt like I was in a battle," he said. "[The video] changed the whole tide of everything because I... basically put a mirror to the media and showed them what they were doing."
He concluded the video saying that even though there are still some people wondering how he could possibly like someone like Shauna, he's over it and constantly looking into the future.
Have a look at the full video below:
So what does the future hold for the 28-year-old?
Apparently, another reality TV show.
Swygart will be taking part in the United Kingdom's version of the reality TV program, Love Triangle, which sees six singles choose between two partners based solely on text exchanges, then meet their match before moving in together to potentially fast-track their relationship.
That should be fun, right?
You might not believe me, but the old adage about size not being everything really is true. Indeed, one new dating app is aiming to redress the balance when it comes to the discussion around penis size.
Facebook has also announced its intention to launch its own dating app:
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Sadly, there is a pervasive stigma against men with small penises. It's often used as an insult, and this can cause a great deal of anxiety, embarrassment, and sexual dysfunction for those men who have had their confidence knocked.
But now a new dating app has launched, called 'Dinky Dating', which caters to smaller-than-average men. Now some of you might scoff at the idea, but according to a report by Pink News, almost 28,000 people have joined the site, (27 per cent of whom are female) since its launch.
The app's official website states: "Media and the internet are putting ever-increasing pressure on men to measure up to certain standards, be it body image or penis size. Body image is generally within your control but penis size is not, unless you undergo surgery."
It continues: "In addition, the internet is packed with false claims and products to increase penis size. Many young men now think that you need a 12-inch penis to satisfy your partner. This is simply not the case and our dating site is here to normalize the situation."
It adds: "If you think you have a smaller than average penis there's no need to be embarrassed. At dinkyone.com every man has a below-average penis size. This means anyone you date will be fully aware and you can avoid unnecessary pressure or anxiety."
Those men who wish to use the service can do so anonymously by visiting the following link and signing up for a download. Who knows? Perhaps apps like this could help a lot of guys out there feel really proud of themselves.
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