So, what it's like to be a woman who's over 6 feet tall?
To begin with, to be extra-tall is to be somehow more public than the average woman. Everybody sees me. Strangers on the subway peer upward and tell me about their childhood neighbor who was tall. Fellow grocery shoppers sheepishly request my help procuring items from upper shelves. Male passers-by mutter, "That was one giant woman." Men seem particularly inclined to register one characteristic: tall.
I'd add to that: Fratty dudes in bars will chant "6 footer!" or loudly make bets with each other about how tall I am. (Well, I've actually had restaurant wait staff and fellow wedding guests make bets, too, so maybe it's unfair to pin that one on the bros alone.) People stare openly, all the time, everywhere I go. There are some days, namely those when I'm wearing whopping 1-inch heels, that I feel like I leave a ripple of height comments in my wake. Small children point and say, "Mommy! Look at the giant lady!" Women who feel insecure about their own height will often say to me, "I wish I was that tall!" No, honey, you don't. Really.
But it does have certain benefits.
I've come to realize that I can learn a lot about people I meet by how they react to my height. Lately, having just moved to a new place, this has been happening a lot. Most of them will wait until the second or third time we've hung out to casually insert into conversation, "So.... how tall are you exactly?" This is a question I realize probably occurred to this person within the first few minutes of our meeting, and the time elapsed until they ask it aloud is the time it took them to feel comfortable around me.
Of course, lots of strangers just ask up front. Rarely anything creative, usually just the same thing either in question or statement form: "How tall are you?" and "You're so tall!" Even though these comments have become a part of every day life and tend to roll right off me, I reacted when I was 13. (I've been this height since the 7th grade, when I was the tallest person in my junior high school.) Through my most awkward adolescent years, every time a stranger pointed out my height I felt completely exposed, as if everyone around me was focused on my physical person. (Not fun.)
To a certain degree, I still get angry at well-meaning strangers who feel it's OK to make a comment about my body. It's not. I don't walk up to short men and ask how short they are. I don't approach strangers and announce to them what color their skin is. I don't approach other women to tell them how skinny or blonde or freckled they are. Also, I hate it when strangers ask me if I'm a model or if I play basketball/volleyball. I never ask short men if they're a jockey. (Well, I do if they're being an asshole to me. But never out of the blue.) I hate that people immediately think my physical characteristics have anything to do with my career or interests.
Then there are people who are just plain rude (people in this category are most often drunken groups of dudes). I'm constantly trying to figure out the best snappy response to their inane comments, but my big mouth always fails me at the crucial moment. Someone recently suggested I respond to mean-spirited bros who pose the height question by saying, "And how tall are you, little guy? Are you still growing?"
Although overall, my height is admittedly a huge asset when dealing with men. I really came to appreciate this a few months ago, when some guy catcalled me on the street, then followed me in to a taqueria. He stood between me and the counter, asking, "How tall are you, baby? You got a boyfriend? I bet you don't. Damn, you look sexy, you're doing something right... etc." Usually it's pretty easy for me to tell harassers like this (whether their comments be sexual, height-related, or both) to shut the fuck up. But this guy was tall. Maybe even slightly taller than me. And it became quickly apparent just how much of my self-confidence in those situations is derived from my extraordinary height. I'm used to stepping into the personal space of whatever twerp is hitting on me (or on one of my friends), looking down my nose, and shutting him down. It's not that my gangly frame poses any sort of physical threat-- it's just emasculating to be looked down on by some girl over whom you're attempting to assert your sexual power. It works.
But after I left the taqueria with my burrito, I went to a friend's house and complained to her for the better part of an hour about how horrible the experience had been. Sure, it was partly awful because this guy followed me into a restaurant and wouldn't leave me alone when I told him to, and the employee working behind the counter gave the harasser a knowing "I'm with ya, buddy" look. But it was mostly because I couldn't tower over him.
When it comes to men I do want sexual attention from, I haven't had the same issues that Cohen describes in the Nerve piece. I've generally found my abnormal height to be a positive, as men who are not emasculated by dating a woman who is 6'2" are likely to have other awesomely feminist qualities. (Cohen also writes about men who are height fetishists, something with which I have absolutely zero experience.)
Overall, Cohen's description of the Tall Clubs event makes me think they should offer a tall-women-only convention. I LOVE meeting, hanging out with, and even passing other tall women on the street. We just look at each other and give the chin-thrust "'sup" greeting. Yeah, we know what's up.
I could ramble about height all day, but I'll cut myself off here. What are some of your experiences with the intersection of stature and gender? I'd be curious to hear.
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I'm 6'4" (I'd been saying I was 6'3" until I went to a doctor's appointment this week and came in at 6'5" with shoes on. I'm fairly sure I grew this year and I'm in my mid twenties.)
But my height experience is different and obviously informed by the fact that I'm a guy. I'm taller than almost anyone I meet and have been taller than my cohorts since I was 13 or 14. The most noticeable effect of this is that, for the most part, I never notice how tall other people are. I have to think really hard when comparing my friends heights, men or women. In fact, I probably couldn't tell you which of my friends are taller than others. I just don't notice height in comparison with other people - unless they're taller than me.
Obviously I have arrived at this position because I am taller than most people and so I stopped qualifying height. I only recently discovered this fact about myself and it has always felt weird relating it to other people.
My height has only been a detriment when traveling. Coach air travel tends to leave me looking like a pretzel and long car rides are killer on my knees. So if you're going to wish yourself taller, I'd say down ask for much beyond 6 feet...
Most of my personal intersections have ended with the name "VOIT" imprinted backwards on my forehead after a mixed beach/regular volleyball game.
Maybe the only other time would be in filling out hipster bingo cards with a "skinny guy over 6'4", woman under 5'4"" square (my brother and his girlfriend qualify).
And watch out for Tall Clubs, they're actually Short People plot to indefinitely inter you.
Re: Hipster bingo.
Totally. Though it's actually "8-foot-tall guy" and "4-foot-tall girl"... and they make a great couple.
I am about 5 feet tall and am often walked over, literally, as if I were so freakshow small people didn't see me. Some people (not just men) feel my lack of height gives them the right to shove me out of their way. I have been grateful (and a little envious) when, with a tall friend, she stopped someone one from shoving me just my towering and glaring.
And yes, people have often declared to me "You are short," though not so often now that I am no longer in the "young, hot, single" demographic - though I do get walked over more now (middle aged + short = invisible?). Plus, there is the ongoing assumption that height and age or experience are somehow related, so after 20 years in the same field, I am told after a late work night, "That's okay, you can handle it, you're young," usually by a colleague 5+ years younger than me.
It's creepy, tall or short, that people feel we are public property. Still...wanna trade?
I worked in my early years in law with a woman trial lawyer who was 5'11" barefoot. She wore 4" heels to try cases, which not only put her above eye level with prosecutors, but right up with the judge at the bench. She felt that her face being up high was a tremendous equalizer. (I had a monster crush, but I think that had entirely to do with working closely together and mentor-worship, not her height.)
I am also short at 5 feet and young-looking. Because I am young, in my mid-twenties, and still relatively attractive I don't feel invisible. But my middle-aged mom, who is shorter than I, is often invisible and ignored in social situations. The worst part of being short and young-looking are the assumptions of being younger than I am. The ageism associated with being a "teenager" often comes up, despite the fact that I am a mature adult woman. Additionally, my height and perceived age seems to give anyone, especially older men, the right to ask my age and comment on my youngness. I don't care how old someone is, but it's so degrading for others to focus on my height and age and only makes me feel less confident and powerless in many social situations b/c I'm only seen as a short, young woman--implying I do not know much and am vulnerable. I have never wished to be very tall, because as the writer discusses comes with many other disadvanages. I would almost rather be invisible than the constant center of men's attention and sexual fanatsy. But why does height have to be a focus of attention in society and why does it come with a set of assumptions about the person's interest/career/age/life experiences?
I heart this post. I'm a wee over 5 feet tall and have definitely developed a complex with my height. I never had one before college; I was with a guy who was 6'2" for a couple of years during high school and barely noticed the height difference.
But from college years on, it's actually mostly other women who fed my insecurity. They often say, much of the time condenscendingly, "Aw you're so teeny tiny!" or "You're so cute!" and so on. Theey're this close to a baby voice. In result, I've felt infantalized and less of a woman.
On a more positive note, I have begun to embrace my shortness again. I should start a Short Sisters Feminist Support Group or something...
Oh, and I don't mean to say "I wish I were that tall." That's up there with "I wish I could be a cute LITTLE person" (*gack* extra gacky as it's being said to an ADULT). Though I do wish I could get that "towering and glaring" added to MY list of super-powers. ;)
I'm a 6'1" 23 year old woman, who has started responding to the "do you play basketball?" question with "No. Do you play miniature golf?" Perhaps I'm just bitter.
As a young woman, it definitely took me a while to grow to appreciate my height. But I don't think that my experience was that different from most teenage girls struggling with their body image. It just so happens that my struggles were compounded by the fact that I was so visible, which lead to more comments (both negative and positive) from others.
Of course this probably wouldn't have been the case if our society was more accepting of all body shapes and sizes.
I'm a 5'11" woman (and about 200lbs, so solid at that) and while I don't stand out like my 6'+ compatriots, with my heels I come in at a respectable 6'2-3". I lived in China for a while and yeah, it was WILD- guys would slide up to me as I was walking down the street and measure themselves against me. People were always staring up at me like I just dropped off the moon. On of my friends told me that we we first met he was afraid of me- thought I might be a wrestler or something. In China where my height was trully unusual, it WAS really weird to have people CONSTANTLY pointing it out so I can kinda relate to those who are taller and here in the US.
Conversely, it is nice to have height, it does give me confidence when talking to men- being able to look them straight in the eye or even down when we are talking helps. It also makes me feel a little safer (though this is probably a false sense of security).
"I'm a 6'1" 23 year old woman, who has started responding to the "do you play basketball?" question with "No. Do you play miniature golf?" Perhaps I'm just bitter."
On the other hand, perhaps you are awesome. I'm going to go with that interpretation.
jessicapenn,
In my 20s, I got that sexual thing too. Doubly creepy when you realize part of is that certain men are seeing you as a child. Invisibility WOULD be better if it didn't come w/ physical force.
The life experience thing. AMEN to that. Still, it's important (to me at least) to be reminded that being tall isn't a cake walk.
The thing that gets me about all of this, beyond the assumption that it's okay to make comments about a stranger's body, is that it is not odd to be a 5' or a 6' woman. I live to see the definition of normal expand to embrace NORMAL!
Yeah, the miniature golf line is awesome.
I'm another short person, and I also look about five years younger than I am. (I'm 23, most people eventually comment that when they met me, they assumed I was 16 or 18.) The comment I get the most often? "Oh, you'll be so glad of it when you're older! Being carded when you're 50 will feel great!"
Yeah, I don't recall ever asking anyone how I should feel about being small, twenty years from now.
I've also had to develop a pretty loud, "ExCUSE me!" because apparently if you're small, people forget that they have to wait their turn in line.
At 5'11", I'm not even THAT tall, but I certainly get the "so tall!" and "model" remarks.
I do like "miniature golf". ;)
And while genuine height fetishists may be lovely, I've run into more than one man who feels that dating & eventually dominating a tall woman is worth some kind of "points." I don't play THAT game any more, you betcha.
I'm a 22 yr old 4'11 female and most of the time I could care less about all the short jokes, age confusions etc. For me, my height becomes a problem when it interferes with my ability to be taken seriously in the political arena. Speaking publicly in the media or at political forums/ debates etc, I often feel that people see me as "a cute little thing (she wouldn't be angry about anything would she?)" rather than someone who has something important to say. THAT really bugs me. But hey, more passion to fuel my feminist fire isn't always a bad thing.
Thanks a lot for this piece. I'm 5'10", and I have been since I was about 10. While I've recieved my fair share of ogling and jokes at my expense (for example, did you know it's funny to yell "TIMBEERRRRRRR!!!" when a tall woman bends over? Apparently it is!), what's made me most uncomfortable about my height is they way that, when i was a child, it seemed to prove to grown men that it was acceptable to sexualize and harass me. I would be out in public and a man would ask me out, if he was polite, or tell me i had nice tits ("tits") if he wasn't. All this would happen while I was wearing a big snoopy t-shirt and acting more or less like a normal 10 year old. Usually also in front of my mother. I remember feeling so embarassed, as if, by allowing my body to grow at such an alarming rate and so early on, i had somehow invited men to treat me like I was ready to be sexual, even when i really, really wasn't. Has anyone else experienced this?
Yes raleigh, I did, and I am one of the SHORT people on this thread. Going through puberty early apparently = sexually active and available to some folks.
I created an account just so I can comment on this post. Thanks for writing it.
I'm 6 feet tall and have definitely experienced the good and the bad of my height. On the one hand, I stick out a lot so I'm a target for street harassment, subway gropers, etc. On the other hand, when I loom a little and tell them to go away, they usually do. I love being able to look everyone in my office in the eye (helps to command attention when you're the new kid) but I have to spend a lot of money to buy jeans. On the whole, I prefer it to the alternative, especially in a professional setting.
My dad (6'7") taught me how to respond to the rude people--
If they ask how tall you are, tell them your height in kilometers. Or ask them how much they weigh or how old they are. If they ask you if you play basketball, ask if they're a jockey. If they ask how the weather is up there, spit on them and say it's raining.
It's funny; I'm so extremely unremarkable in every way---thin, medium height, medium build, brunette, white. I'm like Monet print or something: Just what people expect to be there. Except flat-chested. People feel free to remark about that, which really drove home the point for me at a young age how rude it is to treat people like freaks.
I'm not quite five feet tall, and though I'm still told how short I am, now that I'm over 30 I don't get bothered with the young comments nearly so much. My personal favorite was when I was about 24 and a woman said to me, "You're so competent for someone so young!" That was actually the last day I ever wore heels to work, when I realized that even the three inches they gave me were not fooling anyone and I might as well be comfortable. It was also the day I stretched a tendon in my foot and had trouble wearing my ice skates for a long time. My 25-year-old sister is still struggling with all of those, and wears a lot of 3-inch heeled boots. I've worn nothing but loafers, clogs, sandals, and boots for the past eight years.
I don't know if it's compensation for our height, if it's being brought up in a family and community of assertive Jewish women, or if it's inherent, but my sister and I are two of the most assertive and competent women I've ever met and both have held positions of power at young ages. I'm the youngest person in management in my company and president of a board of a volunteer organization. My sister turned 25 yesterday and everyone she worked with was absolutely shocked because despite her youthful looks and small stature, she's has a master's degree, more experience, and is senior to many colleagues who are older than she is.
Playing ice hockey helps me a lot. I don't think of myself as short. I think of myself as the defensewoman you're not going to get by tonight. I can understand the annoyance of being asked about basketball or volleyball if you are tall and have no interest in it, but I have to say that my sport helps me move though a world that thinks I'm a freak because I never reached 60 inches. People don't usually want to tangle with ice hockey players, even if we're only four-eleven. Plus I'm at least five-two in skates.
raleigh, I had the same experiences growing up. I'm only 5'9" but I've been over 5'7" since I was 10 and I developed breasts at 11. I was a D cup at 14. Since I was 11 or 12 I have been harrassed by men in their thirties and fourties. When I was twelve at a restaurant with my mom a man was harrassing me so bad the manager had to walk us out. I believe I was wearing a baggy Mickey Mouse t-shirt and not-so-short shorts. This was very damaging to my self-esteem and I had a lot of self blame. I always thought there was something wrong with me that made these men think it was ok to act this way.
It frustrating that people feel that they can comment on people's physical characteristics and treat them in a degrading way. Why is it ok for someone to comment on women's breasts, ass, height, apparent age, and everything else?!
I'm 5'0", and until I was 30, I got the "you're so young" comments ALL THE TIME. From being told, at the age of 22, that I couldn't buy a copy of an adult manga at my regular comic book store (in fact, a woman who had recently started working there basically *dove* at me and screamed "You can't buy that!" to which I responded, "Oh yes I can" and whipped out my driver's license), to being asked by 8th graders when I was in grad school what school I went to (they thought I was their age), to the woman at H&R Block, when I went to get my taxes done at age 30, who not only was shocked and amazed at my age (she had asked if I'd ever done my taxes before, and I said I'd done them myself for years, which revealed that she'd thought I was 18 and this was my first year), but actually called her friends out from the back to gawk at me and my youthful appearance.
Now I'm 37, fat, and have four kids. No one thinks I'm a teenager anymore. :-)
I have also run into the invisibility issue. However, I am strong in the Don't Fuck With Me Force, to the point of being a Jedi (or maybe a Sith...) I scare away panhandlers with a single monotone "No, sorry." I was attractive before the aforementioned fat, but I have *never* been catcalled, and was only harassed in the street once in my life, when I was 15 and waiting for my school bus. So when I am part of an organization, and I manage to get the floor, people take me seriously. I might disappear *until* I take the floor, I might have to fight for the center stage, but once I'm on it no one ignores me.
I'm from New York, I talk really loudly, and I don't do self-effacing behaviors or high-pitched inflections. So if you're short, cute and young-looking, I highly recommend talking like you are an expert on the subject you are discussing, freely interrupting other people, and generally being an asshole. For some reason this gets you taken seriously once you've gotten in the door. :-)
I've been 5'11 ever since the seventh grade (give or take) I've been street harrassed my men thinking I was older because of my height...or they're just just plain twisted perverts who knowingly harrassed a 14 year old girl. I hate hate hate it when people ask me if I play basketball (I'm uncoordinated and clumsy). I've been taller than most girls my age since grade school, and believe you me I've been made fun of for it and it may or may not have scared off potential suitors. Once I got to college it wasn't as bad. There were more people around my height so I didn't stand out AS much. Nowadays I just take it with a grain of salt and say things like "Hey I'm easy to spot in a crowd" or make jokes about drinking a lot of milk as a kid and being hooked on Flintstone vitamins. :)
i remember feeling insecure about my height ever since i was 5 years old. i have a lot of self-esteen issues and partly because of this i developed a cowering posture, bending over slightly so that i can somehow become smaller and shorter. apparently having bad posture can lead to back problems in the future but unfortunately i cant find the confidence to keep my head up high. sigh.
I'm 5'2"--so taller than the short women who've posted, but short enough that I'm still treated as a novelty. I look younger than I am, too, and I always have. It is true that now, at 32, I don't mind so much that I'm mistaken for younger. It's not because I've changed my mind and come to agree that younger=better; it's because now, when people guess me to be younger, they (at least) recognize that I'm an adult. It was hard to be in my twenties, looking like a teenager, and trying to be taken seriously in interview and job situations.
I do find that I'm often underestimated. So what do I do? I totally overcompensate. Short woman syndrome, I guess. The guys are carrying boxes? I'll carry boxes with them, but I'll run up the steps. I'll talk in a louder voice. I'll get a little bossy.
And later I'll wonder why I confirmed their "superiority" by making such effort to emulate it. I realize that, to some degree, I've adopted the attitude that my short stature is a symbol of female submission. And it's not.
It's not a symbol, in the end. It's just the body I have. Chance. A series of accidents. But the notion that we somehow try to symbolize something by living in a certain body is a hard one to get past.
I'm 6' and 22. It's good to hear other women's stories that are similar to mine.
This page put a smile on my face.
My most recent encounter with the tall ? was in an elevator, packed with much shorter people. After repeating twice that I was 6 feet tall, I simply said "If you find me shoes that make me shorter, let me know, for now... I like my heels." I smiled and walked out.
You all are inspiring. Usually, i just blush and make some sort of apologetic glurp when someone comments on my height.
You know, it's funny: my previous comment was about being sexualized by men early on because of my stature, but now, as an adult, it seems I cannot be feminine enough. When I have my picture taken, I find photographers ask me to "skooch down" in pictures, so as not to tower over the men in the frame. Sometimes, at formal events where I wear heels, I even have to take my shoes off. It's amazing how many pictures I have of myself where I am either obviously cowing the men in the frame, or visibly slouching or bending backwards in order to accommodate them.
You know, I've always had this fantasy of being in a bar with my girlfriends and having one of them get hit on by some skeezy guy. He'd be about 5'5" or 5'6", and I'd turn around and yell, "who the hell do you think yer talkin' to?" and he'd retort, and I'd stand up slowly and get right up in his face and stare down at him until he left with his tail between his legs. Has anyone ever done that?
Now I'm embarassed...
I dated a guy for awhile who is 6'9", and it made me realize the plight of the truly tall. People would say something about it EVERY SINGLE TIME we went anywhere. I felt bad that he had to deal with it constantly; it was annoying enough for me, and I only heard it when I was out with him. To top it all off, he was a redhead and a stepchild.
Thank you for this post and for all the comments. It seems like whether you're tall or short there will always be shallow people judging and commenting on our physical appearances (being female and freakishly huge, small, redheaded, flat-chested, etc).
I am learning to speak and act more like an "expert" or "adult" to be taken more seriously. It's hard for people to accept me as an actual woman when I'm short, flat-chested, wear little to no makeup, don't wear heals or dress provacatively. Apparently all of those things make girls into women. Sigh.
I am self-confident and try not to let comments affect me. I'm still working on a clever comeback, but I'm usually caught off gaurd. It's still just so infuriating to be asked what grade I'm in when I'm about to earn my Master's degree!
It's good to know that other people have experiences like this. Yeah, I'll love being mistaken for younger when I'm older--what a disappointing thing to look forward to!
I'm about 5'11", and unless I see myself in a window next to one of my shorter friends I usually don't even think about it. My husband is about 6'2", so I never really feel like I'm this big giant tall person around him, more like we're of equal size.
There have been recent comments in my workplace, though - I work at a gas station, and our register/counter area is slightly raised from the rest of the floor, probably by only about two or three inches... but I get a lot of guys going, "You're a tall lady!" or "Gee, she's big!" (I'm also fat, so... I don't usually take that one as complimentary.) I had one guy comment on my height and then ask if I played sports in school and I told him, nope, I'm a musician. I was in band.
I *get* that there's a correlation between height and sports (basketball and volleyball being the two main ones), but some of us are tall *and* either physically inept or more artistically inclined (I am both)!
Jessicapenn, I don't wear makeup at all, and at one pint had to defend myself against a well-meaning co-worker - about my mother's age - who insisted I just had to get a makeover at Merle Norman and start wearing lipstick and mascara and blah blah blah. My mother never taught me to deal with my appearance in that way so I've never felt the need to bother... but it just adds more fuel to the "why is my appearance everyone else's business?" fire.
I'm just barely 5 feet, so I'm one of the short girls. My height doesn't bother me at all, and I have friends (male and female)who range from very small to very tall. One thing that does bother me, though, is that my mom, who is about 4'10" and around 63 years old is consistently treated like she doesn't even exist. I've been with her in grocery stores when she'll be reaching for something on a high shelf and the workers will walk right past her without ever offering to help. She's even been hit by two cars--on the crosswalk both times--because both drivers claim they couldn't see her. I think the problem isn't height. I think at a certain point we aren't what they consider sexually desirable, so they don't even see us anymore. There's no reason to see us.
Don't forget short women. Short women also look up to tall women. Look at Britney Spears following Paris Hilton around like a puppy dog.
Unlike everyone else here, I'm only 13. I pretty much hit puberty in fifth grade (started wearing a bra in about fourth grade, started menstruating in fifth) and according to my mother, this would explain why I've only grown about 1 inch in the past 18 months! My mother is 46 and about 5'2", and I'm just under 5'. I suppose that you could say that I'm only 13, I've still got a lot of growing ahead of me, etc. But what really irritates me, as Vanessa said, is the 'cutesy thing'. Most of my female friends are taller than me, and when commenting about my height, they either say something like, "You're so short! You're so cuuute!" (Yes people can be stupid like that) or, "I wish I wasn't so tall, I wish I was your size!" .
Once my tallest friend said the former to me, and I just lost it and told her to shut up, and she actually (can you believe it!) COULDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY I WAS IRRITATED. As if it was so weird to dislike being told that you're short all the time.
Now, the strange thing is, that if she had said, "You're so small" instead, I wouldn't have got so irritated. Why? Because I am small. I weigh 105 pounds (48 kilograms) and I wear size 6, 8 or sometimes 10, it all depends on the item of clothing etc.
Sorry about the long ranting post, I just needed to get it out of my system!
Thanks for this post.
I'm 5'2" but strong and big-boned, so I think I get away with looking taller than I actually am. I have heard tall women remark that they hate being tall, but still I have always wished I was tall. When I see a tall woman I am just struck with all the power and beauty--tall women are SEEN, while I've always been just a blip on the radar.
I started puberty ridiculously early, though, and was a C-cup by fourth grade (now DD.) It made me the target of abuse and sexual advances by adult males pretty often. It's pretty lame that a developed body = sexual promiscuity to so many--like I could really control my breast size?
I've just noticed it's interesting... a lot of short woman say they wish they were tall, a lot of tall women say they wish they were short, a lot of big-breasted women want smaller boobs and vice-versa. I wonder if we we just decided to be happy with what we had, what would happen? Would the world explode if we embraced every inch of ourselves? Dare we do it?
Realistically, I mean... I'm 5'2", but this works well with my husband, who's 5'7" (on the shorter side for a guy.) I feel like we match up perfectly, but he's just that little bit taller which means I can still look up at him and swoon. And we make good dance partners for being closer in height. Also, not being able to reach things has required me to develop more creativity in getting things done. So there's beauty to be had in my shortness after all!
My girlfriend and are the exact same height. Like, down to the quarter-inch. It makes smooching while standing up really easy.
As a not-too-tall guy (on the taller side of 5'8"), I can sort of sympathize (I hate going out with my taller male friends), though I doubt my experiences as a less-than-average height dude can match up to what some of the women here are talking about. What surprises me the most is the stories about tall women being sexually harassed; I had always thought that tall women would be "safer" from that, since I'd expect that men would be intimidated.
I have to keep reminding myself that there are many, many of my fellow dudes who aren't intimidated by anything female, who in fact observe diversity in women as a smorgasbord of features to be exploited or mocked. Fuck 'em.
At 27 years old, I'm still 5'2" with a young looking face. People think I'm 18. I certainly have the problem that other posters have stated about people not giving me the repsect that I deserve at work and in other situations. I've even read studies recently about height and intelligence (or at least perceived intelligence) being corrolated and also the corresponding disadvantage shorter people face in the workplace. I know this is even worse for men than women.
Espeacially irritating for me is when people make comments about my height in relation to my being a mother. I don't know how many times I have been told that I look like a "baby with a baby". And I often get the feeling that people do not think highly of teenagers with babies!
I really do despise it when people say to me that I will love to hear that I look young when I am 40. Who knows how I will feel about that when I am 40. I am pretty sure though, that when I am 40, people will at least mistake me for being 30 and then I can get the respect due to a 30 year old rather than a teenager.
Two last things. I find it so hard to find clothes that fit. Even petite sizes are often too large (and often unstylish). It bewilders me because I know that my height is not some great anomaly. And you tall girls have no idea what its like to try to wear pantyhose when you are short. I swear the top of the tights goes over my boobs! Its fucking ridiculous!
And going to music venues when y