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• dag_mar @ at 6:09 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Dude, I totally feel ya. 6 feet tall, and apparently that’s the only notable thing about me.

• Alex Catgirl @ at 6:15 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  You a peep, like those cute marshmallow chick/bunny things that are everywhere around Easter, not a gas guzzling, polluting abomination of a vehicle…those are usually driven by small women and men who are trying to compensate for something.

  Arianna Cohen whines too much as she’s a total attention ho who loves to play the victim ,I’ve told her that to her face when I came across her promoting her book/ faux cause in NYC.

  That’s another thing you should add to your list, It’s very hard to be inconspicuous when you are a 6’1 tall girl, up to 6’7 in heels.

  I agree, most stuff is built with shorter people in mind,I can’t fly coach, I simply do not fit unless I’m in the first row behind first class on most planes. I have scars on my knees as I don’t fit in those desk/chair things they have in class rooms, and while finding jeans with 36/37″ inseams can be a bitch, finding long sleeve blouses that are long enough, without the rest of the blouse look like a tent on me is impossible unless it’s custom tailored.

  All that said, it could be a lot worse ya know, we all have our short comings and as short comings go, being to tall isn’t that bad.

  You are a teen(I’m 20)
  1.) Old people are stupid and/or senile . No matter how tall you are at 15, you were much smaller as a baby….and you have bewbs now too.

  2.) Everybody gets called names- the words loser, cow, cocks**kr, mother focker,and many others flow liberally from my lips at those who are stupid enough to earn my wraith.

  3.) Wear heels, that way their faces end up in your midsection..kinda like children being hugged by mommy.

  4.)No, I play volleyball, women volleyball players are Tall, you’ll fit right in. I like beach volleyball better as there are only 2 players on a side, court can be rather boring.

  5.) Rock and Republic,True Religion and 7 for mankind are your friends. ..maybe, length is just one measurements.

• Rogue @ at 6:21 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  As a girl who all too often hears “holy crap, I didn’t realize you were so short!!1″, I feel your pain. I’m quite short, but have an “average” torso length, so this refrain is especially common when I stand up after being seated for a while, and people realize that I’m a good half foot shorter than they are.

  I feel I should also mention that even though I’m just shy of five feet tall, and have to climb on the counters to reach the top shelf, I’ve never asked anyone for a single inch

• Alexis @ at 6:21 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  This was actually a really funny, because as a (barely) 5 foot one, I get a few of the same problems, but in reverse. My family doesn’t believe how little I still am, the nicknames generally run towards Shorty, Pipsqueak, Midget, etc. I end up hugging people’s boobs a lot (Sorry! We don’t like it much either :/) and I have had to hem pretty much every single pair of pants I own.
  I am more than my (lack of) height, but people don’t really care about that.

  So while I don’t envy you your height, it’s not much better down here either.

• Ally @ at 6:45 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Don’t get me wrong- most of the time I love being 5ft 11, but I could not agree more! At work, I swear at least one person a day asks if I play volleyball or basketball. And relatives who I see every couple months always comment on my height. I’m 19- my growth spurt has come and gone, and yet they’re always amazed.

  I’ve been meaning to pick up this book since I first heard about it a few weeks ago, and this just makes me more excited to read it.

  Also, I just got here via a link from Jezebel, and have to say I am so excited for this blog! Although I’m nearly out of my teens, I would have done anything for something like The Fbomb when I was in high school. I can already tell I’ll be following this site!

• Charlotte @ at 7:01 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  This sounds a lot like whining to me.
  I can see being tall like 6 feet and over, but men are over six-feet-tall a lot.
  I’m not short. I’m also not abnormally tall. I have short friends, and I’ve had abnormally tall friends.
  My short friends always had real problems when it came to their height. They had a right to complain about it.

• Laurie @ at 7:09 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that people are expected to be grateful to have bodies that fit any societal ideal of beauty. Because apparently since you’re 6′ and I have double-Ds, we were put here to be looked at and should appreciate the attention.

• Jane @ at 7:28 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Poor you. Having sleek, long legs and arms that other people would kill for. You don’t really think anyone is going to feel bad that a few idiots say dumb things to you, do you?

• Seabiscuit @ at 8:29 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  I’m just shy of 6 ft…and I love everything about it, except for the whole pants issue. Pants are a pain to buy. Shirts can also be an issue because of the long torso, but lately a lot of stores sell really long shirts so it’s not a big problem.

  Nobody I know ever complains about their height…my friends all seem happy being themselves, which I respect a lot. At this point, I’m just happy we’re all grown up enough to accept our bodies.

• Michelle @ at 8:37 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Being tall is a blessing and a curse. So is being smart, being shy, being loud etc…. We all want what we can’t have (well, except for being smart). However, at 38 and 5′ 10 1/2″, I have learned that it can be used very well to lord over people when needed! But can make it hard to meet men (the wusses). Just as anything in life, you can’t control what you can’t control so may as well get used to it, and dare I say love it. Great work on the blog honey! Keep it up….

• Lindsay @ at 9:10 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  1. totally feeling this. I am 6 ft tall, 22, people still ask me about sports i played in hs.

  2. to the writer of this blog: I AM SO PROUD OF YOU. i read all about you on Jezebel and you are such an inspiration and so talented and just generally, awesome. Keep up the good work, don’t let the haters get you down.

  like you said, it might take other people longer to see the light. lets just hope eventually, for their sake, they do.

  good luck!

• Sarah @ at 9:14 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Hello! I followed the link here from Jezebel. I’m so glad to see this blog– I was very surprised to realize, after reading the article in Jezebel, that I have truly not seen a feminist blog written by a teen before! From what I’ve seen of the excerpts and this post, I’m quite sure yours will be another of the excellent blogs I follow!

  Looking forward to reading the archives and checking here in the future, and sort of wishing I’d known you in high school! Two years my junior and you’re already showing me up, making me jealous– you’re an excellent writer and observer, it seems.

• ElietePetite @ at 10:47 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  If its any consolation, being short carries all the same problems..more or less.

  All people can mention is how short you are, how young you look, and how you’ll ‘like it later’. Plenty of bad nicknames (Shortstack, Tiny), and hugging even normal sized people puts MY face in the cleavage. Pants are also a nightmare (At a towering 4’11″, I wear mostly pants for little girls), the only one I dont get is pressure to play sports. As a trade off I guess, you get the question of if you’re legally a midget.

• L @ at 11:51 pm, July 14th, 2009
  

  Okay, you know what?

  Yes, being tall is considered a “good” thing. Yes, there are benefits. There are also problems.

  I found this site due to Jezebel (good work, by the way) and it can be HARD to be a really tall teen. I’m 5’11″ and on top of the fact that, as someone else said, it is a bitch and a half to find pants with a 36″/37″ inseam, there are other problems. Teens tease anyone who is different — even if it’s in a “positive” way. The “do you play basketball” gets really annoying. On the bright side, while it’s annoying now, it DOES get a bit better with age. People stop asking about basketball. Unfortunately, you still get the stares on the street with the whispered “OH MY GOD SHE’S SO TALL” as if in addition to being tall, you’re also hearing impaired.

  The fact of the matter is that it’s not kind of make fun of people for their appearance — even if it’s with regards to a trait that society tends to like. Unless you’re obviously complimenting someone “your height is really elegant/you look like a model,” people are insecure about their appearance and will take neutral statements as offensive ones. It shouldn’t need to be said, but offensive statements are just as rude even if they’re about a “good” trait. I looked like a stick figure in HS (I’m still really thin but since I got some curves in college, I get insulted less) and strangers would approach me and ask me if I had an eating disorder. It’s inappropriate, and what good comes of that? I didn’t — in fact, I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t consciously trying to gain weight — but what if I did? Clearly, someone who is unstable enough to have a serious disease such as anorexia isn’t going to be helped by a rude stranger hassling her while she’s out for a walk.

  People suck sometimes. Oh well. At least we can threaten to step on them…

• Deborah @ at 12:52 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  I was really tall as a teen – still am and I’m 51. The whole getting pants long enough, shoes etc. is still a pain.

  However, for me there is one thing that is absolutely great about being tall. I work in an office where men come in and try to intimidate me. So I just stand up, walk up too close to them and then look down on them.

  It’s fabulous.

• Greg @ at 1:05 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  Tall women under 6’2″ get a lot of grief they don’t deserve; being tall is just something that happens to people who have good genes and were fed properly growing up.

  Tall women over 6’2″ are the embodiment of evil and I hate them on principle.

• atalised @ at 1:42 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  you know, it really used to piss me off when adults would say “you’ve grown so much!”. generally i would think that person a dumb ass. but as an adult, i’ve said it just because i didn’t have anything better to say to the kid i guess. i felt like a dumb ass though…and life has come full circle.

• Rebecca @ at 6:08 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  Thing is, most of the people who say stupid things are really just trying to be nice and find something to say. Maybe it’s the wrong thing, but I’m guessing they don’t say ‘ugh, you’re so tall’, but ‘ooh you’re so tall’ like they might say ‘ooh you’re so pretty’ or ‘I love your shoes’. Understandably that translates to you as irritating, and esp the basketball comments, but still, it’s good to smile, tap them on the top of the head or whatever (I don’t know, I’m short) and say thank you. Or, ‘ooh you have a bald patch’…

• Rebecca @ at 7:57 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  Sorry – just occurred to me that I do have a comparison point: I have freakishly curly hair, like super-Jewish ringlets, and people are always saying to me ‘ooh, you have such curly hair, I bet you hate it don’t you?’, which leaves me mildly baffled, because it’s as over-familiar as the basetball question, but it is meant to be friendly so I try to take it as such. As for those people who try to touch my hair in the street, they’re just insane.

• flawed @ at 8:29 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  Greg, lemme guess: You are 6’2″?

• Carolyn @ at 11:01 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  I’m 5’10″ and I was always taller than everyone else. Now I don’t feel like such a giant in high school but in middle school it was brutal. But now I absolutely LOVE being tall. My brother calls me gangly, but I wouldn’t trade that for the world.

• Meg @ at 11:47 am, July 15th, 2009
  

  Haha, this is my life, just backwards (I’m barely 5’1). Funnily enough, most of my friends are on the tall side, so I can assure you hugging cleavage is never fun, for either parties involved, no matter how good of friends you are.

• Rebecca @ at 12:22 pm, July 15th, 2009
  

  @Meg: how about the fact that in order to get things out of kitchen cupboards you either need help or some kind of utensil (potato masher is my favourite for its hooky end)

• Sandra @ at 4:39 pm, July 15th, 2009
  

  I’m just 5’8″, but I live in Ecuador so I’m considered unbelievably tall anyway. I hate being asked if I play basketball and I hate pants shopping. But I take advantage of my height in the same way that Deborah does: All I have to do is stand up, and nobody messes with me! Men are so accustomed to using their size to intimidate people that it’s wonderful when you can turn it against them.

• Bethany Elfrink @ at 8:37 pm, July 15th, 2009
  

  Ugh. I am 5’10″. I relate with everything you have said, especially the basketball comment. WTF? I am semi-decent at tennis and racquetball and that is it!

• Alison @ at 8:56 pm, July 15th, 2009
  

  I am 5’10″ as well, and I do agree with many of the points made by the author, particularly number 2. Though I’m a well-adjusted young adult at this point, middle school was brutal! At that time, boys tend to equate “tall” with “ugly” and “masculine” and it can be crushing! Even in college boys can be nearly as immature. My first college boyfriend assured me that he was, unlike other guys, “okay with big girls.” Though he may have been using “big” and “tall” interchangeably, the emotional reactions associated with those two words are strikingly different, I assure you.

  Great post, glad you got an interesting discussion started!

• Jenn @ at 10:20 pm, July 15th, 2009
  

  You’re crazy! Height is a huge advantage, particularly for women. Among other things, it makes it far more difficult for jerks to try to loom over you. Some things to keep in mind:

  1) It really is surprising when (as an adult) you see a kid you haven’t seen for a while, and they’ve grown up, while you’re certain you haven’t aged at all. I don’t mean to sound condescending, but that will absolutely make sense to you someday.

  2) You’re going to get picked on or teased about SOMETHING, height is one of the less painful things. And if someone calls you “Gentle Green Giant”, feel free to tell them “It’s JOLLY Green Giant, dumbass.”

  3) Side-step a little, and you won’t smother anyone with your breasts.

  4) People need something innocuous to talk about, your height is the first thing they’ll think of. I had knee-length hair for years, and EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE would ask the same three questions. Believe me, I know what it’s like. But they’re trying to be friendly, so cut them some slack. Roll your eyes when you get home, but avoid being snarky to them. They don’t realize that the last seven people you talked to asked the same question.

  5) Pants will always be the bane of your existence. I’m only 5’11″, but I wear skirts almost exclusively, largely because I hate the “flood” look.

  Look on the bright side though- you can reach things on the top shelf, you’re almost certainly stronger than your shorter sisters, and you look striking in high-heels.

  You are what you are. Don’t complain about it, OWN it.

• pom @ at 1:17 pm, July 16th, 2009
  

  I’m Dutch, so at 5’10″ I’m not even tall. I’m 37; many of the seventeen year old girls in the grammar school down the street are well over 6’2″. Nobody notices me for my height. Come live over here!

• nil @ at 7:26 pm, July 16th, 2009
  

  being tall in an asian country is the worst! levi’s are always petite sized and i can never get shoes larger than a size 40.

  but it’s fine that gives me an excuse to thoroughly shop whenever i get to travel.

  go thefbomb.org

• Solene @ at 1:40 pm, July 17th, 2009
  

  I think this is a lot of whining.

  Being tall opens many job opportunities, make you more noticeable, put you on the front (which is always a good thing in our society). Guys will jump on you, while us “little people” (I’m myself 4’7″) get no attention at all. Being tall is associated with confidence,authority and intelligence while being short always mean introverted, assexued, and bean-sized brains. And I’m not talking about concerts, nightclubs and other social gatherings.

  No really, you are whining over nothing.

• Jules @ at 3:03 pm, July 17th, 2009
  

  I am 4’11″ and I can rarely meet new people without telling me I am a legal midget (I am not). And people bend down like I’m a child to hug me and it gets very irritating. But my point is this: I’m working hard to be in positions that earn me respect. Someone’s less likely to call you “Midget” when you’re their boss. So work hard, assert yourself, be all the best woman you know you can be and yes, people will still notice and maybe comment on your height, but it’ll be less likely to be a negative thing.

• Rita @ at 7:00 pm, February 17th, 2010
  

  Interesting blog. I was a close friend of the World’s Tallest Woman, Sandy Allen, for 31 years. Her challenges weren’t just about being tall, she also was large and didn’t fit well into a “normal” world. Sandy was in the Guinness Book of Records for a total of 33 years …. she only lost her title for 1 year, in 1982, to a Chinese woman who died that year. In 2008 I published a book about her high school years, titled “World’s Tallest Woman: The Giantess of Shelbyville High.” I am currently doing author talks at libraries and groups, and trying to get the book into schools. There are themes of bullying (as you can well imagine) and acceptance, as Sandy spent many years visiting elementary schools to give her program, “It’s OK to be Different.” If anyone is interested in the book, please visit my website, http://www.thegiantessbook.com. Sandy was a funny, warm, generous and amazing person — a great loss to her friends and the world.
  Rita Rose

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