Is Being Thin The Only Way Tall Women Are Accepted? | The Unhealthy Pressures Tall Women Face

Growing up, many tall girlies feel insecure about their height, whether we were bullied for it in middle school, or we just felt out a place around our peers, or just had a difficult time finding clothes that fit us. Well. While I guess there are people out there who definitely further these insecurities, there are also people who try to make us feel better about our height because they just see the beauty in it, you know, and yes there was a hint of sarcasm there. When we voice our frustration, they'll say things like stop complaining, you're so lucky to be tall, or at least you're tall and skinny, or even the classic well models are tall, and when comparing us to models, we all know what body type they're talking about. So that brings me to the question, is being tall as a woman only acceptable when you're thin? Well, hopefully we can get the answer to that in today's episode, as well as explore the pressures that tall women feel to be thin. So, without further ado, let's get into it. Good morning, everybody. You are currently listening to a tall girls pod hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's tuning in today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say make sure you're following me on my socials at a Tall Girls podcast, on Instagram, TikTok, and picture so that you can stay up to date on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free to leave me a review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter, make sure you subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description. Also, by the time this episode is up, my birthday had just passed. I post episodes on Thursday and this on Thursdays. And this year, my birthdays on a Wednesday, April eighth, and this is going up April ninth, So happy belated birthday to me. Make sure you tell me happy birthday in the comments. I'm recording this the weekend before all of my festivities, so hopefully all of my festivities went well, especially because this is going to be going on for the next week. I like to celebrate my birthday over a few days, especially after the whole COVID lockdown situation and turning eighteen during that time, I just think that now after all of that, now the world is back open. I mean it's been back open for years, but you know what I mean, I just think that ever since the world opened back up after that, I was like, I have to keep I have to keep this going. I have to celebrate over several days and be outside because you never know when the next lockdown is going to be. I don't know. Anyways, I talk a lot on my shorter form videos about the difficulties and insecurities that tall women experience in their day to day lives, whether growing up as a child or even as adults. And I do this to kind of validate tall women's experiences to help them feel like, hey, like you're not alone and feeling this. You're not the only one who experienced this, Like we've all had these types of experiences before, kind of like helping to create that community aspect while also validating their experiences and feelings and listen, some people view this as complaining. Maybe yes, I'm complaining a little, but it's also speaking on true experiences. And when people see like those types of videos that I post, it seems kind of like a pattern, Like a lot of these people will say the same thing or something very similar, and they'll be like, oh, well, models are tall, or they'll say, well, yeah, but you know, since you're tall, you could be a model. And when many people think of models, they think of like the victorious Secret models, or the Kendall Jenner's or the Gigi Hidids, the ones that are on the thinner side. So it's kind of like, yeah, even though you have all these terrible experiences and all that stuff growing up, and you have all these difficulties and so forth, it's not that bad because you're tall and thin. That's kind of what it sounds like. And while yes, the modeling industry is getting a little bit better in terms of size and weight and so forth, the thinner body type is still something that is common that people expect models to have. That's a common body type that people expect models to have. So all of this to say that apparently being tall as a woman is only acceptable when you're thin, when you have the model body type. And I'm sure we all know what body type people are talking about when they say that, because you already take up so much space being tall that if you don't fit into the thin ideal, suddenly becomes an issue. I actually found a TikTok video talking about this, so I'll play it here. Me growing up, well, I always got the compliment you're so tall and skinny, you should be a model, tall and skinny, tall and skinny, tall and skinny. That now i'm an adult, I'm having like a normal body. I place so much emphasis on being tall and skinny, because that's what I was my whole life. Like nobody ever was like, oh, I love your mind, You're so smart. I think that was like so well said no, I grew up tall and skinny. And let's take a moment to look at some of the comments under this video. One person said, I'm five ten and completely feel this. Another person said I was always tall and not skinny, so it was you could be a model if you lost weight. And this is coming from family members of all people. Another person said, right, I was constantly praised for being skinny. Another person said all people talk about is being tall and skinny. People think it's okay to comment on body that are skinny. It's toxic, and it is toxic, right, I mean. I did a podcast episode on how taller women shouldn't listen to shorter fitness creators, especially because that advice is not really personalized to that particular person. But on top of that, when these shorter fitness creators are, you know, talking about their measurements and their weight and so forth, especially their calorie caloric intake. I think that's how you say it, caloric intake. When they're discussing all of these things, the taller girlie who's watching that is going to think, oh my gosh, like she looks like this, she looks very fit, she looks thin. I have to lose weight. I have to be thinner, because you know, I'm already so big and I don't want to feel as big. You guys already know that. I don't like the word big, but you know that's what some of tall women use. That's a terminology some of them use to describe their bodies. And they feel as though they have to lose weight and be thinner in order to fit into some type of societal beauty standard or to be accepted by others. And so listening to those shorter fitness creators creates this whole toxic pattern that could, you know, even lead to eating disorders, along with other mental health issues and self esteem issues and confidence issues, and so it's kind of similar here when people are praising the skinny body type. And I really don't like the word skinny either, but we'll use it for the sake of this episode, because it's being thrown around a lot. But I'll try to use skinny and thin. I'll try to say thin as well. But you know, the same applies here when people are constantly praising thinner body types. I actually found this run a thread titled what are your thoughts on thin privilege as a tall woman, basically asking that because many of the advantages of being thin is nullified when you're tall, because you know, you take up more space in a different way, do tall thin women still expel any of the advantages quote unquote advantages of being thin. One shares I've been thin and I've been fat. I've always been tall. When I am thin, people treat me like a human. When I am fat, they don't. I don't even exist. Another says it messed me up when I finally gained weight. The stereotype that all tall girls are supposed to be model thin is dangerous. Then there was one person who shared, I have attention positive or negative when I walk into a room. This is a huge power that I a major introvert, wheeled to make friends wherever I go. This doesn't have to do with Thinness, but Thinness enhances it, so her saying this almost makes it seem like, yeah, her personality gets her like positive attention and so forth and so on. But I guess thinness is kind of that cherry on top. Being thin kind of like helps people treat her better or see her in a more positive light, if that makes sense now. Kind of flipping over to the other side. Being tall and plus size, there are different types of insecurities that come with that. Let's hear a couple of experiences. Not only am I fat, I am tall and fat I am five ten. I have always towered over all of my peers, adding to my own feeling of feeling like an outcast. Not only did I feel like an outcast because I was noticeably taller than everyone else in the room, I had the apron belly that no one else had, and then I had a flat butt and skinny thighs. I have always felt like an outcast because of the way that I look and shopping for this body type in the past, especially as a teenager, was so challenging because even if I did happen to find jeans that my belly and my legs angels jeans, thank you for being there for me, then the knee area where your knees go, We're in the wrong place. And that just also felt super uncomfortable. I feel like I've had ill fitting clothes for my entire life, no matter what I do, because not only do I have a unique body shape that no one is making clothes for, I'm also broad shoulders. I always have been. I've got big breasts, and honestly, I have just never felt like I fit in because of my body shape, my height, and if you look at me in pictures next to my shorter friends, I just stand out like a sore thumb. And let's talk about this because being tall and plus size is not for the weak, because you're literally big in every possible way and you're still gonna be big body bands no matter what, because even if you lose weight, you're still tall out size eighteen and I'm five to ten. Even if I lose weight, I'm still going to be big. When it comes to dating, that has like its own set of challenges because this is like a vanity thing. I want a guy who is much taller than me. I want someone that's my height or shorter than me, Like, I do not want that. But what I have noticed is the super like tall guys they want the girls that are. Short, and I'm like, sir, who are literally made for each other. Even on like dating apps, when you like see like when guys put their height when they say they like five ten and five eleven, I'd be like, are they really five ten five eleven or is it given like five nine five eight? And even with like friendships, it's hard because I have always been like the tallest friend, Like I've never had a tall friend like ever, and I didn't realize that until I gotten older, which is so crazy. All my friends are short, Like I have friends that are plus sized, friends that are skinny, friends are like mid size or whatever. They're all short. It's crazy like walking. You know, through the world feeling like you're a giant. Now there's another Reddit thread. As you could tell, I'm finding a lot of these things on Reddit, but you know, people share a lot of stories on Reddit. So but there's another Reddit thread titled tall and plus size where this six to one woman who is about two hundred and eighty pounds and a size eighteen slash twenty like in clothing. She shares how being a tall woman in today's society is already hard enough, but being tall and plus size is even more of a struggle. Growing up, she was always the tall girl in school. I'm pretty sure a lot of people, a lot of us, can relate to that. She had a hard time finding cute clothes. Guys never had crushes on her, she was told her arms were fat. So in this sense, it's almost like being tall and plus size is seen as a double whammy, Like, oh, you're already tall, you already stick out from other people, You're towering over your peers, you may be a little bit awkward and so forth, But then being plus sized on top of that, people make fun of you for being tall, and people also make fun of you for being plus sized or being on the thicker side. I feel like experiences like that makes a lot of tall women feel pressured to be thin, like model thin, as one person said earlier in this episode. Under one the reddit threads in you guess did another Reddit post, a tall woman shares that she feels pressured to be thinner than her less vertically gifted female friends. Because she's already quote unquote big in terms of height, she also can't be quote unquote big in terms of weight in order to be accepted. And you know, scrolling through these comments, many tall women feel the same way. However, there are also tall women saying that we should be aiming for a healthy weight and being confident, and you know, that's actually very very true. We should be aiming for a healthy weight for our body, for our age, for our height, and so forth. We should be aiming for a well nourished body that can function optimally or as optimally as possible, rather than being thin, because that can also be very dangerous to our health, especially in the long run, especially as we get older. I've been seeing a lot of these videos about, hey, women should be building muscle, Women should be maintaining muscle as well as maintaining a good amount of fat, because when we get older, our bones are gonna need that, our hormones are gonna need that in order to function in our old age. If you are thin and you have brittle bones, you're not gonna make it. That sounds really bad, but essentially what I'm saying is that if you don't eat enough, if you don't eat how much you're supposed to eat, as well as exercise and so forth and so on as you get older, that can be extremely detrimental and actually could potentially lead to earlier death. So with this discussion, I kind of want to open up the floor. Are there any toe g relies out there who feel pressure to be or stay thin, like maintain a thinner body type, because some feel as though they're big vertically so they can't take up any more space. In other ways, it's just very interesting to see how tall women are aware that they do take up space, like being tall, inevitably you take up more space than the average height woman does, because they feel as though, okay, they already take up more space in the average height woman. It's like they feel a little bit insecure in gaining weight because I'm my gosh, I'm taking up yet more space or even more space. And it's like height is relatively uncontrollable, I mean, unless you want to go through surgery and break bones. But even height, what is it hight reduction? Yeah, heighth reduction surgery. That's even rare for doctors to perform but it's been done. It's been done before, so you know, height is relatively uncontrollable unless you want to get that height reduction surgery, which may or may not be expensive, who knows. But weight is more controllable than height is. So they're going to try to do what they can, whether it's eating less or working out more, just whatever they can do in order to stay on the thinner side and therefore take up less space, or honestly, even just being accepted by their peers, being accepted by society, which is kind of crazy because there are people who accept you as you are, whether you're thin, mid size, plus size, whatever it may be. There are people out there who will accept you for who you are. And if you're around people who aren't accepting you for who you are, for your true self, then those are people you shouldn't really be around. But just seeing the comments or people, you know, even telling a tall woman herself, oh but you're like tall and skinny, so it's fine, or you guys remember that trend where it was like, oh, basic fit, because being tall and skinny is a fit. That's just absolutely wild. But things like that or oh but you could be a model or even in one of the comments that a tall girlly said earlier. Yeah, like, if you lose weight, you could be a model at least. You know, it's like weird, but hearing comments like that honestly just makes the situation worse. Anyways, I just want to leave you with this. Tall women's bodies are beautiful. We should be able to exist without feeling pressured to look a certain way to be accepted and listen. I also acknowledge that I am on the thinner side for other reasons I'm not going to get into. I am tall, and I am on the thinner side, so I understand easier said than done. You know, I know that there are other tall, mid sized women out there, tall plus sized women out there who have had different experiences and also have their own insecurities, who understand more than I personally do. So if you want to share your stories and your thoughts in the comments, whether on YouTube or whatever podcast platform you're listening to right now, please do so. You can even send me a DM and so forth, and we can have a conversation about this. You know, that's the whole point of these episodes, to open up the conversations for this and I want to thank you for tuning into this episode. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you of course. Again, as always, feel free to hit me up on my socials at a Tall Grows podcast are going to be linked below, and let me know what you thought about this topic. Let me know what you thought about this episode. If there's anything that you want me to talk about in the podcast, also feel free to let me know. And I appreciate you guys, And thank you in advanced fingers crossed for the birthday wishes and yeah, I will catch you guys in the next one. Good night and goodbye.