Tall Women Are Not Your “Bodyguards” | Why Are Tall Women Expected To Be Strong All The Time?

Let's start this episode with a scenario. You're in school, whatever grade you wanted to be. It could be middle school, junior, high school, high school, college, grad school, even in Your teacher or a professor announces to your class that she needs help carrying several textbooks from one room to another. She doesn't even let people volunteer, She just starts calling on people randomly, and you are chosen. So you go with the other students who are chosen to this room where the textbooks are, and when you get there, you realize it you're the only girl, as the teacher picked all boys, well all boys except for you. Anyways, she starts giving textbooks to students and she hands you four textbooks and says, nice and strong. As you are carrying these textbooks to the other room, you wonder why am I the only girl when there were other guys in the class that she could have chosen. Well, but we'll be discussing that reason today. By the way, this is actually a true story. This happened to me in seventh grade, and for a little bit of context, I was actually the tallest girl in the class. So today we're going to be talking about the strong stereotype that's associated with tall women, and trust me, it goes way deeper than carrying heavy textbooks. So without further ado, let's get into it. Good morning everybody. You are currently listening to a Tall Girls podcast hosted by a tall girl named India. I hope everyone who's sunding 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. Out a Tall Girls podcast and it is going to TikTok in Pinterest, so that you can stay up to date on all of the latest podcast episodes. I catch a glimpse of my everyday life. Also, feel free toly me review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter, makesure you subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description I am telling you. Before I started recording this episode, the birds were not having a party, and every time I start these episodes, especially now with the weather getting warmer, the birds have been partying. So I'm gonna try my best to drown them out in my editing. But if you hear I'm I'm pretty sure you've heard the Birds in the past few episodes, so if you hear the Birds having a party, I tried my best. Anyways, Yes, the scenario I gave earlier is a true story. This happened to me in junior high school. And shout out to the teacher. Even though I don't remember her name, but I remember her face very clearly and all the rings that she wore. She was like a pretty cool teacher. She had really cool style for the most part, because it was also at a Catholic school, so I don't think anybody was really allowed to wear exactly how they would dress in the outside world. Maybe, but listen, I don't know, but her rings were pretty cool. And I also don't think that she meant the whole nice and strong thing in like a bad way or a harmful way. I'm pretty sure she meant it and a yeah like girls can do anything, girls are strong to this, that, and the third, rather than trying to be insulting in any type of way. But looking at the overall situation, it's kind of like being the only girl that was chosen with like a whole bunch of other guys, especially when there were other boys in the class that she could have chosen, but she chose me, being the only girl with the group of guys, the nice and strong, already being insecure with my high mixed with the fact that I was the tallest girl in my grade, and then on top of that, I think I was like one of the tallest, one of the three tallest people in my grade. I don't know, it just the situation, the scenario just stuck with me and it was just really it felt really weird in that moment, and even talking about this topic now, definitely a little bit weirder. But I don't think again it was in any harmful type of way, but it was like kind of done in a subconscious Listen, I'm going to get into it as the episode goes on, so the whole scenario will actually make more sense. And listen, I'm not saying that the girlies aren't strong, the girlies can't carry heavy stuff and stuff like that. Yes, we can, like we can do anything we set our minds to. But in my childhood, I was definitely, I don't want to say, singled out a lot, but I was somehow always paired with the boys, always paired with boys, and this was like one of the scenarios, and I was always paired with the boys. I was also always paired with the boys in gym class in middle school and high school and things of that sort. So having that happen over and over again, I just never understood it at the time. And yes, okay, I will say that I was pretty athletic. I was one of the more athletic students, but even so, still constantly being paired up with the boys like it was just confusing for me, and I never truly understood why. And I feel like the strong stereotype that's associated with tall women kind of plays a part in that. All of this shows that many people assume that height is associated with physical strength, So the taller you are, the stronger they assume you must be. And this idea can be pushed onto tall women where sometimes we're expected to be able to carry heavy things or perform more physical labor. And listen, I'm a firm believer that women could do anything we set our minds too. But some of y'all got us feeling like the Hulk. Let's hear another tall woman's perspective, And just. Because I'm tall, that don't make me hulk either, you know. What I'm saying. I'm not Ronnie Coleman. I can't lift eight hundred pounds and I'm not gonna fight off three foul mem for you. You know what I'm saying, I'm not your bodyguard. That's another thing. Not all tall women are just so strong. I know some very you know, not so strong tall women that really you know, they're not you know, they're still you know, soft women. You know what I'm saying. But I can hold my own I tell you that, don't try it. And yes, this can honestly be framed in a positive light. It can be advantageous that, you know, people see taller women in a way that they think that we're strong, we're stronger, I guess. But it can get strange after a while because this also kind of ties into masculinizing tall women. I hate how being tall is instantly seen as like a masculine thing. Like I was going through the comments of a few videos regarding E. J. Johnson, and people are like, oh, tall and strong, you know, tall, strong boy, tall strong man, and it's like, yeah, he's like six something sixty seven. I don't know exactly, but as a tall woman. Again, I hate how being tall is immediately equated to like masculine, manly. Tall women are seen as more masculine, while shorter women are seen as like, oh cute, petite and feminine. Like even shorter women will say, oh my god, you're so big. I'm not big. I'm tall, like. Let's get it, let's get it. Strike though, even though I absolutely love my height, like I'm learning to really just walk in it. I've always loved it, but it kind of hits different as you get older, as you learn like yourself, your style, it just hits a little different, you know what I mean. But outside of that, I hate how tall women are kind of forced into a more masculine role, no matter how feminine she is. And that's another thing I want to say. I'm not a dominant woman because my physical appearance is intimidating because I'm taller. Maybe some people might see dark skin and feel like that's masculine, and I'm toned that might come off as masculine. Because I appear to be more dominating, people assume that my personality is going to be like bully run over. I think I'm better and I'm very very just like grounded. I'm very feminine, I love all the womanly. Things, and when people kind of like make that assumption that tall women are stronger and tall women can you know, carry heavy things and perform more physical labor and so forth. While they may mean no harm, when it starts happening over and over again, whether it's from the same people or from different people or whatever, over the years, tall women start to take note, and so this whole strong stereotype thing, it goes much deeper than being able to carry heavy things or do more physical labor. It definitely affects how we're seen in our relationships, friendships, for romantic even for example, I actually use this red a post that I'm about to talk about now in a different episode, but this Reddit post it was mainly talking about something else, but it also included a little part about how this tall woman feels protective over her shorter friends because her hype makes her more physically intimidating and in the club, weird dudes back off of her friends when she steps in, like she doesn't have to confront them or anything, like her hype basically does all the talking for her. And this led me to another Reddit post title, people think of me as a bodyguard, and I hate it. Where a six foot tall, three hundred pound twenty nine year old woman. But this is like three years ago, so what is she? She's like thirty two now period quick maths. But she explained that growing up being the tall friend, the tallest kid in the class, she's been told that she's the girl who looks terrifying, who's family, friends, and strangers have kept her close because they're just so fragile will be safe with her. She also feels like she has to shove down her own emotions or fears because someone needs her to be their stronghold or protector. And honestly, reading this made me a little bit sad. For starters, tall women get called a lot of things like intimidating manlike big or giant, But terrifying that's a bit much. I mean, I'm sure there are worse things. Not to invalidate that though, because being called terrifying because of your height is kind of crazy. Actually fun fact, there's a new nickname for the tall girlies these days, six seven. Even the birds didn't like it. Yeah, so that's going around middle school in high school right now. It was like a comment somewhere I think on my YouTube or like a DM or something. But someone did comment that I saw that. I was like, what's like, Oh my gosh. Whatever. Back to the point of this episode, the heighth component our height makes some people, including our shorter friends, feel as though we are their protectors or their bodyguards to some degree. And while yes, okay, everybody is gonna be and should be protective of their friends, like we want to protect each other, we want to protect our community, and so forth, but some people do, in fact go a little bit overboard with this, Like it gets to a point where we can just tone it down a bit. Tall women are not your full time bodyguards. Tall women are not your boyfriends. We're also just girlies too, but many of us are unfortunately made to feel otherwise through comments like you make me feel so small, or I need a man who's the same height as you like. Those comments have to stop. And another thing, this one is for the gullies that have tall friends, like PSA, I'm not your boyfriend when we're out, don't don't do that thing where you like, oh my goodness, that small cut, Oh my god, it's so big and tall. Protect me. No the help. This is a message to all the shot people that have tall friends. Your tall friend is not your boyfriend. What did I say? Your tall friend is not your boyfriend. I'll say, you going to your point. Oh my god, you're just the perfect hype. Oh my god. If my mom was this hype, Oh my god, this my god, this, oh my I'm moyr mon. If your mom was this hype, Well he isn't. I'm sorry, I'm loyal, man, I'm not. I'm saying so like a very like jokey notes. It kind of came off us and mastudating your friends. So there's that. But then going back to the emotional aspect from one of the read a posts earlier of the tall girly saying how she has to turn off her emotions or turn down her emotions and fears. There's also that part feeling as though we're not allowed to have emotions, not allowed to be emotional, due to expectations having to be strong for others, not being able to be vulnerable. Oh you can handle it, You're fine, You'll be fine, You're gonna be okay. You're a big girl. Especially. I feel like this is definitely common in childhood, when we're expected to be more mature than other children who maybe are the same age as us, but because we're taller, we'revie'd as older and should be more mature. And of course there are a lot of other things along with height that kind of play a role in this, like being tall and black, being tall and plusized. That just makes it more likely to happen, or makes it happen even more. And you know, sometimes it happens from time to time. But when people just keep saying it, whether different people are the same, people just keep saying it over and over and over again, it does add up over time. Yeah, it may not be extreme to them when they say it, because they may just say it like once in the blue to you, or it's a stranger you never see them again, or whatever. But for you it kind of does start to feel extreme because it's happening so often, and the tough, strong amazon stereotype that once kind of felt empowering can kind of feel like a detriment after a while. It can feel like they're using your height or that stereotype as an excuse to treat you a particular way, whether it's to be aggressive with you, pairing you with the boys. I guess telling you that you'll be fine and you can handle it, and being extra rude and so forth, and over time, this does affect our self esteem and how we see ourselves more than people can honestly imagine. So that's my take on the strong stereotype with tall women. I'm gonna end the episode here. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it, and I appreciate you. Of course, that's always feel free to hand me up on my socials. So let me know what you thought of this episode at a Tall Girls podcast. Everything's gonna be linked below. You can comment wherever you're tuning in or watching or whatever it may be. But what are your thoughts on this? What are your thoughts on the strong stereotype? Do you feel like you're often asked to carry the heavy stuff? You're kind of like singled out where you also always paired with the boys in high school in junior high school, have you felt as though people think that you should not be emotionable? Emotionable? It is crazy. People believe that you shouldn't be emotional or vulnerable because you're a quote unquote big girl like you, like even were you told that in childhood? Did you feel like you had to act more mature in childhood because of your height, Like, let's have a conversation around this, let's talk about it. I would love to hear your thoughts on that, And until then, I will catch you guys in the next one. Good night and goodbye.