I know I have, but we’ll get into that a little later. But I’m sure when you were like 11 or 12 or even a teenager, strangers or even distant family members assumed you were 1, 2, or even 5 years older than you actually were. And then when you told them your actual age, they were surprised. I mean at that age, many of us have baby faces, so it’s sometimes like: Do I really look that old???
But what if I told you that regardless of whether or not people know your age, except maybe parents or close friends, people may treat you a certain way and perceive you a certain way because of your height. And yes, this goes for both tall and short girls.
So without further ado, let’s get into it!
Today, we are talking about how height affects how we are treated. Fun fact: We are talking a little bit about the short girlies and how they’re treated based on their height and will delve into that same topic for tall women. I know this podcast is for tall women, but I think for the purposes of this episode, it’s helpful to explain how this applies to the short girlies and compare that to the tall girlies.
Tune in to the full episode where I talk about the infantilization of short women, the adultification of tall girls, and how both affect how we are treated and sexualized!
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[00:00:00] Has anyone ever mistaken you for being older because of your height? I know I have but we'll get into that a little bit later. But I'm sure when you were like 11 or 12 or even a teenager, strangers or even distant family members assumed you were 1, 2 or even 5 years older than you actually were. And then when you told them your actual age, they were surprised. I mean at that age many of us had baby faces so sometimes it's kind of like, wow, do I really look that old?
[00:00:29] Except maybe parents and close friends but regardless of whether or not they know your age, people may treat you a certain way or perceive you a certain way because of your height. And yes, this goes for the tall and short girlies. 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 tuning in today is doing super fantastic. Before I get into this episode, I do want to say,
[00:00:58] make sure you're following me on my socials at A Tall Girls Podcast on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest 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. I hope y'all are doing fantastic. I am seeing Charlie XCX tonight. Like, what? You can watch me pull up on your body like it's summer.
[00:01:26] Take my clothes off in the water. Splash around and get you blessed like holy. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I'm actually seeing her the day that I'm recording this, not the day that this episode goes out. So I need to hurry this up and get ready to leave. I probably should have gotten ready before this podcast episode. Could have been here all in my full glam. Well, I mean, there are audio listeners, so does it matter? Well, yes and no. Anyways, I need to I need to do this so I can get out of here. But we're going to make sure we have all of the goods, all of the tea and all of the amazing information in here for you guys
[00:01:55] so that you can, you know, enjoy this episode and maybe even find some relatability in it. Anyways, so today we're going to be talking about how height can affect how people treat us and even sexualize us. And fun fact, we're going to start out with this topic in relation to short girlies. And listen, I know that this is a podcast for the tall girlies, but I think that for the purposes of this episode
[00:02:20] that it would be very helpful to delve into that realm and then kind of compare it to how it affects tall women. It'll make more sense as the episode goes on. So just just sit tight and stay tuned. And with that, there are kind of two main things that I want to shed light on. Number one is that height plays a major role in how people treat you. For example, if you're tall, people are more likely to assume that you're older and treat you that way, no matter your age.
[00:02:47] But if you're shorter, people are more likely to treat you like a child, even when you're a full-blown adult. And then going off of that, people really don't talk about this, but height is often used to sexualize women. It really comes down to how you're perceived because of your height. So basically, you're somebody's mommy or somebody's baby. There's no in between. Yeah, I know it may sound a little bit weird at surface level, but trust me, it goes much deeper than that.
[00:03:15] And we're going to start off with the infantilization of short women. Okay, infantilization kind of sounds like an intense word, but let's define it really quickly. To infantilize is to treat someone as a child or in a way which denies their maturity in age or experience.
[00:03:31] Some quick examples of this include restricting autonomy, dismissing their opinions, using baby talk or patronizing language, controlling their emotional expression, or even limiting access to information and social connections. So essentially, just treating them like a child. And I guess you could say it's partially understandable, but not really. But ultimately, children are shorter. They come out the womb, they're not going to be full size.
[00:03:59] Like I definitely did not come out the womb at 5'10 and a half. Let's just say that. But in essence, children are typically shorter. So when somebody sees a shorter person, they may naturally associate them with youth or being youthful or being younger. And therefore, may naturally treat them like a child or perceive them as a child. And let me tell you, some shorter girlies do not like this at all. Let's hear from one of them.
[00:04:24] Infantilization and sexualization of petite women and women who are very girly is insane. It's almost like you're never taken seriously and you're constantly viewed as childlike. Someone who's 4'11, the comments you get are nasty and extremely disrespectful. Obviously, society pushes off half these things because you see a short girl and they're like, Oh, but men will love you and the most tame comment you can get from a man is fun size and it's still disgusting. When you're a child, I constantly pushed on this idea that what's feminine is all pink and purple and sparkles.
[00:04:53] But as soon as you grow up and you stick to that, all of a sudden you're childish. I have a very strong personality and demeanor because there is no way that I am letting someone walk over me. And since I am also a Latina, that gets me a lot of comments of, Oh, you're feisty. It's the never being taken seriously. Or since I started working, it's a constant comments of, Are you even old enough to work here? Like, do you think I want to be here? There's also companies that when a girl is dressed, although still professionally, but a little bit more girly, more colorful, they're not taken as seriously.
[00:05:23] And at times it even gets looked at as if they can't be doing anything important within the company. They have to have a really small role that will barely require education. If you're part of a marginalized group, these behaviors tend to get amplified. But even looking at the comments under this video, many people agree. Many agree saying people speak to them in condescending tones or even baby them. And it's also interesting to see how this is played out in pop culture.
[00:05:48] And you know, this little bit, I will say, was definitely inspired by another commentary YouTuber. Her channel is NKsWorld. I love Homegirl. I love all of her takes and so forth. But she did speak a little bit about the infantilization of celebrities. She was talking about celebrities who were on the shorter side. And I was like, okay, like, I definitely think that hype plays a part in their infantilization. So one of the celebrities that she brought up was pop star Sabrina Carpenter,
[00:06:17] who happens to be five feet tall. Sabrina Carpenter, who is five feet tall, where she happens to be seen as baby faced and cute. But I mean, her album name, Short and Sweet, did kind of play into this. And her style partially, and I say partially, plays into that as well. And you know, it's kind of a marketing choice because this type of aesthetic sells. Sabrina's once again being called out for being overly sexual, infantilizing herself, and her concert not being kid-friendly.
[00:06:45] Being feminine is oftentimes infantilized and sexualized. And the blame is then placed on the woman instead of on the sickos. Paula claiming that she tries to be childlike yet sexual, which is weird. But she avoided doing a bedroom pose when she dressed as Tinkerbell, you know, a character associated with kids. Hate that women are still expected to be a safe haven for kids that they don't have and are expected to help raise. Whenever a woman is finally confident in their sexuality, it's like they're constantly reminded that their life goal is to have kids, not to enjoy the way they're made.
[00:07:15] Sabrina didn't try hiding the fact that this is a sexual album. It's very much not for kids. People can't erase this Disney image of her, although it's been years. In certain environments, if you are a woman who is short, it's hard to get taken seriously. It's oftentimes like you're viewed as immature, childish, just because of your height. You get very disgusting very quick. And if you're very feminine, it adds into it the whole, oh, you know what you're doing. Being very feminine, being very girly at a very young age
[00:07:42] is pushed heavily onto the identity of being a girl. Pink, purple, sparkles. Then when you grow up, if you're still attached to that, it's viewed as childish. Again, something not taken seriously. Something viewed as a fetish. Like you're catering to something, always putting the blame on the woman instead of on the sickos. We've even seen it as the commentary YouTuber mentioned with Britney Spears, who happens to be 5'4". And she was heavily infantilized in the early 2000s with the schoolgirl outfits
[00:08:11] and the pigtails and portrayed as both sexy and innocent. Now, I'm not saying that height solely played a role in this, okay? But I firmly believe that it did play a big part in this. I mean, I don't think you really have people saying that or seeing Taylor Swift, who is what, like 5'10", 5'11". I don't think you have people saying that about her or seeing her in that light. It's often the shorter girlies, the shorter celebrities, I should say.
[00:08:38] Their shortness or their height did play a part in their childlike, innocent appearance. And often this is twisted into something sexual, as disgusting as that sounds. Because how, why would you associate that with a child? But there are just some messed up people in this world. But essentially, infantilization is not only used to treat short women like children or like they're younger or like they don't know much of anything or to not take them seriously.
[00:09:08] But it's also used to make them appear submissive, non-threatening, and even desirable that caters to the male gaze. And then now on the flip side, we have adultification. The adultification of tall women. And yes, adultification is a real word. Adultification is the biased perception and treatment of children as more mature and responsible than they are, leading to expectations of greater responsibility,
[00:09:34] less need for protection, and harsher disciplinary actions. Some examples include holding someone to higher standards, expecting them to assume more adult roles prematurely, applying harsher punishments for misbehavior, and so forth. Let's listen to this little clip of some subtle judgment that was placed on this woman's children because those children were on the taller side. If you're like me and you have tall children, get ready for the judgment because people always think that they are older than they are,
[00:10:04] so they expect more than they're capable of. And the judgment comes in waves. My son just turned one in October, and I'm already having people make comments to me about, why are you carrying that boy around? He just turned one. It's taken me back to when my daughter was little. And I have so many stories, but I remember one time we got on an elevator, and there was an older woman on there that said hello to her. My daughter was two. Granted, she looked four, but she didn't say anything back. She just hid behind my legs.
[00:10:33] And the woman proceeded to give me a strict lecture on how I was raising such a rude child. Now, while this adultification is often projected onto minority children, it's also projected onto taller children. When you were younger, and tall for your age of course, did anyone ever assume that you were older than you actually were? Oh my gosh, I kid you not. Once I was at a family friend's barbecue, and I was offered a drink because they thought I was of age. I was 15.
[00:11:02] I mean, I know I'm tall, but when you looked at my face, I did not look 21. But something interesting that I've noticed is that taller children are often expected to act more mature for their age, or take on more responsibility. Because they look older because of their height. That really goes to show how something as simple as height can shape people's expectations of you. And not just that, taller kids are sometimes also treated as adults. And I am not pulling this out of thin air.
[00:11:29] There are tall women on Reddit actually saying this exact thing. They're saying that because they looked more adult than some adults, they were expected to act as such. And ultimately, there are kind of two directions with this adultification of a taller kid, taller children, even tall teens. One, they are treated more harshly, or people think that, oh, they're able to handle it. They're able to take it and so forth.
[00:11:53] Or they could be sexualized because they are perceived as adults and can do adult things. So essentially, all of this infantilization, adultification, the assumptions, they all ultimately shape how we see ourselves growing up and even into adulthood. Whether we're tall or short, these messages we receive growing up can affect our self-image and honestly make us question if we're too little or too much.
[00:12:22] And especially heavily on the last part as a tall girl. I think sometimes as tall women, we're made to feel as though we are too much. We're too tall. We take up too much space. But the truth is, that's a lie. We shouldn't have to shrink ourselves to be worthy of love and respect and confidence. We should be able to stand tall both literally and unapologetically. So that is all for today's episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it and I appreciate you.
[00:12:52] Of course, as always, feel free to hit me up on my socials and let me know what you thought about this episode. Do you agree with the whole infantilization, adultification scenario? Is this your first time hearing about adultification? At least through the lens of a tall person and how that may even affect younger tall people as they're growing up. I'm actually very curious because I'm not saying that this is my first time hearing about it because I knew what it was. I just didn't know the term for it, if that made sense.
[00:13:21] So maybe we both learned. Maybe we both learned today. And of course, yeah, like hit me up or even put in the comments. Let me know any of your experiences that you've had. And I don't know, maybe even experiences that you've seen other people go through and so forth. Or even if you just want to chit chat and just say anything, I'm open to it as long as it's appropriate, of course. And yeah, until then, I'll catch y'all in the next one. Good night and goodbye. Bye.