The Infantilization of Short Women Vs. The Adultification of Tall Women | Height = Sexualization

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 eleven or twelve, or even a teenager, strangers or even distant family members assumed you were one, two, or even five 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 babyfaces. So sometimes it's kind of like, wow, do I really look that old? 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 make sure you're following me on my social 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 can catch a glimpse of my every day life. Also, feel free to leave me review and let me know how it's all you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter, make sure you subscribe to that. Everything is gonna be linked in the description. I hope y'all are doing fantastic. I am seeing Charlie XCX tonight. What you can watch me pillow up on your body like it's not gonna take my clothes off and know why to special bind I get you bess, 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 of my full glam well, I mean there are audio listeners, so does it matter, well. Yes and no. Anyways, I need to do this so I can get out of here. But we're gonna make sure we have all of the goods, all of the tea, and all of the amazing information in here for you guys, 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 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 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. 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. 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 service level, but trust me, it goes much deeper than that. And we're gonna 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. 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 and I guess you could say it's partially understandable, but not really. But ultimately, children are shoulder they come out the womb. They're not going to be full sized, Like I definitely did not come out the womb at five to ten 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. And fantilization 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 for love, and the comments you got are nasty. And extremely disrespectful. Obviously, society pushes off half these things because you see a short girn and they're like, oh, but men will love you. And the most tame common you can get from a man is fun size. And it's still disgusting when you're a child yet constantly pushed on. This idea that what's feminine is all pink and purple and sparkles. But as soon as you grow up and you stick to that, all of a sudden, you're childish, having 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. Since I started working, it's the 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 want to girl is dressed, although still professionally, but a little bit more girly, more colorful. They're not taken as seriously, 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 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 has played out in pop culture. And you know, this little bit, I will say was definitely inspired by another commentary YouTuber. Her channel is nk's World. 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, as she brought up, was pop star Sabrina Carpenter, who happens to be five feet tall. Sabrina Carpenter, who is five feet tall, where she happens to be seen as babyfaced 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 esthetic cells. Sabrina's once again being called out for being overly sexual and fantilizing herself and her concert not being kid friendly. Infeminine is oftentimes infantilized and sexualized, and the blame is then placed on the woman instead of on the sickos more like claiming that she tries to be childlike yet sexual, which is weird. But she avoided doing a bedroom pose when she dressed as tinker Bell. You know, a character associated with kids. It that women are still expected to be a safe haven for kids that they don't. Have and are expected to help raise. Whenever 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. 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. 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. They 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 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 and on the sickos. We've even seen it, as the commentary YouTuber mentioned with Britney Spears, who happens to be five four, and she was heavily infantilized in the early two thousands with the schoolgirl outfits 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 five ten, five eleven, 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, 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 infantalization it 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, 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, 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 talli ldren, get ready for the judgment because people always think that they are older than they are, 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, tour My daughter was two. Granted she looked for but she didn't say anything back. She just hid behind my legs, 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 could you not? Once I was at a family friend's barbecue and I was offered a drink because they thought I was of a I was fifteen. I mean, I know I'm tall, but when you looked at my face, I did not look twenty one. 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. 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 kids, taller children, even tall teams. 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. Or they could be sexualized because they are perceived as adults and can do adults 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, 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 of course. As always, feel free to hear 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 adult 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. 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 chitchat and just say anything. I'm open to it as long as it's appropriate, of course, And yeah, until then, I'll catch hell in the next one. Good night and goodbye.