"You're Pretty For A Tall Girl" | The HARSH TRUTH About Beauty Standards for Tall Women

Tall girls just aren't that pretty. That was how we were made to feel, or that was what we were even told often growing up, whether it was by our crush, by our peers, even friends and family and strangers. And it's not like a one and done thing or every once in a while. It was fairly often, and it was recurring. In fact, it happened often enough that you begin to wonder, does everyone have the same viewpoint of tall women that were these big, awkward, for lack of a better term, skyscrapers. Why why do they think that I got three words for you, societal beauty standards. It's explained in a piece written by Sydney Clark in the Minnesota Daily, saying he has been inextricably associated with a lack of conventional beauty. Why is this the case? And how will we as tall women overcome this? That's what we're going to discuss today, So 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 is 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 Pinterest, so that you could stay up to date on all of the latest podcast episodes and catch a glimpse of my every day life. Also, feel free tole me review and let me know how tall you are. I'm genuinely curious. I also have a monthly newsletter it makes sure you subscribe to that. Everything is going to be linked in the description. We're just gonna divert into this topic today, I'm sure, as you could tell by that little intro that I had or even the title, we're gonna be talking about societal beauty standards and how it relates to tall women, because you know, we just we just love societal beauty standards because they're just the dumbest thing to quite literally ever exist, among other things. Of course, First let's get into what societal beauty standards are. Societal beauty standards are culture defined ideals or perceptions of what is considered attractive. They influence how we perceive others, how others perceive us, how we even perceive ourselves, and ultimately can impact anyone's self esteem. And it's heavily influenced by the media, by fashion, by social trends, etc. And can vary significantly across cultures and time periods. And see that's a very important part. It is different across cultures, across time periods, eras you name it. It varies. Take a listen to this little spiel really quickly, ladies. This is your reminder that all beauty standards are a social construct, that is, opinions and preferences constructed by someone else. Beauty standards is literally the dumbest, most absurd concept ever created. And let me tell you why. And this is why. Beauty standards literally do not exist, no matter how much society tries to create one or like we try to set on it literally does not exist by definition. The definition of the word standard is a measurement. But what's normal or average? That's the one thing all human beings have in common, that we're all different. No face is the same, no body is the same, no skin tone is the same, no features are the same, no anything. You'll have different fingerprints of the beauty standard. That's not even a thing. It's impossible for there to be a beauty standard. There's no such thing. Society's created it, but the reality is that first of all, beauty is subjective and second all humans are different, so there can't be a standard for so the word beauty standard does not exist. It's impossible get it out of your head. And plus society keeps changing the beauty standard every couple of years. So if the beauty standard changes, then it wasn't a standard to begin with. But yeah, these societal beauty standard changed like every three seconds. It seems like nobody can ever make up their mind. Just a very quick example, because I don't I wouldn't say that it's pretty recent, but it was spoken about a couple times in the recent past few months about how, first, at first many years ago, the BBL body was a thing, you know, the BBL brasilient buttlets, having that type of body, that slim, thick type of look, hourglass look, was a thing that was the trend to have. And then now we're seeing this shift where thinner bodies are back in probably you could even say more natural bodies where you see a lot of these influential people and celebrities getting their bbls removed to fit into this trend, or to fit into this beauty standard, or maybe for health reasons. Because I've heard a lot of things about BBLS. But listen, whatever, we're not here to talk about BBLS. We're here to talk about hype. And in regards to that, I'm just gonna say how many of us feel tall women will never fit into societal beauty standards. Plain an simple We're too visible, We command and demand attention. And this may be a bit controversial, but I argue that that is an amazing thing. But we're going to get into that a little bit later. Let's talk about beauty standards. Societal beauty standards in regards to height, as seen in a lot of pop culture, femininity and feminine beauty are largely defined by smallness, being shorter, being petite, and so forth, and this shortness is often associated with needing to be protected and being delicate, or just traits that fit patriarchal ideas of what women should be or how women should be. And how women don't fit into this, we're quite literally the opposite. And then going back to the piece by Sidney Clark in the Minnesota Daily, I'm going to be referring to this a couple times because this is a really this is a really insightful piece, I will say I agree with a lot of points that it made. But going back to that piece, the average woman in the US is around five to three five to four, so the taller side run into those tall girl struggles that we all know so well. And these societal beauty standards in regards to height are heavily influenced by the media. Number one thing being in a lot of heterosexual relationships displayed in movies and TV shows and so forth, the woman in the relationship is often shorter than the guy. So we see that over and over and over again, so that kind of wires are subconscious in a way to think that, okay, the women should be the shorter one in the relationship, or women should just be shorter than men overall. And I also spoke a little bit about this in another podcast episode about how in many animated films and cartoons and so forth, the villains are on the taller side. Yes, the male villains are often taller than the male protagonists, but also very often the women villains are taller than the woman protagonists. And we even see that being played out in real life in Disney World and Disney theme parks and so forth. With the real quote unquote real life villains being very much on the taller side. You also see that in social media or just scrolling through Instagram or TikTok. Some of your favorite fitness influencers, some of your favorite fashion influencers and content creators and so forth, are on the shorter side. So they're depicting their life on the shorter side. They're depicting their lifestyle through the lens of a shorter person. They're were enclosed meant for shorter people. They're doing fitness moves or exercises that are meant to help people on the shorter side gain muscle or whatever body goals they have. That's also seen as the norm because we see so many of them doing things like that. And even in the fashion industry with clothing, a lot of the bigger brands, a lot of the mainstream clothing often caters to people who are on the shorter side or what's seen as the average height. So these beauty standards that are put into place by these influences the media, social media, pop culture, fashion, whatever it is, that's also acted out in real life. For example, going back to the piece that I referred to earlier by Sidney Clark. She referenced to two thousand and five study by the University of Chicago and MIT and the influence of height in online dating services, and found that women who were six' three received forty percent fewer messages than women who were five to. Five you're, pretty you just be, pretty or if you were. Shorter that's something many of us tell. Girlies i've heard. Before but here's the thing who decided that being shorter was the standard of beauty for women last TIME i. Checked beauty does not have a high, limit but. Okay height is often associated with traits such as assertiveness and leadership and, dominance which some might describe as masculine. Traits, Right no masculine man wants to feel feminine the same way no feminine woman wants to feel. Masculine i've never had an issue with, like real men who are so confident in their, height who they. Are, yeah you, know treat Me, yeah, oh less. Feminine SO i want every other girl to know, That, yeah it's not about your. STATURE i know the voice too. Dark SO i carry myself where in a very feminine way to assert, that AND i think people really Should, anyways many experiences like this often lead us to ask why does society favorite shorter women over taller? Women because shorter women fit into society's beauty, standards you, know the ones that say women are supposed to be, smaller, daintier more, delicate and overall. Petite, yeah that. One they're ultimately seen as a symbol of femininity and. Softness and then on the flip, side men are conditioned to think that they're supposed to be the larger quote, unquote, bigger taller. Ones, additionally people fear or don't like what's unknown to. Them they don't like what's. Different going back to HOW i said that the average head of a woman is around five point three five, four people are used to. That people are used to seeing people on the shorter side in their daily lives on social media and the media and so. Forth so when they see a tall women that goes against the, grain that's, different that's out of the. Norm it's quote unquote not supposed to be like. That women are supposed to be on the smaller. Side so who is this person who is just going against what many of, us many people have known for most of their. Lives it's, unknown it's, unfamiliar And, truthfully we as humans don't really like what's unknown and what's. Unfamiliar let's just that's why so many of us have a hard time dealing with. Change we don't like what's, unknown we don't like what's. Unfamiliar that's just how it. Is and then going back to that, Piece sydney brings up a very valid point that people put expectations on, us expect us to make efforts to minimize our, height like not wearing heels or, slouching as she, says or to use this quote unquote disadvantage in a positive way like. Sports i'm sure every doll person has heard this at least once in their. Lives you're wasting your height if you don't, blink so you're wasting your, height if you don't play, sports if you don't, model if you don't reach that thing off of a high. SHELF i don't, know but when did it become a thing that being tall is acceptable or valuable if you physically do something with. IT i. E i didn't know that it was a tall person's life mission to quote unquote do something with their, height in your, eyes and then this kind of leads into the next point Where, okay we already discussed overall general societal beauty standards when it comes to women and height with, women but what about societal beauty standards for tall women. SPECIFICALLY i did an episode where in the general public's, eyes being tall as a woman is acceptable if you are on the thinner, side and how being tall and plus sized is often frowned, upon and how people often call tall plus sized women big or large or giant or huge or even, ogre, yes even. Ogre AND i also spoke about how being tall and darker skinned as a woman makes people see you as more aggressive and threatening and intimidating and angry and even in people even assuming that you're. Transgender no, tea no shade if you. Are but it's just that when people make assumptions just out of the blue based on how you, look it's kind of like, why like why would you do? That you. KNOW i also even spoke about how tall women are sexualized through the lens of macrophilia because people are into people who are larger than life to, them and how it's, Like, okay if you're a very very tall, woman that's, fine as long as you know you're sexualized or use it in a sexualizing, way like, okay like we're fine with you being very very, Tall like we're not gonna get pressed about you being. Tall we're not gonna call you names or bully, you or make fun of your see you in a bad way or, whatever you, know because you're using it for the male. Gaze so that's. Fine geezh. Ooh this is a. Lot but you, know people like to place these labels on tall women and have these thoughts and ideas where it's, Like, okay it's fine that you're a tall. Woman you, know as long as you do, this as long as you play the, sport as long as you're, thinner as long as you're not darker, skinned as long as you let people sexualize you or you even sexualize, yourself giving everybody permission to do that to you as, well and, listen if that last part is what you want to, do go for it by all, means especially if you're making that coin in this. Economy BUT i will say that in allowing people to do that and you doing that to, yourself that also that also makes those people that are sexualizing that tall women think that it's okay to do it to any tall woman without their. Permission now that's that's the issue. Here, ANYWAYS i, Digress but What i'm saying is that that was a mix of societal expectations for tall women as well as you, know beauty standards that are placed on tall women. Themselves, anyways now that we know all about, that and we just we know this, information we've heard about, it we've lived through, it even what do we do about, it you, know because we can't just sit around and mope that's pretty, sad, like we can't complain about. IT i personally have done it way too many, times and let me say that has gotten me. Nowhere that's put me down deeper into a darker hole of me being even more sad and just even more sad about my height and just hating my height even. More AND i don't think that we should go down that rabbit, hole you know WHAT i. Mean and it's very tiring and annoying to go through all of, this especially because our height is something that we just can't. Control we're born with. IT i, mean unless you want to get surgery for, that because you know there are height reduction surgeries out. THERE i don't know IF i would recommend, that But. Yeah, Anyways i'm five to eleven and my height used to be my biggest. Insecurity and that's because as, women we are literally taught to take up less. Space we are taught that beautiful women are, small, delicate, seft, spoken and tall women are often portrayed as intimidating and. Masculine so don't be insecure about your. Height take up space as a, tall, strong beautiful. Woman as tall women is time we create our own standards of, beauty standards that don't try to fit us or anyone for that, matter into a tiny box of what's considered acceptable or. Attractive we deserve to be, seen we deserve to be, accepted and we deserve to stand, tall. Period so there's absolutely no reason to get wrapped up in these stupid societal. Standards, okay because the idea of what's seen as, beautiful the idea of what's seen as, attractive is ultimately. Subjective, yes we're fled by social. Media we're fed by regular smegular. MEDIA i guess you could say, MOVIE cev shows and all these other. Things we're often fed by these things to show, like, yeahleck this is what is. Quote unquote considered. Normal this is what's considered, Attractive this is what's considered. Acceptable that's what they're trying to feed out. There but AS i said, earlier it varies from culture to, culture it varies from person to. Person every single person has a different idea of what's considered. Beautiful so while it's often pushed out there that this one set particular thing is attractive or, acceptable and it's shoved down everybody's, throats it's kind of like why, though you know WHAT i, mean what's seen as cool to one person is not necessarily seen as cool to another. Person so just because, yeah you're seeing this on social, media and you're seeing this ON tv and so, forth that doesn't mean that it's. True just because you're seeing that in most heterosexual relationships the woman is short in the. Relationship if you go, OUTSIDE i assure you that at some point in, time at least, once you'll see a woman who is as tall as her, man or taller than her. Man and, see that's the thing that maybe that's probably a good reminder go outside and touch some. Grass go outside and touch some. Grass because we're being fed these ideas of what's considered. Beautiful we're being fed these ideas, that, oh being shorter as a woman is overall better by, technology by what we see ON, tv by what we see in online, articles by what we see on social. Media, anyways What i'm trying to say is that tell women are, beautiful tall women are, amazing and tell women have so much to offer each other in the. World THEN i guess just being an. Athlete, anyways thank you so much for tuning into this. EPISODE i really appreciate, it AND i appreciate you as. Always of, course feel free to hit me out about my socials and let me know what you thought about this. Episode do you agree with me about these societal beauty standards and how they're placed on to women and, saying, hey like being shorter as a woman is more. Attractive do you also agree about the standards and expectations that are set for tall women. Themselves let me. Know i'm genuinely very, interested and of, course until, THEN i hope you have amazing rest of your, day, night, weekend, life et. Cetera and until Then i'll catch you in the next. One good night and. Goodbye