The other day, I was checking out at Safeway when an older man walked up to me and said, “Gosh, you’re too tall to wear high heels, aren’t you? Are you an Amazon?” When I calmly replied, “No, I’m an Oregonian,” my roommate — standing at a petite 5’6” — was shocked at my reaction. “He was so rude,” she seethed as we grabbed our bags and left. “Like, aren’t you angry that he made a comment about your height?”
Truth be told, while I knew that the man was being rude, I have become so desensitized to comments about my body that they don’t really bother me any more. I’ve been 6 feet tall since the eighth grade, so I’ve become an expert about fielding remarks about my height by now. Still, sometimes being the tall girl in a group of friends can feel very lonely, so I’m here to remind all the tall girls out there that they are not alone, and there are certain things that all of us of elevated height can relate to.
1) “Do you play volleyball? No? Oh, so you must play basketball.”
2) Finding jeans long enough is almost impossible.
3) Your superpower is getting things off high shelves for the less vertically gifted.
4) Most guys are shorter than you…
5) …So you get reasonably annoyed when they go for shorter girls.
6) You hit your head a lot. It’s just an occupational hazard, really.
7) When you wear high heels, the effect is a little bit scary (but you still look awesome).
8) When you ride in the backseat, you feel like your knees are shoved up to your chin.
9) “How’s the weather up there?”
10) It’s easy to be self conscious of your body, but at the end of the day, you are gorgeous, fierce, and tall enough to step on anyone who gets in your way.