In July 2007*, 29.1% of you replied that you felt petite women can get sexy roles in film and television, in addition to "cute"/"BFF" roles. But what is sexy, anyway? It seems that for short women, it is skank. How many modern petite celebrities are seen as sexy, yet "mysterious?" What about "classy?" When it comes to classy, I can only think of Scarlett Johannson. Other petite women, such as Christina and Britney, are, well, not exactly what one would call lady-like. Especially not Britney. And 4'11" reality show/MySpace star Tila Tiquila isn't making it any better. She's actually making it worse. Way worse. In fact, based on the few clips I've seen of her and the gossip I've read, this girl is pure TRASH! So what's going on? Why can't shorter actresses (I can't really think of any singers who fit into the "lady-like" category) be seen the same way as, say, Cate Blanchett (5'8"), Gwyneth Paltrow (5'9 1/2") or Halle Berry (5'7")?
So what about Reese Witherspoon? Well, her roles as Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest and Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair don't fully put her in the lady-like category. Not only are these period pieces, but Cecily was an annoying ditz and Becky was a social climber. Most of Reese's roles that take place in the 20th century and 21st century centre around girl-next-door types (and one "real person" role) and she certainly isn't portrayed by the media the same waytaller actresses mentioned above are. Neither are other petite actresses. It's not that we don't want another Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn (neither were petite, by the way) these days. We've compared taller actresses to them, and certainly, Scarlett Johannson gives off that vibe. But other petite celebs? Certainly not. Cute or skank. Mostly skank, IMHO. Sad, no?
*Question was: Do you think the media lead us to believe that petite women can't be "beautiful" in the old fashioned movie star kind of way (think Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn)?
