Media Just Don't Care About Us...

(the video is the short form of the following post)

Seriously, even supermodel Coco Rocha thinks I'm an idiot for wanting to increase petite awareness!!!   I recently posted something on her official Facebook page asking her about body image issues and height and her reply was this:


That's not really related to my issue. What I'm concerned about is the external pressure applied on already slender girls to slim down their bodies even further to a dangerous and unnatural level. As far as I know, no one can actually "pressure" a shorter girl to grow an extra 6 inches

I replied to her about how shorter celebrities aren't referred to as "beautiful/glamourous/elegant," but "cute."  Her reply was:

Everyone has a tough time finding clothes to fit. You should see me trying to find a pair of jeans that don't look like capri's! Every girl is different and fiscally its not practical to produce a million variations of each piece of clothing... if it was, it would be done because at the end of the day, businesses are out to sell clothes, make money.



"As far as celebrities being considered "cute" if they are shorter - I don't agree. I've seen "beautiful" and "glamorous" actresses like Scarlett Johanson and Selma Hayak and they are both over 6 inches shorter than me. If, as you say, some shorter women don't feel attractive, well hey, plenty of medium height and tall ladies feel the same

I did write back about how petite designers COULD have a large market if only people would talk about them.  No reply since then.  In fact, my posts have since been deleted from Facebook.  I also think she/her people took me off her fan page.


Of course, what would you expect from someone who is super-tall?  Why can't someone like Eva Longoria, Jada Pinkett Smith or Reese Witherspoon say SOMETHING??!!!!!  I've tried so hard to get media to talk, but as someone who isn't a celebrity, it's tough.  I've even spoken with magazine editors at Fashion Week, and while they "say" that they'll talk about petite issues, they NEVER DO (except to illustrate how petite people should dress once every few issues.  And even then, there's only ONE shape of petite).

Height, Power, Politics and the Office

Most CEOs are tall men. We know that. Stats show that. But little is acknowledged when it comes to women. Take a look at your office. Out of all the women in senior management positions, how many are petite? Or even on the shorter side of average? This is especially the case in jobs that are historically male-dominated. This makes it especially hard for petite women, especially young-looking petite women to break the glass ceiling. Sure, one might say that it's great to look young, because one will appreciate it once she hits middle age. But what good is it when everyone is a senior manager and you're not?

Does this have to do with what the shorter person wears? Or does it have to do with the lack of power a shorter person is perceived to have? Both? When it comes to clothing, it’s simply because the clothes don’t fit properly. Unless a petite woman wears something that is specifically cut for her height, no amount of alterations is going to make her suit (or whatever garment she’s wearing) fit properly. Jacket sleeves can be shortened, but the length of the jacket can’t be shrunken without altering its shape. And that could cost someone an arm and a leg anyway. Pants can, of course, be hemmed, but it can still look baggy because the rise of a “regular” sized pant is longer than that of petite sizes. In other words, it can look sloppy, which translates to “not too professional.” And what about the lack of power? In our society, the taller you are, the more powerful one is seen. Historically in the United States, the taller candidate is more likely to win the presidency. Of course, there have been exceptions. Since the dawn of television in the 1950s, only Richard Nixon (1972 election: Nixon was 5’11 ½” while his opponent, George McGovern, was 6’1”), Jimmy Carter (1976 election: Carter was 5’9” and his opponent, Gerald Ford, was 6’1”) and George W. Bush (he was shorter than his opponent in both 2000 and 2004. George W. Bush is 5’11” and Al Gore is 6’½” and John Kerry is 6’4”) have been shorter than the runner-up. And out of these three candidates, one resigned, another only lasted one term and the third is very controversial. In this upcoming US election, the popular and heavily favoured Barack Obama is 6'1" or so, while John McCain is a mere 5'7". John McCain is the one who is getting made fun of.

In the world of beauty, height is also praised. Short people, especially short women, are seen only as cute, while the tall are “glamourous” and “beautiful.” Taller actresses are also more likely cast in serious and dramatic roles. Tall women, even with normal, proportional legs, are described as leggy, yet a 5’2” woman with a 31” inseam won’t be (women who are 5’2” on average, wear pants with a 28” or 29” inseam.) Doesn’t make sense, does it?

Height discrimination vs weight discrimination

Recently on a Jezebel post about size issues, I was seriously criticized for bringing up height. Posters whom I've assumed are plus-sized kept on telling me that height discrimination isn't as bad as weight discrimination, because people don't think slimmer petites are "disgusting." Sure, most people don't think short people are "gross," but many think we're "cute," well into adulthood. I'd actually say that this kind of discrimination even worse, because outsiders don't think it's hurtful. They think they're complimenting you if they say that you look "adorable," because "adorable" is supposed to be something positive. But it isn't. Not in this case. People just don't understand that discrimination is still discrimination, no matter how you put it.

What makes it more challenging is that they don't listen to you when you tell them that you face issues as well. Petite discrimination is somehow dismissed, because height isn't something you can change without major surgery (I understand that some people need gastric bypass to lose weight, but that's supposed to be something done at last resort). So people don't think that it's as much of an issue. This is evidenced in the responses found on a video I posted up on YouTube last year. What makes it worse is that a lot of petites just don't really do much about it. Don't you think it's time that you said something too?

Short and Male - A video about heightism in China

We all know that it's worse for guys, but try being a guy in China. Guys under 5'5" are considered "disabled" by some (according to the video, anyway)!

However, I noticed that there's nothing about women there, but I know that women have height issues there too. Of course, the height requirements are probably lower, since women are, on average, shorter. However, there isn't much about short women's issues. I'm still trying to find a video about height issues women face, other than the ones Petite Fashionista or I make. Anyone know any?

July Shorty Stories Survey Results

24% said: Yes! I usually add one or two inches.

2% said: Yes, but since I'm tall, I take away an inch or two.

24% said: Not usually!

AND AN OVERWHELMING 50% said: No, I'm proud of my height

This month: Do you wear capris?

Boys and growth hormones

According to a Daily Pennsylvanian article from May, boys in the US and Asia are more likely to face pressure to be "normal" (read: tall) than in other countries. In fact, they're twice as likely as girls to receive growth hormone treatment. In Europe and other countries, there's an even split. I guess it shows where the power is. The big businesses are for the most part, in the United States, and Asia is very much growing in terms of money. CEOs and many politicians tend to be taller (in the United States, the taller presidential candidate is more likely to win than the shorter one. The 2004 election was a fluke with 5'10" (5'11"?) George W. Bush winning over the 6'4" John Kerry) than average. These countries are also more traditional when it comes to gender roles (sure, the United States is light years ahead of many parts of Asia, but Europe, especially the Scandanavian countries, is well ahead of the United States. But that's another story for another blog).

I think it's time that we rethink our attitudes towards shorter guys. I don't think boys should be subjected to hormone growth treatments just because they're short (not that girls should either). I think our society as a whole needs to rethink what power is. Power should be about the brain, not what a person looks like. If we continue to believe that only certain shapes have "more presence" (i.e. tall males), women would find it much harder to get ahead and break the glass ceiling.

Hollywood, Petiteness and Leading Ladies (part one million)

I've noticed something really interesting that is true of Hollywood actresses to this day. Petite actresses who get good, versatile roles usually have something in common...they started their careers as children or a teenager. Take Natalie Wood (5' even, according to IMDB), for example. Her best known role as a kid was Susan Walker in original version of Miracle on 34th Street (just to note: Mara Wilson, who played the same role in the 1994 version is also petite, at 5'4" according to IMDB. But she could be much taller, since her last role, according to IMDB was in 2000 when she was 13 years old.) Elizabeth Taylor is 5'2". While she is most known to younger people, at least, for her grown-up roles like Cleopatra or Maggie the Cat, she too, started out as a kid in roles such as Velvet Brown (National Velvet) and the tragic Helen Burns (Jane Eyre, a role she wasn't credited for.) Today, there are actresses like Scarlett Johansson, 5'4" (kid/teen roles include: Kate Armstrong in Just Cause and of course, Grace MacLean in The Horse Whisperer), Christina Ricci, 5'1" (major childhood roles include: Wednesday Addams (The Addams Family and Addams Family Values) and Kate Flax in Mermaids), Natalie Portman, 5'3" (first full length role on IMDB was Léon in 1994) and Reese Witherspoon, who was 14 or 15 when she landed her first role in The Man on the Moon in 1991.

As for petite actresses who start at an older age (say, 16 or older)? I don't know if there really are that many outside of actresses known primarily for their roles on television. Can you name any?

Oh My God! You weigh WHAT???

The toughest part about being a skinny petite is weight. Oftentimes, when "normal sized" people somehow discover how much you weigh, they go into shock. They somehow can't believe that you can possibly weigh under 100 lb and still be a normal adult. We are such a weight-obsessed society that height plays second fiddle. It's no different from dress size. People "forget" that there are small adults in this world. And it's hard to make them understand, IMHO. Because they don't want to hear it. They'll tell YOU that they get it, but a second later, they'll be ranting on how no adult should weigh, say, 95 lb. SO FRUSTRATING! They also don't seem to understand that a petite person who gains an extra 5 lb is proportionately gaining MORE weight than someone who is taller. In an October US Weekly article, former Bachelorette, Trista Rehn Sutter wanted to go down to her pre-baby weight of 106 lb. At the time of the article I was reading, she was at 116 lb. On message boards, people were ranting on how 116 lb was very light, and that the media is driving Trista to go down to an "unrealistic" 106. But did they realize that Trista's 5'2"? And that at her height, isn't "very light"? And how is 106 "unrealistic" if that was her pre-baby weight? Are people seriously forgetting that she's 5'2" ? Sure, they say that someone her height should weigh 110 lb, but who cares if it's four pounds less? It's not like Trista's goal weight is 90 lb. It's 106!

I'm also not too-too surprised that she says she's a size 4. With vanity sizing going so beserk these days, size 4 in 2007 was a size 8 in 1987.

Not in the front row for a change!

I sing first soprano and tonight, I'll be participating in the Old Girls' (alumnae) Choir for my high school's holiday concert. The Old Girls' Choir isn't an official group - we pretty much perform at the chapel service once a year at reunion weekend and every five or so years when the entire school peforms at Roy Thomson Hall.

Throughout school, I've almost always been placed in the front row in choir and for class photos (unless they decided that the shortest people go in the back row), because of my height. Yesterday at rehearsal, I was, for the first time since Grade 4, placed in the second row from the front. The choir is a good mix of different age groups, but there aren't too many older women who have shrunk in the first soprano section - people's voices deepen as they age. So yeah, I'd say that I was pleasantly suprised when the choir director placed me in the second row (and I wasn't the shortest one, either!) Has this ever happened to you? Or were you always in the front?

NOTE: Please participate in the December Survey!