I spent a long while deliberating over what I could write about for my personal reflection, and I
finally decided to write about an issue, which has effected both myself and my
family, that I feel is often overlooked. I wish to discuss the issue of body positivity
within society, specifically, as I have experienced it, a stigma that exists
against tall girls. Now I understand that this issue is not as predominantly
harmful as body issues such as fat shaming, and that in fact many of you would
assume that being tall is widely regarded as a positive trait. However, all the
women of my family and I have, in our experiences growing up, felt a subtle
prejudice against tall female bodies which affected us deeply. I shall attempt
to describe how this issue has affected me throughout the years and how I
believe education could combat it, however please keep in mind that my
experience is limited to the way in which this stigma is felt by cisgendered,
heterosexual, women; and I assume that this stigma effects people of different
gender identities and sexualities very differently.
Firstly, it is important to note the massive
underrepresentation of realistic height differences in the media, which has led
to the development of gender binary height stereotypes. To put it simply, within
media, and particularly in regard to on screen couples and casting, women are
rarely seen to be as tall as their male counterparts; let alone taller than
them. This lack of accurate height difference caused both me and my sister to
believe in detrimental concepts about our height throughout puberty, namely
that we would have a hard time finding a romantic partner due to our height;
because relationships wherein the girl is taller than the guy are not “normal”
and are perceived as “weird” (And when I see such couples I often hear murmurs
around me asking “how does that even work?”). This has also led to the
development of gender based height stereotyping, wherein girls are “supposed”
to be short, and boys tall; as commented on by Biernat, Melvin and Nelson in
their study of stereotypes, who state that “…subjects strongly and consistently
rely on group stereotypes when judging the heights of individual targets. As a
result, other things being equal, male targets are judged to be taller than
female targets”[1]. This distinction can be seen to impact
negatively on both tall women and short men, as bodies which do not conform to
this stereotype are perceived as “abnormal”. This concept severely impacted me
in year 10 of highschool as, after being typecast to perform the male roles in
any dance and drama activities due to my height, I became paranoid that
everyone around be perceived me as being masculine. This also served to
compound the notion in my mind that I would naturally have a difficult time
finding a romantic partner as boys liked girls who were “cute”, and it was
heavily implied that only short girls fit that stereotypically feminine
category.
There are many more ways in which I can discuss how this “essentialized”[2]
and gender based view of height has effected my family, however as I am running
out of space I wish to explore how teachers can prevent such stereotyping from
negatively impacting their own students. It is incredibly important that these
stereotypes are dismantled through a focus on teaching “body positivity” within
the classroom, that extends beyond the diversity of “body weight” that is
currently taught. For example, a PDHPE class should, when informing students
about different body types, have a focus on “gendered” body elements; how many
bodies are composed of a mixture of stereotypically male and female parts and
how body types do not signify particular genders (e.g. a tall body with small
breasts should not be perceived as explicitly masculine). It is also important
for teachers to take the possible insecurities students might have because of
these stereotypes into consideration, such as giving tall girls the option whether
or not to fill in for masculine roles in class; instead of letting their height
dictate which role they play and how they are perceived and helping to develop their
gender identity and body confidence.
It is thus evident how the implementation of such strategies
will help to create a body positive environment for students who do not comply
with stereotypical views of gender based body traits and I hope that such
stereotypes can be eradicated before they can negatively impact future generations
of tall women, as they have with myself and my family.
(And if any of you are interested in any more opinions on this issue you can find that I have spoken about it before here)
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