July 27, 2007

To be (tall) or not to be (tall) ?


On my birthday, not knowing anyone in New York where I’m interning, I recruited as many fellow interns as possible to celebrate with dinner and drinks.
Most of them were guys, and most of those were shorter than me.
“Don’t you know better than to where heels when you’re going out with a bunch of short guys?” one of them whined.

It had been a long time since a man had complained about my height - I’m 5’10” - and I’m not sure I’ve ever had someone suggest I change my footwear to accomodate his own vertical predicament.

The question: Should tall girls keep their heels in the closet?

It’s not that I don’t take my height into consideration when I’m selecting pumps. If I know I’m going out with a shorter guy I want to impress, I obviously wear the hottest flats I can find.
But heels make your legs look great. They are sexy and fun and sometimes less casual than flats. It’s a bit unjust that shorter girls have all the fun shoes without anyone raising an eyebrow. I, on the other hand, stand over 6 feet when I put on regular, 3 inch heels.

There’s always the model argument. Supermodels are at least 5’9”, according to citimodels.com, and they certainly wear heels fearlessly!
Even though I am generally attracted to guys over 6 feet anyway, it remains in the back of my mind when selecting shoes: will it scare guys off if my heels are too high?

Apparently I’m not only one. This question has come up several times on message boards across the Web, and I have seen a recurring pattern in the responses. Girls tend to say “Go for it!”, including one tiny chica who said “Every time I see a tall girl slouching and wearing flats I want to slap her. ‘You lucky bitch! Do you know how good you've got it?’”
Tall guys echo the ladies’ enthusiasm, and short guys continue to whine. Now we’re starting to reach a conclusion...

So let’s do the math. The average height of a female in the United States is 5’3”. The average height for a male is 5’9”, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
That means there are plenty of short girls out there for the guys who are so self-conscience about their height that they think it’s ok to make girls feel self-conscience about thiers.

Which brings us to our answer: Spin around in your highest heels and wait for a guy who can appreciate you, even at your tallest.

1 comment:

scribbles said...

Aloha. I too am a 5'10'' gal who is taller than most guys. I haven't dated a guy yet who was noticeably taller than me, but I still wear my heels and wear them proudly. I refuse to conform to a short man's vertical agenda! In fact, I just bought some delicious heels today that push me well above 6"!

Sorry this may seem random. I stumbled across this blog after stumbling over another blog linked from overheardinathens.com.
Keep up the good work! I love it!