Height is often a source of discussion, especially if you are extremely tall or short. Being extremely tall or short is not something to gawk over. The average height for males in Canada is 5’8, and the average height for females is 5’3. It’s easy to see the difficulties that come with not being average height. Whether you are a 6’6 male or a 5’2 female, many of these difficulties include crowds, clothing, and health problems.
JORDYN:
There are many struggles for being short, including shopping for clothes. Clothes come in all sizes for adults and kids, but sometimes the items do not fit properly. For example, if you are 5’2 and buy a maxi dress for the summer, expect yourself to keep stepping on the bottom of it. Or simply wear heels. Many fashion models wear clothing made for women 5’5 to 5’8, so most clothes are made for that specific body type, according to an article by Paula Darnell, a petite fashion expert. Most of the time short girls end up in the kid’s section of Wal-Mart or Winners only because the clothes fit. Part of the issue though is kids do not have the same body shape as women.
Not only is finding clothes difficult for women but for men too. According to the Huffington Post’s article on 13 shopping struggles that only short men understand, many men have to deal with their bottoms being too big, saying that they are too long for shorts or too baggy.
ALEX:
Although the struggles of shorter people are understandably difficult, the trials and tribulations tall people face are much worse. Stepping on the backs of your pants sounds bad but clothing can be hemmed to fit the person’s legs. You can always shorten what you have but cannot extend what you don’t. Too much is better than too little. According to newmodels.com, the average male commercial print model is 5’11.5” tall. The extremes are 6’3 and 5’8. Height usually means larger body parts, like bigger hands, feet and head. The sizing of clothing for tall people is a double-edged sword. When shopping for shoes, it’s hard to find any size above 12. This is because the average Canadian male has size 10 feet. Once you do find a store that carries your size, there is very little selection because there are fewer people who wear such large sizes.
JORDYN:
Not only are clothes a big deal, being in a crowd is a struggle. A short person in a crowd is like a needle in a haystack: hard to find and easy to lose. The Canadian National Exhibition is a good example of how vertically challenged people can get lost in a big crowd. It’s easy to get lost in the showrooms where there are many people who sell products and many people walking around. This is especially hard when you are below average height with anxiety.
ALEX:
There may be some positives to being tall in large crowds, but anybody with a kind bone in their body will feel bad when they elbow short people behind them, if they notice. Sometimes those short people will be brave enough to ask to step in front of you. Honestly, we don’t mind. It is much like those horrible class photos from elementary school, with tall people in the back. But really, being tall in a crowd or audience isn’t fun. It always draws you away from the action at the front because you let the short people go ahead. Granted there are some major bonuses, like getting your own supply of fresh air and not breathing in the stench from someone’s armpit. But the emotional stress and guilty conscience weighs heavy.
JORDYN:
After not being able to fit into clothes or getting lost in a crowd, the biggest worry about being short is health. An ABC news article, written by Katie Moisse, reviews 52 studies involving over 3 million people who concluded that shorter people have a 50 per cent higher chance of developing heart disease than tall people. There is no exact reason why.
There are also aches and pains to being short. An example is having to look up to everyone who is taller than you, which can cause pain in your neck and lower back. You also have to climb on top of things in order to retrieve an item, which can lead to falling and hurting yourself.
ALEX:
There are some more serious risks of being tall. According to a study published in PLoS Medicine, for every two-inch increase above 5’3 the risk of developing ovarian cancer rose seven per cent in women. For tall men, there is an increased risk of prostate cancer, which correlated to leg and trunk length. If you think about human height in terms of dog breeds and their differences in size, being tall is not a good thing. Great Danes, widely recognized as the largest dog breed in terms of height, only have an average lifespan of eight years. Smaller dogs, such as Chihuahuas, have an average lifespan of about 16 years, which is double that of the Great Dane. A study conducted by T. T. Samaras and L. H. Storms showed that people taller than 5’8 lived, on average, 5 years less than people shorter than 5’8.
JORDYN:
There are many negatives to being vertically challenged, including having huge items of clothing, getting lost in a big crowd and having horrible health issues. Short people face many struggles. These are only a few of them. Being average height is not something to be upset about, at least you didn’t get the short end of the stick.
ALEX:
Being a tall man may seem to have its perks, like being able to reach the top shelf and the general views on height being an attractive feature for men, but it comes at a cost. People make fun of your pants, asking “Where’s the flood?” Not to mention the emotional struggle of being torn between seeing your favourite band up close and personal or being nice and not blocking other people’s views. There are many health risks to go along with an increase in height as well. But the single most annoying thing about being a tall guy must be the first question nearly everyone asks… “Do you play basketball?”
