Women over 6' tall, Women under 5' tall...please check in with your stats.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

5’11" here (and female, despite the misleading name).
The height is just a fact of life. Extremely introverted, and was painfully shy when I was growing up. Being tall was a disadvantage because it’s very hard to be inconspicuous when you tower over everyone else.
FWIW, my equally tall sister, mom and cousin are happy extroverts.

I never cared if a man was shorter but it bothers lots of men. I’m fairly well proportioned but most of my height is in my legs. Real bummer to get along great w/ a guy, then have his face freeze over when I stood up and he realized how tall I am.

My main complaint? Clothes. Shopping is a nightmare. I’ve found a few local stores and some good catalog outlets for clothing w/ adequate length. It’s pricey and I resent it, but most mall clothing just doesn’t have enough hem to let down. Second worse complaint: airline seating, etc. I usually specify an emergency exit or first row behind a bulkhead because otherwise my knees are jammed right into the seat in front. I can’t possibly cross my legs, and sometimes can’t even slew sideways enough to ease the pressure. It’s hideously uncomfortable.

When I renovated the kitchen I deliberately raised all the counters 3" above standard. The carpenter warned it’d effect the resale value of the house it’s been worth it in daily stooping saved.

Would I change it? It’d be nice to be 2-3" shorter maybe for the reasons above, but otherwise I’m fine w/ it.

Veb

22

On another random aside, the mention of inseams earlier made me think of my issues. I have a 38-40" inseam. I dare you to easily find an inseam that long that doesn’t also come attached with a 40+" waist (mine is 36). Yes, finding pants is pretty difficult, so I do my best to just walk around casually naked (although they don’t let me volunteer at the senior citizen’s home anymore.)

23

Although I don’t fit your parameters, I do have something to add about being short.

I’m 5’4" which is the North American average for women, and I too have all the problems that’ve been mentioned above. I’ll also add: the people behind deli cases in grocery stores never see me, I can’t comfortably reach the horizontal bar on a bus, and peepholes on doors are always too high. The only city I’ve never had a problem in is Vancouver, where even my kitchen cupboards were a decent height.

I swear this entire continent (except, for some strange reason, showers in the western US*) was designed for six foot tall men.

*[sub]Every shower head I’ve used west Nebraska is too low, even for me.[/sub]

24

So here’s one of my dirty little secrets, which I will now share with the people in this thread, and about 12,000 of my closest friends - I say that I’m 5’0" exactly, but at my last physical, I was measured at 4’11 1/2". Don’t tell anyone. Of course, that was a while ago; I might have gotten my extra 1/2 inch.

Most everything said here about being short applies to me too. Finding clothes, high shelves, being taken for a 12 year old (this happened a couple of months ago, and I’m 23 years old,) reaching the ceiling bar on the subway, all of it. I must admit, the fact that my feet often will not reach the floor depresses me (and like racerx, I often sit cross-legged.

However, I do get an advantage. I did (still do, as soon as I find a group) a lot of theatre and choral singing. Short girls have an excuse to be front and center, all of the time. Hey, I gotta see the conductor. And I’ve worked in a couple of comedic bits, based on me standing next to guys who are more than a foot taller than me.

I’ve been short all of my life, as have my mother and older sister, so it never seriously occurred to me to want to be tall. I still don’t, even if clothes are all made for women who are 5’9" and 100 lbs. I know that my very tall female friends have a hellacious time finding clothes too. Not that I’d cry if I woke up tomorrow at 5’6", but I wouldn’t wish for it.

I’m not small-framed, definitely curvy, and I’ve been told I have a rushed and serious air, so like Opalcat, no one thinks I’m as short as I am. A close friend and I had an amusing moment recently: we sat together on a couch. I extended my legs, he extended his, and he realized anew how short I was.

I’m an introvert, but with a very extroverted side. I adore attention, if it’s on my terms. And given the chance and right circumstances, I will happily goof-off or sing in front of random strangers. And I’ll discuss my height at great length.

Oh, and here’s my non-scientific height survey: height has no correlation to male voice part (the tenors aren’t necessarily shorter than the bartiones and basses.) FYI.

25

Just want to chime in on the optical illusion idea-- I get the same thing. I’m only 5’ 3", but I usually wear chunky shoes which give me an extra inch or three. Most people don’t seem to realize I’m as short as I am. I have kitchen cabinets I can’t use because I can’t reach the top shelves.

I went shopping with a friend, who happens to be 5’ 11", once, and as we’re trying stuff on in front of a big mirror-- without our shoes on-- she gets this look of amazement on her face, peers down at me from her loftiness, and says, “I didn’t know you were so short!”

Frankly I’m so used to the height I get from my shoes, I feel weird wearing flats.

26

Try finding 32" waist, 40" inseam jeans off the rack sometime. (That is what Tom wore… he had a hell of a time, but damn he looked sexy!)

27

I get the optical illusion thing even barefoot. I don’t understand it.