Another rant. I was thinking about the clothing industry and the media today and I had to write this down.
I'm a girl. I'm 5 feet, 11 inches, or 71 inches. I weigh about 145 pounds. I'm slender with a few curves -- I think I'm pretty well-proportioned. I do have a bit of a tummy, but I'm fine with that. I usually wear a size large T-shirt or top and either size 8 or size 10 pants, depending on the brand. (It usually ends up being size 10, for reasons I'll detail in the next paragraph.)
So why is it so hard to find a pair of jeans that's long enough without being so big round my waist that I look like I'm swimming in them? Either they fit right on my waist and they're a couple of inches too short, or they're long enough and the huge waist makes them fall down even more. It's like girls my height are expected to be a certain butt size, and I'm too skinny to fit that.
Why are most of my shirts too short? Why can't I find flattering tank tops that don't make me look way fatter than I am?
I see all these ads everywhere for pants or shoes that make your legs look longer. I have long legs already! Just give me clothes that fit!
And speaking of ads and media, where are all the role models for tall girls? Where are the teen fiction novels featuring girls who are 6 feet tall? Where are the movies starring tall actresses? The Hunger Games is about a petite girl: Katniss. Divergent is about a petite girl: Tris. Fifty Shades of Grey (which is a terribly abusive book AND movie) is about a petite girl: Ana. (And there's another problem: that Ana is becoming a role model for girls my generation and younger. So wrong.) Sure, there may be fewer tall girls than short girls, but that doesn't mean we can be ignored. We need role models too. We need someone like Katniss to show us that tall girls can be bada*s.
Here's what I think: men find tall women intimidating, and men control the movie industry, and probably the publishing industry too. Short women aren't threatening to male supremacy, so they can safely flood the media. Our culture dictates that in a couple, the man is taller. What does that tell tall girls when all the taller guys are dating petite girls?
I don't see anyone in the media who is tall enough to influence my fashion choices. Isn't that partly what the media does to young, impressionable girls? Taylor Swift is the only tall young woman I can think of, but she's blonde, and her style is very different from mine. I need options, plural.
I'm a cellist and I want to have a performing career, but I'm scared that I won't be able to find nice clothes that actually fit well enough so I can wear them onstage without having to get their shape completely changed by a tailor. I'm scared that I'll be part of a string quartet with other girls or women and they'll all be shorter than me and we'll want to wear the same dress but it won't be available in a size that fits me. I'm scared that I may someday have a daughter who inherits my genes and she won't have any role models except me, and classical musicians are bad fashion role models for people who just want to dress casually.
There is nothing in the media or anywhere today that even begins to calm my fears.
