Saturday, August 20, 2011

Tall women

Almost a month ago, I was celebrating my 41st birthday in the city with a bunch of friends. None of them were T. Actually, two of my friends were also celebrating their birthdays, so we decided to combine our celebrations and party together.

We gathered for drinks and dancing. As the night progressed, two very tall women entered the dance floor. When I say very tall, I mean super tall. One was likely 6'2", if not taller...and she was the shorter of the two. The other had to be at least 6'5". Neither of them were wearing heels. In fact, one was wearing flats while the tallest was wearing sandals.

This harkened back to my college days of staring at shoulders when attending sports parties. The football and basketball guys, half the women's basketball team, and most of the track guys were all up around 6' tall, so I hung out with the shorter half of the women's basketball team and anyone else in attendance who felt surrounded by a sea of shoulders. It was our own little group. I think I was the shortest male athlete on campus, so it actually worked in my favor by allowing me to get to know a few of the female athletes.

"Wow, they're tall," I told my friend on the dance floor.

"Yeah...I thought they might be trans," said my friend.

I had pondered the same thing when I first saw them, but easily realized that they were cisgender.

"They're not," I told her.

I know that a lot of taller women, along with many transsexuals, of course, fall into this stereotype, especially in San Francisco, but why is it that we assume any woman over 6'1" must be trans? Are they that rare?

1 comment:

Jessica Lyn said...

Speaking as one who is 6' and T, can I tell you that I see my fair share of taller women.. ones taller than me. While not something you probably see everyday, I still wouldn't see they are rare either. In fact the average super model is about 6' tall and there are plenty of them.

I do hate the stereo type tho.. the last thing I need is someone thinking I'm T just because I'm taller, even tho I am T.

I suspect finding a guy will be harder for me because of my height, and then I'll have to tell him I'm T.. I can already see him running out the door!