speech

Body Shame essay

I was just like everybody else in elementary school. Almost every girl was taller than all the boys. But I was average height, not even the tallest in my class. Then middle school came, on top of them already being very awkward years for any child, I had quite a growth spurt. Seventh grade I was one of the tallest girls. There were just a handful of us, about 3 or 4 that were the "giants". Thankfully, I had a group of neighborhood friends that didn't even look twice at my height. But, everywhere I went it was clear I was much taller than the average girl. In our culture the average height for a female is about 5 foot 3 and the average height for a male is about 5 foot 8 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. I am taller than the height of your average male! This was tough on me; it made me hate being tall.

English: The Centers for Disease Control and Preve...

English: A view of the Centers for Disease Control...

Deoc02 210px

Random people constantly feel like they can come up to me and ask me how tall I am. I don't get a "Hi, how are you," it's just straight to "How tall are you?" or "Do you play basketball?" I know that no one is trying to be rude, but take a step back; it's none of their business how tall I am. You don't see people asking short people or midgets for lack of a better word, how short they are. This is because in our society this would be considered rude.

After years of getting asked these questions, usually at least once a day, I've grown out of being annoyed. It has become easier to answer the quick question and keep walking. And for everyone's curiosity that is reading this paper...