The time has come for sorority recruitment shopping, and with that means browsing countless online stores for the perfect pair of ripped but not-too-ripped boyfriend jeans and the perfect, long white dress. Being someone who reaches a staggering height of five feet, shopping for clothing that actually fits my petite body requires persistence and stamina.
Shopping isn't something I take lightly, nor is it something that is enjoyable; shopping is rather a hunt for the one pair of pants that aren't too long and the one-in-a-million floor-length dresses that don't require a pricy hem.
Not only does being short influence the clothing I can wear, but it influences how people perceive me. At some point in time, society decided that short people were exclusively "cute." A person whose height is below average apparently deserves to have their height pointed out numerous times a day and for their personality to be stripped to a single adjective. Even worse, when that short person also happens to be a woman, any sort of dignity or respect is diminished merely because of the way society has dubbed her of being; it's as if society truly believes a short woman who's confident and powerful is pure fiction.
If you think I'm being too dramatic concerning the plights of short people, and more specifically short women, take a moment to think of all of the short people in your life or all the short people depicted in media. Do you associate their height with their image more than their personality? More than their feats or accomplishments? If the answer is "yes," then I've proven my point; short people have had their entire existence shortened to the word "cute" and it is simply unfair.
One day I would like to be a lawyer, but there are many factors that give me reasons to believe I would not be taken seriously. The first being my gender and the second being my height. I fear that whilst I'm presenting a case in front of a jury, they will simply regard me as being cute and adorable, instead of well-informed and professional. It is truly an unfair association between one's height and one's ability, but society can't change with a snap of a finger. Hopefully, by the time I'm entering my law career, my intellect and skill will prove more powerful than my height.
