DCUM has shaken my identity.

[Anonymous]

I’m 5’4 and consider myself average height. Actually walking around the world among other women I also feel average- in a room full of women I’ve never felt noticeably tall or short

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM is very weak when it comes to statistics.

Indeed. E.g., 5'7" is NOT average for white American women, FFS. Also, I don't think people understand how narrow the distribution of height for women is.

The average height for American American women aged 20-60 is:

non-Hispanic white: ~164 cm or 5'4.5"
non-Hispanic black: ~163 cm or 5'4"
non-Hispanic Asian: ~157 cm or 5'2"
Hispanic: ~158 cm or 5'2"

What's a tall woman? Let's say anything over the 75th percentile. For American women aged 20-60, that would be:

non-Hispanic white: ~168 cm or 5'6"
non-Hispanic black: ~167 cm or 5'6"
non-Hispanic Asian: ~161 cm or 5'3.5"
Hispanic: ~162 cm or 5'4"

What's a short woman? Let's say anything under the 25th percentile. For American women aged 20-60, that would be:

non-Hispanic white: ~160 cm or 5'3"
non-Hispanic black: ~159 cm or 5'2.5"
non-Hispanic Asian: ~153.5 cm or 5'0.5"
Hispanic: ~153.5 cm or 5'0.5"

What's really tall? The 95th percentile in height for American women aged 20-60:

non-Hispanic white: ~174 cm or 5'8.5"
non-Hispanic black: ~173.5 cm or 5'8"
non-Hispanic Asian: ~166 cm or 5'5"
Hispanic: ~153.5 cm or 5'6.5"

*apologies for any rounding errors

Well we have our answer. Looks like we can pack it up, folks.

[Anonymous]

Average height but low IQ

[Anonymous]

I’m 5’6.5” and I consider myself on the taller side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'8" and think I'm tall, but there are still plenty of women my height or taller.

I think of 5'6" as an average height. You are what standard sized clothes are designed for.

If I buy regular length pants, they are an inch or two too short. If I buy the tall or long version, I have to get them hemmed. I bet the regular length fits you perfectly.

You are making an error in logic with the bolded. A huge number of women are under 5'4" and can wear petite size clothes. But you are ignoring that entire part of the population and looking only at women who are not petite, and because OP is in the middle of that taller group, she seems "average" to you. But only because you have eliminated like a third of all women from your assessment.

People do stuff like this all the time. Like often on DCUM, people will totally ignore all people living in poverty or even working class people, in assessing whether their income or financial circumstances are average, below average, or above average. But in reality almost everyone on DCUM is above average in terms of finances because few poor or working class people frequent this website. But they exist!

PP here. Not sure I understand the error. Women 5'4" and shorter wear petite sizes. Women above 5'8" fit best in tall or long sizes. Standard sizes seem to fit best on women 5'5" to 5'7", maybe 5'4" to 5'8". Either way, OP is right in the middle of that range - she is the perfect height for most standard sized clothes ("standard" meaning not petite or tall).

Now, I do understand that many retailers only sell petite and regular. Not everyone sells tall options. But that doesn't mean the tall women don't exist, it just means they shop elsewhere.

You are misunderstanding the distribution. You think there are as many women over 5'8" as there are under 5'4" and that straight sizes are designed to cover the median woman.

In reality, the median woman is 5'4" and it's just that half of all women are designated as petite. Which is why stores are far more likely to carry petite sizes than tall sizes -- the market is much larger. This might be different in other countries, but in the US, where there is a broad range of ethnicities resulting in a wider spread of heights, half of women are petite and women over 5'8" are more of an outlier (this might not be true in, say, Norway).

+1. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand. The “average” woman in the U.S. is 5’4”. It doesn’t matter what retailers classify as normal vs petite vs tall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:5’6-5’8 is average for a woman.

It is amazing how people continue to post incorrect opinions in the face of actual data.

Highly educated people.

A lot of people struggle with statistics and things like probability. No snark— just a fact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'8" and think I'm tall, but there are still plenty of women my height or taller.

I think of 5'6" as an average height. You are what standard sized clothes are designed for.

If I buy regular length pants, they are an inch or two too short. If I buy the tall or long version, I have to get them hemmed. I bet the regular length fits you perfectly.

You are making an error in logic with the bolded. A huge number of women are under 5'4" and can wear petite size clothes. But you are ignoring that entire part of the population and looking only at women who are not petite, and because OP is in the middle of that taller group, she seems "average" to you. But only because you have eliminated like a third of all women from your assessment.

People do stuff like this all the time. Like often on DCUM, people will totally ignore all people living in poverty or even working class people, in assessing whether their income or financial circumstances are average, below average, or above average. But in reality almost everyone on DCUM is above average in terms of finances because few poor or working class people frequent this website. But they exist!

PP here. Not sure I understand the error. Women 5'4" and shorter wear petite sizes. Women above 5'8" fit best in tall or long sizes. Standard sizes seem to fit best on women 5'5" to 5'7", maybe 5'4" to 5'8". Either way, OP is right in the middle of that range - she is the perfect height for most standard sized clothes ("standard" meaning not petite or tall).

Now, I do understand that many retailers only sell petite and regular. Not everyone sells tall options. But that doesn't mean the tall women don't exist, it just means they shop elsewhere.

You are misunderstanding the distribution. You think there are as many women over 5'8" as there are under 5'4" and that straight sizes are designed to cover the median woman.

In reality, the median woman is 5'4" and it's just that half of all women are designated as petite. Which is why stores are far more likely to carry petite sizes than tall sizes -- the market is much larger. This might be different in other countries, but in the US, where there is a broad range of ethnicities resulting in a wider spread of heights, half of women are petite and women over 5'8" are more of an outlier (this might not be true in, say, Norway).

+1. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand. The “average” woman in the U.S. is 5’4”. It doesn’t matter what retailers classify as normal vs petite vs tall.

DP. That doesn't really address OP's question though. There's a distribution around 5'4" which is still average. A woman who is 5'4" and a half isn't tall simply because she's above the mean, that's not how distributions work. You still have to figure out much taller than average you consider tall.

[Anonymous]

I think I’m the shortest poster so far - 4’11. Short in real life and short here on DCUM!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently made a post in the fashion section and mentioned that I'm 5'6 (woman) and many responses referred to me as short.

I've always thought I'm on the taller side for women and now I'm mind blown that I might be short.

How tall are you and do you consider that short, average, or tall?

I am 5'2 and I am perfect! Who cares what other people think?

[Anonymous]

You are average height.

Why do people give DCUM so much power?

It is crazy!!!

[Anonymous]

Nothing worse that the lifelong curse of being short.

[Anonymous]

5’6 is not short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m 5’6.5” and I consider myself on the taller side.

Same. I always add the half. 😉

The average size for a woman is 5’3. I’m often looking down at parties when talking to women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 5'8" and think I'm tall, but there are still plenty of women my height or taller.

I think of 5'6" as an average height. You are what standard sized clothes are designed for.

If I buy regular length pants, they are an inch or two too short. If I buy the tall or long version, I have to get them hemmed. I bet the regular length fits you perfectly.

You are making an error in logic with the bolded. A huge number of women are under 5'4" and can wear petite size clothes. But you are ignoring that entire part of the population and looking only at women who are not petite, and because OP is in the middle of that taller group, she seems "average" to you. But only because you have eliminated like a third of all women from your assessment.

People do stuff like this all the time. Like often on DCUM, people will totally ignore all people living in poverty or even working class people, in assessing whether their income or financial circumstances are average, below average, or above average. But in reality almost everyone on DCUM is above average in terms of finances because few poor or working class people frequent this website. But they exist!

PP here. Not sure I understand the error. Women 5'4" and shorter wear petite sizes. Women above 5'8" fit best in tall or long sizes. Standard sizes seem to fit best on women 5'5" to 5'7", maybe 5'4" to 5'8". Either way, OP is right in the middle of that range - she is the perfect height for most standard sized clothes ("standard" meaning not petite or tall).

Now, I do understand that many retailers only sell petite and regular. Not everyone sells tall options. But that doesn't mean the tall women don't exist, it just means they shop elsewhere.

You are misunderstanding the distribution. You think there are as many women over 5'8" as there are under 5'4" and that straight sizes are designed to cover the median woman.

In reality, the median woman is 5'4" and it's just that half of all women are designated as petite. Which is why stores are far more likely to carry petite sizes than tall sizes -- the market is much larger. This might be different in other countries, but in the US, where there is a broad range of ethnicities resulting in a wider spread of heights, half of women are petite and women over 5'8" are more of an outlier (this might not be true in, say, Norway).

+1. I don’t get why this is so hard to understand. The “average” woman in the U.S. is 5’4”. It doesn’t matter what retailers classify as normal vs petite vs tall.

Well we can add that height is only one factor in clothing size. I am 5’2” and prefer a size 2/4 over a petite 4/6. My limbs are long, or something, because regular sizes, sometimes hemmed, are almost always better on me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing worse that the lifelong curse of being short.

I’d rather be short than tall but I’d prefer to be average height over both options