Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:5”4 is an average height for women. Why is that something that’s controversial?
It's not unless you think facts are optional.
It's because it doesn't take genetic background into consideration and that’s what people are comparing themselves against. I'm 5'4. For every country of my heritage (white, Northern European) the average height is 5'6 to 5'7, so 5'4 is short. Sure, the average female height in Nicaragua is 5'1, so maybe 5'4 is tall! But people compare themselves most directly to people who look like them. The US is extremely heterogenous so you get a lot of extremes that play into that average but it might feel like that doesn't apply to you. It goes in both directions.
wtf. This is the US, so people compare themselves to those they see around them every day, which includes people of all races. Unless you are a racist who only hangs out with other people from Northern Europe.
Anonymous wrote:I was always first or second in size place. Now I'm 5'2. Stayed short.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:5”4 is an average height for women. Why is that something that’s controversial?
It's not unless you think facts are optional.
It's because it doesn't take genetic background into consideration and that’s what people are comparing themselves against. I'm 5'4. For every country of my heritage (white, Northern European) the average height is 5'6 to 5'7, so 5'4 is short. Sure, the average female height in Nicaragua is 5'1, so maybe 5'4 is tall! But people compare themselves most directly to people who look like them. The US is extremely heterogenous so you get a lot of extremes that play into that average but it might feel like that doesn't apply to you. It goes in both directions.
Anonymous wrote:No. I was the shortest kid in my class every year in elementary. I am now average height for a woman (5'4"). For a long time I still thought of myself as short, though, and it was only after numerous people told me as an adult that I was weird for saying I was short, that I eventually figured out that I wasn't. It was just hard to shake this identity that had been deeply engrained in me as who I am throughout my childhood. Even in HS, people referred to me a short or little, even though by then I now realize I was probably approaching average and actually had friends who were shorter than I was for the first time. I'm not sure why my growth spurts just kind of went unnoticed. Maybe they were too gradual.