I've been short my entire life. All the way through school, I was guaranteed to be in the front row of every class photo!
This means I'm quite used to people meeting me for the first time, and saying, "You're short!" (Believe me, it happens). And they're not wrong - compared to the average/mode/median of the population, whichever reference point you'd like to use - I am short!
Here's the thing, I love being the height I am. Standing 151cm tall, I can use my fingertip-to-fingertip length as a handy guide when measuring up a space. I never have to worry about legroom. I never hit my head on any low overhanging branches or beams. More than all of those practical things, I've learned to be content in who I am and how I am.
The world, however, can send some pretty suspect signals that being short is a liability. Just think of how we use the word "short" in everyday life: falling short; being short changed; getting the short end of the stick; shortcomings... the list goes on.
Beyond language, many of the objects and systems we interact with every day are made with taller people in mind, for example, kitchen bench heights, supermarket shelves, chair depths, bathroom mirror placements. Even the airbags in our cars pose greater risks for shorter people (who generally sit closer to the steering wheel).
It's understandable that objects and products need to be standardised according to averages. Even designing for the 95% of the population still leaves out millions of people! But as a short woman, I interact with products and objects every single day that were not designed with people like me in mind - including most women's clothing!
So what does all this have to do with the word "short"? If you look around, most clothing ranges for women up to 160cm (5'3") are labelled as "petite". In English, we've borrowed the word "petite" from the French, meaning "small".
At On A Good Day, however, we wholeheartedly embrace the word "short". To us, the word "petite" is problematic for two main reasons:
The word "petite" seems to be a euphemism. A euphemism is used to talk around something potentially offensive or unpleasant. Being "short" is not offensive or unpleasant. It's a perfectly good way to be!
"Petite" can be confusing, as people tend to associate it with a slender body type, rather than as describing only height (which, technically, is what it's meant to mean).
At the end of the day, maybe it's a small thing, but it matters to us. What do you think about the word "short"?
Signing off,
Gill
