https://www.theblueandgoldsmu.com/single-post/2017/04/11/Racism-in-SMU
Heightism in
April 11, 2017
By: Some short fuck
Right off the bat, allow me to present my disclaimer: these views belong solely to the author and not
If you haven’t already realised this, heightism microaggressions are surprisingly plentiful across
I’ve been in Singapore for more than half my life, and given the number of tall friends I’ve made, I can stretch high enough to reach most shelves. However, I would ascertain that it is reasonable to assume that most individuals do not enjoy stretching to reach things inconveniently far from their reach. So when I started attending certain project group meetings this semester that were conducted largely with tall men – despite a clear distinction of my shortness – I was shocked.
I generally don’t have an issue working in pre-assigned project groups, but I do have an issue when these groupmates are all tall AF and tend to overlook me as a short man because that’s convenient, and because they simply can. Perhaps it was just the group of people that I had the pleasure to be working with. Perhaps it’s a microcosm of larger issues in our society. Either way, the refusal to cooperate to such an extent simply because of one’s own convenience is deeply disappointing to witness, and I honestly hope that such incidents don’t become part of
I don’t intend to sound presumptuous or defensive in any way, and I do acknowledge that only a small fraction of our student population would behave as such. Although let’s not pretend that everyone’s favourite short stereotype isn’t… resting their arms and elbows on short peoples' heads. Yes, that one’s a classic. I cannot count the number of times that has been said or done around me— and to be honest, when it’s done in good humour, it’s fine. We all know how to take jokes.
But what happens when someone gives a class presentation about specifically wanting to break such arm-related stereotypes, and then proceeds to mock it with a strange version of their own rest stance? Needless to say, they do not get a loud applause. Although my short male professor did not say anything to them, I apparently wasn’t as big a person as he, and I did tell my classmates why their “funny skit” was considered offensive to my friends and I. My beef with the group wasn’t the quality of their performance – that’s a separate issue – but it was the fact that they recognised an evil, and then proceeded to propagate it. That, my friends, is how jokes evolve into microaggressions.
But enough about these one-off experiences; I’d like to publicly address something that has been a constant for some of my peers and I for quite some time. Those of you that know me would know how involved I am with trying to find a girlfriend before I graduate, and how much I love not being lonely. As a male mammal, we do a lot with regards to the opposite sex; from flirting to texting to meeting privately for dates – the opportunities have been endless. But it’s always bothered me that the moment I mention I’m a man who's shorter than my peers, I am confronted with questions such as “Ew, you so short?” and “Don't girls only want to date guys above 1.8m?”
Pardon me, but I don’t see what is wrong with either being on the lower end of the dating pool or being shorter than 1.8m. I’m not here to defend shortness or to advocate for how great it is, but I do ask that as a population, we all try to get ourselves heightually educated before engaging in conversation with others. Although such conduct may seem normal or harmless to some, the truth is that when you are a minority, such issues tend to hit home harder. It’s bad enough that we have to deal with being different from your norm; we don’t need to be taunted for it as well.
I bring forward these personal anecdotes simply to raise awareness of a larger issue at hand; the fact that this kind of behaviour is still very present, and that it happens to every height, not just short men. Subtle discrimination is still discrimination.
