The Long and The Short of It

From a young age women are often told what society expects us to look like. They want us to be small among other things. On the other hand, men are ridiculed if they aren’t large enough.

This has been happening for centuries. It varies by culture, but many Western cultures view it the same way. For example, in the Victorian era many women wore corsets in order to appear small in stature. (It also restricted their movement.) Many women had bruised or broken ribs because they would tie it so tight. This obviously wasn’t something healthy, and it’s sad that women had to go to great lengths to feel “beautiful” according to society’s standards. That’s why eating disorders are very common in women and why Kyle Lukoff struggled in Taking Up Space. (He's an FTM who struggles with an eating disorder.)

As I mentioned earlier, the corset also restricted a woman’s movement. Today women will often wear pencil skirts and heels or tightly cinched dresses, making it much harder to move around. I think the reason why clothes tend to restrict a woman’s movement is because if she can’t move around as much she won’t be taking up so much space.

            Think about it. If you’re at a gathering and someone moves around the house a lot, you’re going to think that person is taking up a lot of space. You saw them over here earlier and now they’re over there. Even if that person only circulated a few spots, if they’re constantly moving it’s going to feel as if they’re taking up all of those spots. It’s similar to – if someone wants to look busy but doesn’t want to do actual work he/she can move around a lot and people will think that person has done a lot because they saw him/her in many places i.e. he/she took up a lot of space.

            This goes a step forward when it is applied to height. Women can’t be too tall and men can’t be too short. Very tall men are often praised for their height because that somehow makes them more “manly.” The view of weight/size is to be expected but height throws me a little over the edge. People can’t control their height; it’s genetics. Even though women aren’t supposed to be tall, they can’t be too short either. True, this may be because men are on average taller than women. However, it doesn't make much sense to ridicule people because of their genes. 

The woman is society sternly seeing if the girl is an appropriate height.

Society’s pressures are even worse on transgender people. How Lukoff acts – if he takes up more space or tries to be smaller – determines whether others perceive him as masculine or feminine. I can only imagine this being harder for someone transgender, which is enough of a struggle without the addition of an eating disorder.

            Of course, I wish society wasn’t this way. However, I don’t see a change happening anytime soon. Too many people are sucked into the pressures and can’t escape. People will always want a standard of beauty or masculinity – not all people, but a good portion of people. Despite this negativity we should fight these standards with the hope of a better future. 

            I mean, at least women don't have to wear corsets anymore.