Being a Small Woman

“When you are a young woman … you may find that you are often dismissed as weak, defenseless, or otherwise in need of a man’s assistance and/or superior knowledge because you exist. Being seen as anything except statistically average in size, on either side of the spectrum, DOES NOT HELP. …  If we are women, we cannot choose to be male in hopes that it will lend us credibility. But sometimes we’re just so small, you see, that no matter what we do, any semblance of seriousness can be tossed off to the wayside in favor of “cute.” Cute! Not even cute like a grown-ass human being, but cute like a bunny, or a widdle kidden. And for complaining about being treated so disrespectfully for having the gall to exist as a woman, she is referred to as BITTER? Pray tell, how are we supposed to work to change that image? How are we responsible for altering the widespread perception of our apparent inherent weakness? This is, literally, how we were born. My permanently child-sized frame is nothing more than the result of having been born to a family tree whose very largest member towered over us at 5’7″ and a whopping 135 pounds; it is not the result of diet, exercise, or personal choice — but would it really matter if it was? Must we cover ourselves up in shapeless muumuus, puff up our feathers or scruff so as to appear larger, or otherwise somehow transmogrify into a different body altogether? The bias is cultural. It is pervasive. …  I cannot describe how many times I have personally witnessed a woman’s desire for basic respect and safety getting dismissed completely out of hand based on her gender or size, so reading this post was a huge blast of fresh air. Kick them in the goddamn skull, Grimes. Do what you gotta do. You go.”

Commenter on a Metafilter thread about musician Grimes.


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