How do skinny people do it???

How do they maintain the physique that creates an are of perfection around them? They strut around in their size 6 jeans, thigh gap allowing for air circulation between their taught legs. Their shirts hug their torsos, their perky bosoms front and center for all the guys to gawk at. They complain about the 2 ounces they gained when they ate the whole order of a triple cheeseburger with large fries and a diet coke. HOW DO THEY DO IT???

I have come full circle in my struggles with weight loss. Having been overweight my whole life, I decided to have lap band a few years ago. Everything was going great, I managed to lose 176 lbs...and I gained albatross arm flaps (I think I can fly now), super squishy inner thighs, a double muffin top, and somewhere I lost my ass...it's flat and goes numb when I sit or lay on it too long!!! The time I spent in Australia was going great until the moment I contracted stomach flu. The Porcelain Throne Homage paid was enough to cause my band to prolapse, and given the medical care available, I was unable to have fluid pulled off my band...thus the Australia journey ended. I was sent home where I underwent corrective surgery for my band, in hopes of saving it...alas...it had to be removed.

The prolapse caused scar tissue to build up, and with the revision done...well, my lap band didn't quite work the same as before. The scar tissue built up some more, my band slipped, I went for about a week without anything to eat, coughing and throwing up, and well...it had to come out. I was devastated...still am to some degree. But I will be OK. The following week I had surgery on a ganglion cyst, which had decided to play with the nerves of my foot. So, I was put on these wonderful medications...Steroids, Celebrex, Nerurontin...all of which cause weight gain. And gain weight is what I did.

So here I sit about a month later trying to figure out how to prevent my jeans from getting any tighter. Yea, I put on a pair to come back to work after the surgeries, and well...let's just say a pair of needle nose pliers, some Crisco, and extremely shallow breathing were in order. If you have ever been laced into a corset (properly) you know that one does not SIT in a chair, but rather gracefully and delicately lights upon a perch like a swallow on a blade of grass. The same holds true for tight fittin jeans! Yea, well, my arse was sitting in a chair, stretching the fibers of my jeans, testing the supple forte of their fibrous makeup. The seams were screaming in resistance, my legs fell numb from the pressure of being forced into a bent position under my desk (I won't describe the horrors of getting into my Mustang). My midsection hanging over the taut waistband, like the top of a delectable muffin! I feared for the lives of those around me, waiting anxiously for a single breath to fire my button at some poor soul's forehead, like a lead round fired from a musket!!! Alas, all my colleagues are alive, and my jeans hold true.

I began the dieting regiment that had worked before...NO SUGAR!! My body screamed in rebellion, my heart trying desperately to form a coup against my head...demanding the delicious, tantalizing flavor of chocolate, cookies, cake, Tirimasu, Cheesecake, Banana Pudding, Chocolate, CHOCOLATE...mmmm...chocolate....*DING* sorry I digress. But I have managed to keep these evil thoughts from materializing themselves into reality. I have knocked out the gooey yummies I so enjoy, and have instead forced myself to enjoy the lower carb foods which usually lack taste. Somehow, I believe cardboard and glass would be more tasty, less healthy, but more tasty.

This endeavor has been ongoing for about two weeks, and, although I have partaken in the wonderful goodness of carbs over the weekend (it's a re-set people, calm down) my week has been filled with healthy foods, and a several prayers that they would actually taste like chocolate, but healthy nonetheless. The plan seems to be working, my jeans seem to be a little less like torturous enslavement devices, and more like an accessory to my desire to stay the course. Either that, or the plan to wash them and hang dry them has worked, forcing them to stay a little looser...that, and it avoids the malicious Dryer Pixies that sew my clothing tighter as it rotates in the heated confines of the contraption (not to mention the trolls that shorten everything too).

So back to my original question, how do skinny people stay so flippin skinny, yet eat anything they want? Drugs, it has to be drugs...or tape worms, or some other device that prevents them from gaining weight. It's just disgusting!

It's not clear why sizes are growing, but customers seeking larger shoes look online, not in stores

Chicago native Karen Williamson began her online women's shoe business a decade ago after years of struggling to find styles for her daughter, who at the time was 18 years old, 6-foot-1 and wore a size 12 shoe.

Williamson was in Las Vegas recently for an international shoe show unveiling the 2014 spring and fall lines, and while perusing the trendy gladiator sandals, open-toed booties and motorcycle boots, she encountered familiar stumbling blocks.

"You still can't find a shoe manufacturer that will make anything above a size 11 without it being a special order," said Williamson, whose BarefootTess.comoffers styles up to size 15. "It's like the bigger your feet are, the more you don't exist to them."

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Stefanie Drew wants a pair of leather pants. “I saw some at Zara a while ago and was like, ‘Oh, my God, these are beautiful,’ ” she says. “But I can’t wear them.” That’s not something you’d expect to hear from Drew, who’s 27, a size 6, and dresses like someone who can tell you a lot of stories about going to Coachella. In other words, she’s Zara’s ideal customer. Except for one thing: Drew is 6 feet 2. That sizes her out of pretty much everything in the store, as it does at other retailers she wants to shop at, such as H&M, Forever 21, American Apparel, and even the small boutique where she works in Toronto. “If I bought pants there, I’d just look like I was walking around waiting for it to flood,” she says.

Most discussions about fashion’s refusal to acknowledge diverse body types focus on plus-size women, who struggle to find brands willing to cater to their frames. But tall women may be even more underserved. “You wouldn’t think so, because models are all so tall,” says Clary Hilliard Gray (6'1"), who runs a fitness studio in Charlotte. “But most stores don’t sell that many clothes to supermodels.” Or to tall women who don’t walk runways: Women who are 5'8" and taller make up only 5 percent of the U.S. female population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. And making clothes to fit them takes more than just adding a few extra inches to existing patterns. Buttons need to be moved. Jean pockets may need resizing. “A cute flair may look good on a petite blouse, whereas on me it’ll look like I’m wearing a dust ruffle,” Hilliard Gray says. For most brands, changing designs for such a small pool of potential shoppers isn’t worth the effort. “When everything got tough during the recession, retailers took a step back from ‘tall.’ Now you almost never see it in stores,” says Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for NPD Group.

A few months ago, frustrated by her lack of options, Drew searched online for what she calls “tall-girl shops.” Up popped the name of U.K. retailer Long Tall Sally, which has one of its few North American stores in Toronto. Drew visited and tried on a few pieces - the kind of simple shopping trip that’s usually impossible for her. “I was like, ‘What? Clothes that actually fit? This is fantastic!’ ” Now she owns her first pair of overalls.

“Clothes that actually fit” towering women are Long Tall Sally’s specialty. The company, which is named after the 1956 Little Richard hit, sells a lot of T-shirts, long skirts, and cotton blouses - stripes and polka dots are popular, as are flower patterns - at prices higher than the Gap’s, but not as costly as Banana Republic’s, to those 5'8" and taller, though 75 percent of sales are to women above 5'11". The clothier has long relied on brick-and-mortar sales in Britain, but now it’s making a push online and in the U.S., mostly in the Midwest. This expansion has helped sales rise about 30 percent in the past 12 months, and Sally expects to bring in about $80 million in revenue this year. “We’re serving a surprisingly small customer niche,” says Andrew Shapin, Sally’s chief executive officer. “But if you can reach people all over the world, suddenly that niche doesn’t seem so small anymore.”

Judy Rich, an American expat living in London, founded Long Tall Sally in 1976, when she couldn’t find pants long enough to fit her 5'11" frame. “I used to have to go to men’s clothing shops,” Rich says. “Who wants to do that?” She ran the company for almost three decades, until the early 2000s, when Sally, unable to stay competitive in the digital age, went into administration (the British version of bankruptcy). It was purchased in 2005 by Amery Capital, a retail investment firm backed by brothers Maurice and Michael Bennett, who’d made a fortune decades earlier selling floral-print dresses and frilly tops to the British masses through Warehouse, Oasis, Phase Eight, and Coast stores, which they’ve since sold.

Shapin became Sally’s CEO in 2007. He knew how to sell online - he’d co-founded the Cotswold Co., an online furniture retailer, in 1997 - but he had a couple of shortcomings: He wasn’t a woman, he wasn’t tall, and he didn’t know fashion. “I had zero awareness,” says Shapin, who’s about 5'8". “There is no lower level of awareness that I could’ve had about this industry before I started.” He spent six months sitting in on “at least 30” focus groups, he says, listening to hundreds of women talk about how hard it was to find clothes. They told him about being gangly, awkward teenagers, and about slouching so they wouldn’t be taller than men. “One thing that surprised me was how many tall women said they don’t like shopping,” he says. “It becomes a very emotional experience because they can’t find anything that fits.” Instead, they buy clothing that’s too small and MacGyverit so it appears to fit. Jeans too short? Hide them with tall boots!

The struggle is real. Diana Runkle, 5'11", Sydney: “I typically wear a long tank top under all my tops to keep my stomach from showing.” Jessica Brommelhoff, 6', Los Angeles: “I pretty much do not own any tops with full-length sleeves that actually go the full length of my arm.” Claire Burns, 6'1", New York: “I actually used to own two petite-sized, floor-length skirts that hit the base of my kneecap.” Tasha Watt, 6'1", Southaven, Miss.: “I can’t wear cocktail dresses because the waist hits me in my stomach area.” Says Shapin: “When I talked to women, I realized this was something that had the potential to go way beyond the U.K. market.” Instead of just moving Sally online, he thought, why not move it overseas?

How to tap into such a fashion-starved niche seems like it would be a case study taught in Marketing 101. (“Too tall for other stores? Go see Sally!”) But the company’s customers are more diverse than a typical retailer’s. They range in age from teenagers to grandmothers, have all sorts of jobs, live in all sorts of places, and have nothing in common with one another aside from their height. “We’ll hear from women who say, ‘I’m 6 foot 2, what do I need high heels for?’ Then women who say, ‘Why don’t you make more high heels? Just because I’m 6 foot 2 doesn’t mean I want to wear flats,’ ” Shapin says. Older women complain that Sally’s styles skew too young; young women write to ask for specific trends. “It’s a real challenge,” he says. “We try to focus on that sweet spot: women between 25 and 55. Middle class.” Some of the more popular offerings are supersoft legging jeans ($79), the crinkle tiered maxi skirt ($89), high superskinny jeans ($109), and the relaxed-fit pocket tee ($27). It’s not groundbreaking fashion, but at least the sleeves are long enough.

When Drew first visited Long Tall Sally in Toronto, she says she may have been more excited by the prospect of clothes that fit than by the actual clothes. She saw mainly work-appropriate skirts for women who commute to desk jobs in sneakers. “I like them now, but I was kind of discouraged when I first found them,” Drew says. Online, though, she says things are sleeker and more contemporary. The work skirts are still there - but so are skinny jeans, floppy hats, and gray tees that she’s more likely to buy. The company has teamed up with British designer Irene Agbontaen’s TTYA (Taller Than Your Average) label; last year the brands collaborated on a line of silk maxi dresses and, yes, leather pants, which sold out before Drew could snag a pair. “Long Tall Sally ... hasn’t always been the most fashion-forward name,” Glamour’s U.K. edition wrote about the collection. “But that’s all changed now!” Shapin is more reserved in praise of his accomplishments. “We’re trying,” he says.

In 2009, Sally started acquiring North American competitors, such as Tall Girl, Long Elegant Legs, Long Fashion, and large-size shoe seller Barefoot Tess, which had all somehow managed to sell clothes to women despite names that seem straight out of a 1992 Sears catalog. Sally also opened seven stores in Canada and four in the U.S., in Chicago, Denver, Detroit, and at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. (There are 26 in total, including in Europe.) But it’s still not a well-known name here. To drum up awareness, the company has hosted pop-ups in 40 cities, from Boston to San Francisco. Online, it advertises mainly through sponsored ads on Google and social media. About 7 percent of people who see its posts on Facebook click on them, which Shapin says is a higher engagement rate than those of J.Crew, Nordstrom, or most other retailers, who average anywhere from 0.2 percent to 4 percent. So far, Shapin’s tactics have worked; almost 65 percent of the company’s sales are from people outside the U.K. who are shopping online, often in places where Sally doesn’t have a physical store.

Long Tall Sally has another major marketing hurdle: its name. On the one hand, having “long” and “tall” built into its brand makes it easily searchable online; it’s the fourth-highest Google result for tall women’s clothing, after the much larger retailers Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and New York & Co., which offer limited selections. But women don’t always want to broadcast that they shop at a specialty store. “Men can go to big-and-tall stores, and it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m big! I’m virile!’ But I don’t want to carry around a Long Tall Sally shopping bag,” Hilliard Gray says. Shapin says he’s aware of this problem, but so far he finds the Google-able pros outweigh the cons and has no plans to change it.

Long Tall Sally intends to open more stores in the U.S. and is also making a push into Germany, where the average height of a woman is 5'6" - 2 inches taller than in the U.S. After that comes the Netherlands, whose average height of 5'7" makes it the tallest country in the world. Currently there are no plans to expand into plus sizes for women, or into clothes for tall men. Although who’s to say Long Tall Stan’s leather pants wouldn’t be a hit?

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 Approaching a Tall Woman 

Tall men are often envied and admired by other men who are not as vertically blessed. Athletics probably came easier to them in their youth, and as they aged their height more than likely influenced their professional success to a certain degree.

Tallness in women, however, is an entirely different story. Instead of other women envying their height, tall women often struggle with feeling freakish and out of place, especially while growing up (no pun intended). While tall women might find their niche as professional athletes or supermodels, extreme height in women is often seen as bizarre and something to gawk at.

Note: Don't look at the video. It won't do anything for you. They are just trying to sell their service. The written portion of the article is worth contemplating though.

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One high street shoe retailer has seen a marked increase in sales of larger sizes. But are our feet really getting bigger or are we coming round to the idea of "sensible shoes"?

Clodhopper, Big Foot, Yeti, flippers, clown's feet. You name it, Emma Supple has heard it from the patients who come knocking on the door of her foot care clinic.

Their motivation is to find some relief from the pain of years spent squeezing into shoes that are too small.

The result of this self-imposed form of 21st Century foot binding is a host of podiatric injuries, ranging from corns, callouses and blisters to trapped nerves, toes which have been compressed to resemble claws and a condition called mallet toe.

Just as the rest of our bodies are growing, upwards, frontwards and sideways so, it seems, are our feet.

Earlier this week, department store Debenhams reported a boom in sales of ladies' size nine shoes - up 23% last year on 2008. It's a similar story for men, according to the retailer, which said last year sales of men's size 12s had soared while "requests for whopping size 14 and above are flooding in".

Yet while some are seeking out big sizes, many - women in particular - are preferring to follow in the more moderately proportioned footsteps of the masses, and bearing the pain in silence.

But if we acknowledge that our bodies are bigger - for better or worse - than those of our parents or grandparents, why does this acceptance stop just south of the ankle bone? And why are our feet getting bigger? There may be more obesity, but does an extra couple of inches on the waist really transfer to the furthest extremities of the body?

Feet accompli

At 5ft 9ins Christine Browning is above average height for a woman. Her long legs and slim build - "on a good day people call me thin" - would draw envious glances from many other women. But her feet wouldn't. She is a size 11.

"There's a sort of peasant stigma. Women perceive narrow feet to be dainty, slim, refined. I used to feel awful. You become an object of derision," she confides. "If you are with a bunch of women or girls talking about shoes and it turns into a discussion about feet you suddenly don't want to be part of that conversation. You'll find a way to get away."

The sense of exclusion manifests itself elsewhere. Women with big feet can find it difficult to take up sports which demand a certain style of shoe - golf and tennis are two examples, she cites.

And while the overweight can work to draw in their waistline, with exercise and cutting calories, feet can't be slimmed.

Ms Browning became so fed up with the limited range of outsize footwear for women she took matters into her own hands - buying a small business which sold big shoes and revamping its image and stocks. She is now the managing director of Special Feetures, which caters for women with long and narrow feet, and After 8 Shoes, which specialises in UK sizes 8½ to 11 for women.

It is one of several suppliers of big footwear. But still women with big feet are in denial.

"I get a lot of teenage girls in our clinic taking size seven or eight and their feet haven't even finished growing at that point," says Ms Supple.

Nine is the limit

And whatever size they end up at, nine is the de facto upper limit she says.

"There's a mental block for women above size nine. They will say they're size nine when they are bigger and just squash their feet in."

In fact, it's not just the big-footed that squeeze their feet into ill-fitting vessels.

Almost four in 10 women buy shoes knowing they do not fit, according to a recent poll by the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists. And nearly two out of 10 men do the same.

Yet male attitudes are more malleable, says Bruce Davis, an elder statesman of the outsize footwear market in Britain. As manager of Magnus Shoes, Mr Davis has been peddling big footwear since the mid-1960s.

"The female side of the business is vastly more difficult and demanding. I've heard comments many times like 'I'd rather go barefoot than wear those'. Whereas for men, I can sell a brogue to a teenager and to a man in his 60s."

But not all fashion appetites can be sated with the promise of polished tan brogue and options for men have grown in recent years. As with other significant but disparate communities, the internet has provided a focus for the big-footed, with specialist shops which are sourcing from places such as the US.

Supply is simply reflecting demand, says Mr Davis, who believes the trend for bigger feet can be traced back to the likes of shoemakers such as Clarks and Start Rite. By encouraging parents to buy sensible shoes for children, with plenty of room for growth, our feet grew more than they would have in ill-fitting footwear, says Mr Davis.

Pancaking feet

So should we brace ourselves for bigger feet all round - what Debenhams has bluntly termed "Big Foot Britain"? Will the outsized dispossessed become part of the mainstream?

Mr Davis is sceptical - both about High Street chains committing to bigger sizes, but also whether our feet really are growing as much as has been suggested. It's difficult to be sure because the size of Britain's feet has never been properly documented.

Podiatrist Matthew Fitzpatrick says our feet are growing but in terms of attitude, we are growing up.

"Are we seeing our shoes getting bigger or are we just seeing people becoming more sensible in their choice of shoes, particularly women?" he asks. In short - are women starting to reclaim their real shoe size and refusing to be hobbled by the crippling strictures of fashion?

A slew of big-footed confessions from the likes of Kate Winslet (size nine), newsreader Kate Silverton (also size nine) and singer Macy Gray (size 10) can only have helped the march towards "sensible shoes".

Mr Fitzpatrick points out there is also evidence feet are being affected by diet. A recent study found obesity in children was leading to bigger feet, although in a more complex way than might be assumed. Children's feet are pancaking under excess weight.

"When you are young the bones in your body haven't hardened. So if you've got a foot in which the bones are still forming and an excessively heavy child putting the weight on that foot, the arch [of the foot] flattens."

The technical term is "splaying" and Mr Fitzpatrick says his profession is seeing more children with flat feet associated with obesity.

Even then, feet are not necessarily getting longer, but wider. Yet people with wide feet often buy shoes that are a size too big to accommodate the spread.

"We are probably seeing a general growth in the foot but not as exponential and vast as we are being told."

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Updated: January 5, 2017 - 11:37 AM EST

by Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist @JeniceArmstrong

For us tall women, the struggle is real. Clothes don't fit right. Strangers on the street say the most idiotic things to you, every single day. You're expected to sit in the back.

So I'm not completely surprised that a principal dancer for the Pennsylvania Ballet was fired because of her height.

Sara Michelle Murawski, most recently the Sugar Plum Fairy in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, has been cut from the company's roster for the upcoming season because she's too tall.

Yes, you read that correctly.

And at 6-foot-2, I'm taking it personally.

She's only 5-11 - a bit taller when she's standing en pointe — but still, Murawski's beautiful limbs were considered too elongated. Her one-year contract will not be renewed.

That stinks, because Murawski left a job she loved as a soloist at the Slovak National Ballet to come all the way to Philadelphia to perform. Needless to say, she's devastated.

"It should be about the dance. That's what I was always told," Murawski said sadly Wednesday evening when I reached her by telephone. "Just to be told that it's your height, that's disheartening."

"They said it's a budget problem and they can't get a tall male," as her dance partner, she added.

She'd just performed the starring role in The Nutcracker the previous night, when she wascalled aside and told the devastating news — less than an hour before she was scheduled to perform again. She broke down in tears, but had to pull herself together.

"It came absolutely out of nowhere," said Michelene Murawski of Philadelphia, Sara's mother, so stressed by the firing that she's become ill.

Her daughter's biological father is 6-feet-4-inches tall, and Michelene knew early on that Sara would be tall. She tried getting her daughter into basketball, but Sara fell madly in love with dance. She was doing ballet in her sleep.

In the dance world, Murawski is what they call a "bunhead." (I heard her refer to herself that way, so I'm not out of line.) She knew early on that it would be harder for her than for other dancers, so she poured all of her energy into being the best.

"I always have to be so much better in order to be accepted," she told me. "In Russia, they love it.... They think this is the ideal for a ballerina, that you have long limbs on the stage. In America, it's very different."

Murawski's dancing abilities don't appear to be in question. So if ballet officials had an issue with a tall dancer, why woo her here? Now that she's finally here and performing beautifully, she gets a hard toe shoe up her backside, because they apparently don't like the idea of a tall female looming over shorter male dancers.

When Americans go to the ballet or to any other artistic performance, we expect to see this great nation reflected on the stage. That means performers of all sizes, races, ages. The only criterion should be whether they can perform. Yo, it's 2017. I shouldn't have to point this out.

David Gray, the Ballet's executive director, tried to defend the company's action in a statement: "Building a world class ballet company is similar to building a world class sports team. Just as there are excellent athletes whose careers are better fulfilled at one team than another, there are excellent dancers who will better fulfill their potential at different companies. Just as a coach must make difficult decisions that they feel are in the best interests of the team, so does an Artistic Director."

But coaches judge players on athletic ability. Not on appearance.

The company should get taller male dancers if officials are hung up on the outdated notion that a man is supposed to be taller than his female partner. How many celebrity examples have we seen lately in which the female is considerably taller? Comedian Kevin Hart and his gorgeous bride Eniko come to mind. First Lady Michelle Obama stands eye-to-eye with President Obama when she's in heels.

The way Murawski is being treated reminds me of African American ballerinas historically denied opportunities because of their skin color or the size of their posteriors.

"Dancers of color have gone through that and are still going through that every single day," said Kim Bears-Bailey, assistant artistic director of Philadanco, founded in 1970 to create opportunities for black dancers. "Sara will get another job.... But what about the women of color who don't even get in the room?"

A friend of Murawski's put together a GoFundMe account [https://www.gofundme.com/season-pay-for-philly-ballet-couple] to raise $100,000 to keep her in Philadelphia and to help the company hire a tall male dancer to partner with her.

Please be generous. Talent knows no shape, size, or hue.

@JeniceArmstrong
Blog: ph.ly/HeyJen
armstrj@phillynews.com

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I use this section to remember my good friend Ashley Britt who died November 1st 2015

I first started talking to Ashley back in March of 2007 when she filled out the Tallwomen.org Questionnaire. I thought long and hard about whether or not I should be publishing this, but I think it helps to explain what kind of person Ashley was. Please learn more about Ashley by visiting the pages below:

By Harold Gutmann | Apr 9, 2015
Special to espnW

It all finally got to be too much, so Nancy Mulkey sat down. Right there on the spattered sidewalk in San Antonio.

Gawking bystanders were taking pictures of the 17-year-old kid because -- sure as her name is Nancy -- she stands 6 feet, 9 inches tall. So if even for just 10 minutes, before heading off to her next destination down the road, Mulkey needed a break, an escape from the scrutiny of all these strangers.

It was the kind of experience that, believe it or not, is relatively routine for Mulkey -- for tall women everywhere -- and Mulkey says that San Antonio scene could be included in an upcoming TLC show featuring Mulkey that is scheduled to air in August. It is tentatively titled "My Giant Life."

Mulkey, who has been pushing 6-10 since a nine-inch growth spurt before her freshman year in high school, is still sometimes annoyed by the gawking, but she's also become more confident about her stature. Success has a way of doing that.

"I'm not as shy about my height," said Mulkey, who just polished off her junior season at Cypress Woods (Texas) with a girls' basketball state title. "I strut more. I'm not slouching as much. I want to stand tall."

And a big reason for her transformation, Mulkey said, has been basketball. The Oklahoma-bound junior post player is the No. 21 prospect in the espnW HoopGurlz Super 60 for the Class of 2016. She has agility, good hands and an emerging midrange game. On defense, she's a dangerous shot-blocker who alters opponents' offenses merely by her presence.

"When you're a tall female and a teenager, that can be awkward at times, but what has really catapulted Nancy to a place of confidence has been her ability to do well on the basketball court," Cypress Woods coach Virginia Flores said. "When she walks the hall in our school, there's a sense of respect and even reverence for what she's been able to bring to our basketball program, and of course that's a confidence-booster for Nancy, and in turn it's made her hungrier and want to improve her game even more."

When the producers of the TLC documentary were looking for potential subjects, they typed "tall women" into an Internet search engine and found Mulkey.

After an audition with a producer over Skype, Mulkey was chosen as one of four subjects for the series, which is scheduled to air over four hours in August. She did not get paid and she received notification from the NCAA that appearing on the show would not jeopardize her eligibility.

The television show is meant to document the day-to-day hardships for tall women, such as finding clothes that fit (Mulkey was filmed trying on prom dresses) and dealing with constant -- and oftentimes uncomfortable -- attention.

The series will cap a whirlwind junior year for Mulkey. She gave a verbal commitment to Oklahoma in October and then averaged 10.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 3.7 blocks as Cypress Woods won its first state championship in program history in Class 6A, the highest classification in the state.

"I didn't plan on committing this early, but people say, 'When you know, you know,' " said Mulkey, who plans to major in special education.

Mulkey was guided through the process by her mother, 6-foot-7 Dolores Bootz-Mulkey, who starred for Georgia Tech from 1985 to 1988 and still holds the school records for career scoring average (18.9 points per game), field goal percentage (.593) and blocked shots (245).

Mulkey, who started playing basketball in third grade, had initially told the Sooners that she wasn't interested, and Oklahoma wasn't included on her list of finalists. But Sooners coach Sherri Coale called Dolores and convinced the Mulkeys to visit campus.

When Nancy got there, she felt a welcoming atmosphere she didn't get from other schools.

"Usually when recruits go on visits, some players at certain schools don't really associate with certain recruits," Mulkey said. "The Oklahoma players devoted their whole weekend just to me. That meant a lot to me, and I felt really comfortable with them. I was there one day and I didn't want to leave."

Then came a historic season for Cypress Woods. Mulkey said a loss in the state tournament last year to Manvel and future Notre Dame standout Brianna Turner helped prepare the Wildcats for their first state championship this season.

"That showed us what we needed to work on and how we needed to play to win states," said Mulkey, who averaged more than 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks per game and was an all-state selection by the Texas Girls Coaches Association.

After winning gold medals on Team USA in each of the past two summers -- first at the 2013 FIBA Americas U16 Championship and then at the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championship -- Mulkey is now hoping for an invitation to the U19 tryouts next month.

"Her playing with the USA team the last two summers has really elevated her game," Flores said. "When you're around other people who are around your height, that can push you in a way that maybe your own high school teammates can't and made her step up her game."

Spending another summer with Team USA would be an ideal finish for a big year in the spotlight for Mulkey, who found her future school, won a state title and will be featured on national television -- perhaps even that sidewalk scene in downtown San Antonio.

"It's been tough for her at times to be 6-9," Flores said. "When we first get to a tournament, people aren't familiar with her and they're staring and gawking. When she was a freshman that was hard for her to take in, but now she embraces that. She's like, 'Yeah, I'm 6-9 and I'm pretty darn good.'

"She now looks at it as a sign of respect."

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At 75, Carol Mann’s legacy is more than a 'tall tale'

By Cliff Schrock

When nature and genetics conspire to put a person in a unique situation, the question is whether the individual can make something of it or let it be a distraction in life. Such was Carol Mann’s predicament. The most accomplished tall player in women’s golf, the 6-foot-3 Mann took on every cliché-filled golf story about “tall Carol” who “strikes a giant figure” as “the lankiest golfer on the LPGA” and “sees life and golf from a different perspective” and made a memorable Hall of Fame career out of it.

With Mann having turned 75 on Feb. 3, it’s a good time to review a career that produced 38 LPGA Tour victories and the 1965 U.S. Women’s Open. Mann could have written many of those golf stories herself. An opinionated player who made her thoughts known and who served as LPGA president and vice president for many years during her playing prime, she also has done guest-column writing since her career wound down, including with the Houston Post starting in 1990.

That was 10 years after the final tour event of her playing career, which had begun in earnest as a teenager in Chicago with a membership at Olympia Fields. Early on, Mann wasn’t entirely comfortable with her extra height, and early in her career admitted to being self-conscious, awkward and shy. But the oft-used phrase “comfortable in her own skin” did eventually apply, and she won her first tour event, the Women’s Western Open, in 1964 at age 23. As she matured, her comfort level went up. In 1971, LPGA player and teacher DeDe Owens described Mann as “so bubbly, so friendly with a big warm smile for everyone. She has a good, inquiring mind and a sharp wit.”

Mann won four events in 1975, but they were to be her last. She couldn’t overcome the toll of being involved in tour politics and working hard to make the modern LPGA Tour a success. Exhaustion and a tall person’s worst enemy—chronic back pain—worked against her. She had previously had serious neck and back troubles dating back to 1967, and had been told in 1969 not to play competitive golf for more than two or three years because of her back. In 1981 she tried to transition from a tall person’s high-handed, arching swing motion to a shortened, hold-the-angles movement but she didn’t excel with it.

Including her writing, Mann’s post career included work with the Women’s Sports Foundation, expanded teaching to a busier career at The Woodlands in Houston, an ambassador and special consultant to the World Golf Hall of Fame, a TV analyst, and she ran the first woman-owned course design and management firm.

In 1969, at the apex of her tour success, Mann had fun with her height and, feeling she resembled a giraffe, adopted the animal as her symbol, having it printed on business cards. But better labels were to come: 1976 recipient of the Babe Zaharias Award, the 2008 PGA First Lady of Golf, and inclusion in a ranking of the “100 Heroes of American Golf.”

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Australia's tallest female basketballer Sue Geh inducted into ACT Sport Hall of Fame

November 20, 2015

Chris Dutton, Sports Reporter at The Canberra Times

She was the gentle 206-centimetre giant who stood out because of her height, but ACT Sport Hall of Fame inductee Sue Geh helped build a legacy for women's basketball in Canberra.

Seventeen years after the Olympian died from heart failure, Geh will be one of nine athletes and officials added to the Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Monday.

Geh will be inducted alongside retired Sydney Swans champion Craig Bolton, lawn bowler Adam Jeffery, Paralympian Lisa Llorens and multi para-sports star Michael Milton.

Former Canberra Raiders chairman John McIntyre, Brumbies president Geoff Larkham, hockey administrator Graham Carter and para-athletics coach Chris Nunn will be honoured as associate members.

Geh's recognition comes with a touching twist. Officials sent a letter to Geh's mum Inge and it arrived just days before Inge died earlier this month.

Geh's career was cut short by knee injuries, a potential stint with the University of Alabama Birmingham was thwarted by a heart murmur and Mafran Syndrome led to her death after her 39th birthday in 1998.

She remains the tallest player to have represented the Australian Opals. She scored 69 points in an ACT premier division match and helped the Capitals gain entry into the WNBL.

"In those days [1985] she was unique because there weren't that many tall players, she certainly was intimidating because she altered shots and was athletic enough to get up and down the floor," said former coach Jerry Lee.

"She was a super person and you couldn't ask for an easier person to coach.

"Most of the centres for Australia were six-feet one, two or three. She was six-foot nine. There weren't many that could match her height."

Sport and Recreation has taken over Hall of Fame operations after ACT Sport was disbanded in July after more than 30 years.

Geh left her mark on courts around Canberra, dominating opponents after a coach plucked a then towering nine-year-old off the sideline and added her into an under-14s team.

Geh was the tallest female player in the world and was poised to play in the US, but a medical examination revealed a heart murmur. She was prepared to sign a waiver to absolve the university of any responsibility but Alabama Birmingham officials weren't willing to let her play and sent her back to Australia.

Geh was then picked up by the AIS and made her Opals debut, playing a pivotal role at getting Australia's first Olympic Games win.

She scored 10 points, had four assists, blocked three shots and grabbed three rebounds as Australia beat Yugoslavia.

"If it wasn't for [Geh] and Jenny Cheesman and that Canberra team that won 19 straight games [in the Women's Basketball Conference], the Capitals wouldn't be in the WNBL," Lee said.

"Sue and Jenny were probably the reason we stepped from division two into the WNBL. Sue passed away at a young age and she was frail. She was long and lanky, but certainly had it."

Former Basketball ACT general manager Brian Franklin spoke at Inge's funeral on Friday and will accept Geh's award on Monday alongside Errol Raiser.

"[Inge] was pretty pleased when she got the news and I understand she got the official letter [of Geh's award] three days before she died," Franklin said.

"[Geh's] height was the advantage, she was the tallest woman in Australia. She wasn't what you'd call a player with all the moves. But she was very effective and established her reputation in the game with a blinder at the 1984 Olympics."

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Basketball Great Anne Donovan Dies at 56

By Doug Doyle • 12 hours ago

Not only was Anne Donovan a legendary and pioneering figure in women's basketball, she was also one of the kindest and thoughtful people I have ever met. 

Donovan, a native of Ridgewood, New Jersey who dominated play at Paramus Catholic High school, won Olympic gold as a player and as a coach for the United States.  

Donovan died Wednesday of heart failure. She was 56.

Anne was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and also was part of the inaugural class of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 1999.  I asked her back in a 2012 episode of SportsJam with Doug Doyle if the women’s hall meant more to her.

"Gosh, it's tough because of who I went into that class with.  I went in with all the people I admired, respected and looked up to from the first concept of women's basketball for me.  So, going into that class was very special with the company I went in with.  The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was something I never aspired to, I just never thought that would be possible, and going in with Kareen Abdul-Jabbar and Cheryl Miller who was one of my peers, made that class very special also."

Donovan, a 6-foot-8 center coached at Seton Hall University and in the WNBA.  Why did she coach?

"I never aspired to be a coach even through college.  I played six years of professional basketball and didn't aspire to coach and kind of fell into it by chance . When my basketball player career came to an end, I got roped into being a volunteer coach, but I found that I really loved it.  I loved feeling like I could make a difference in these ladies lives and having gone through a pretty long career myself, I felt like I had something to offer."

To give you an example of the type of person Anne Donovan was, here's what she did for me when I was doing the PA announcing for her Seton Hall women's home games.  Each year she got the all the players on her team to sign a card for me, expressing their thanks for helping announce their games and being a part of the Pirates program.  That's class.  Who does that?

I told Anne during our 2012 interview that I first saw her when Old Dominion came to Penn State to play a big game that season.  I looked up and saw the tallest woman I had ever seen at that point.   I came to learn many years later, that her heart was actually bigger than her height.  She made me feel special and part of her squad.  I will never forget those games.

At Old Dominion, Donovan won an AIAW championship and lead ODU to the NCAA Women's Final Four as a senior.

Prior to her days coaching at Seton Hall, she had an terrific coaching career in the WNBA, becoming the first female coach and youngest person to win a title in the WNBA, helping the Seattle Storm to the 2004 championship.  She coached five WNBA teams including the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun.

Donovan was named The Star-Ledger's Player of the Century in 2000.  She scored 1,000 points in a single twice at Paramus Catholic High School, won four state titles and was the nation's top recruit.  

Her family confirmed her death in a statement. "While it is extremely difficult to express how devastating it is to lose Anne, our family remains so very grateful to have been blessed with such a wonderful human being."

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By CHLOE LAMBERT FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 23:13 GMT, 11 May 2015 | UPDATED: 08:06 GMT, 12 May 2015

• Study in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found shorter men have more sex
• Research suggests tall people are less likely to develop heart disease than short people
• Height may also be linked to our emotional state and taller people are happier

Being tall may come with practical problems, such as the lack of legroom on aeroplanes, but there are some perks, too. Last month, researchers at Ohio State University reported that tall people are, on average, cleverer and have better social skills. They said this could explain why studies in the past have found that tall people tend to earn more — as much as an extra £100,000 over a 30-year career. That study followed research showing tall people are less likely to develop heart disease than short people. In fact height is now attracting a great deal of attention as a predictor of future health, affecting your risk of a range of diseases, from dementia to stroke. But tallest isn't always healthiest . . .

DEMENTIA RISK HIGHER FOR SHORT PEOPLE

A number of studies suggest that height is linked to the risk of developing dementia. Perhaps the strongest evidence for this came from a study published last November in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which analysed data from 18 studies. The team found that men under 5ft 6in (167cm) had a 36 per cent higher risk of dementia than men over 5ft 10in (177cm). That doesn't mean being short causes dementia. Shorter height can be associated with certain pressures in early life, such as stress, illness or poor nutrition, which may predispose someone to dementia, says lead author Dr Tom Russ, lecturer in old age psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh.

He says early life stresses may affect a person's cognitive reserve — the brain's resistance to age-related damage. 'People think of dementia as a disease of old age, but this suggests you are accumulating risk factors throughout the course of your life.' But remember, the overall risk of dementia is low — about one in 20 over-65s are affected — so these increases in risk are relatively small.

HOW HEIGHT PROTECTS THE HEART

When it comes to heart health, the news for shorter people may not be great, either. It seems they may also be more prone to heart disease, according to research published last month by the University of Leicester. The researchers found a 5ft (153cm) tall person had a 32 per cent higher risk of heart disease than someone who is 5ft 6in (167cm). This association isn't new. Analysis of data from more than a million people, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology in 2012, found clear links between shortness and higher risk of dying from heart disease, stroke and heart failure. The latest research suggests the link is down to genes, rather than environmental factors such as diet. The team looked at 180 genetic variants that are known to control height, and found that those variants linked with shorter stature also had an effect on cholesterol, fat levels and overall heart disease risk. Another theory is that taller people have larger coronary vessels, 'which take longer to become blocked by fatty deposits', according to David Wormser, the epidemiologist who led the 2012 study. Height appears to be linked to our emotional state

CANCER MORE COMMON IN TALL PEOPLE

It's not all good news if you're tall, however. In 2013, Dr Geoffrey Kabat, an epidemiologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the U.S., published research on post-menopausal women which found that for every additional 10cm of height, the risk of developing any cancer rose by 17 per cent. So compared with a woman of 5ft 5in, a woman of 5ft 9in would be that much more at risk said the researchers. The strongest associations between height and cancer were for melanoma (skin cancer), colon, uterus, kidney and thyroid. In another study in men, Dr Kabat found the risk of cancer rose by 5 per cent for every extra 10cm of height. Why would this be? Cancers are caused by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, and so factors that are associated with increased growth in childhood and adolescence may also affect the risk of cancer, he says. One theory is that tall people may have higher levels of a protein called insulin-like growth factor, or IGF, which is released in response to growth hormones and also seems to be linked to cancer. Another explanation is that taller people naturally have more cells overall because their organs are bigger. So the chance of one of these cells mutating is higher, says Dr Kabat. However, he stresses that the risks from height are small, and certainly lower than those of smoking, drinking too much and sun exposure. For example, being a smoker raises your risk of developing lung cancer by 2,000 per cent compared with someone who never smoked.

TALL WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO HAVE TWINS

A 2006 study in the U.S. comparing the heights of new mothers found that those who had twins or triplets were, on average, an inch taller than the national average. Dr Gary Steinman, an obstetrician at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who led the research, said it may be down to IGF. He says one of its effects is to make the ovaries more sensitive to the follicle-stimulating hormone that triggers the ovaries to produce eggs. Heightened sensitivity to the hormone raises the chance of two eggs being produced per cycle, and, in turn, the chance of a multiple pregnancy. Previous studies have shown that shorter people have lower levels of IGF.

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Belfast mum Hollie McCutcheon bullies should be ashamed, funeral told

By Brett Campbell | June 21 2019

The school bullies whose nasty words ultimately led to the death of a young Belfast mum who suffered a heart attack on Saturday "should be ashamed of themselves", a clergyman has said.

Hundreds of mourners gathered in St Matthew's Parish on the Shankill Road to say goodbye to Hollie McCutcheon (27) yesterday, including her seven-year-old son Nathan and partner Chris.

Rev Campbell Dixon praised the loving family of the former Girls Model pupil, including her heartbroken parents Janet and Leslie, for the support they provided right up until Hollie lost her battle with eating disorders.

"Hollie was a tall girl with a solid physique who was subjected to bullying at school," he said.

"This led to her being hospitalised for anorexia and bulimia, but her mum, dad, brother Andrew and sister Hannah were her constant champions.

"Sadly on Saturday morning her heart couldn't take any more.

"The damage caused over so many years took its toll and she slipped away."

The clergyman said the middle child had enjoyed a happy life until she started secondary school where she encountered those "who caused her death far too early".

"Did those who made Hollie's life a misery as she entered her teenage years ever give one thought about what their nastiness would do to a well-balanced and happy child?" he asked.

"They should be ashamed of themselves."

Rev Dixon also had strong words for the person who started a rumour on social media falsely claiming that Hollie had taken her own life.

"Shame on you," he told them.

The clergyman then rubbished an old rhyme as he warned the congregation that calling someone names can hurt more than sticks and stones ever could.

"Words can cause terrible pain and bring about untold suffering," he added.

He told mourners Hollie managed to complete her GCSEs after being released from the Donard Unit of Knockbracken Healthcare Park before starting her first job in Costa Coffee. She then moved on to work for Value Cabs where romance blossomed when she met Sean. "The pair were overjoyed when Nathan was born a few years later," Rev Dixon said. "But Hollie never stopped fighting her demons. Her and Sean later broke up, but Nathan was the best thing that ever happened to her and he became a source of encouragement whenever her illness was too much to bear.

"Janet believes he was a wee Godsend because Nathan gave her something to live for."

The clergyman said Sean continued to be a huge source of support even after Hollie met her partner Chris, who doted on her.

Hollie's sister Hannah previously said the "very, very close" couple did everything together.

Those gathered in the church were told Hollie only "found her niche in life" two years ago when she started working as a carer.

"Hollie really loved her work and made great friends through it.

"She was a fun girl despite her debilitating illness and by all accounts she was the life and soul of the party who loved dancing and singing," Rev Dixon said.

This was evident from the slideshow of pictures which played throughout the service.

"But it was a tragic life in many ways," the clergyman continued.

"Here was a larger-than-life character who loved people, socialising, working and caring for those who needed help - but despite all appearances she was brought down into the depths of despair."

Dozens of Hollie's colleagues from Quality Care Services formed a guard of honour outside the church as her coffin was carried away. On the casket was a note from little Nathan who sobbed uncontrollably while following behind. "To Mummy, I love and miss you xxx," it read.

Loved ones tried desperately to console the youngster as his mum embarked on her final journey to Roselawn Crematorium.

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By MECHELLE VOEPEL via ESPN | Nov 16, 2016, 12:41 PM ET

ESPN the Magazine's Nov. 28 "Tall Ball" issue, which focuses on the varied aspects of height and sport, prompted us to ask around about #tallgirlproblems. Not to stereotype, but tall women often have some specific challenges that they deal with. But even the most annoying stuff wouldn't make any of the women we spoke with want to give up even an inch of their height.

It's just sometimes... hey, the next time you see a tall woman, please try to refrain from asking horrible corny stuff like "How's the weather up there?" All tall women thank you in advance.

Brianna Turner, 6-foot-3, Notre Dame forward

"It's mostly things like sleeves not being long enough. Or knee-high boots that are not knee-high at all on me. And I always say when we do push-ups it's harder if you are tall and have longer arms. Or doing pull-ups."

Alaina Coates, 6-4, South Carolina center

"My top pet peeve is finding jeans long enough. I'll just have to roll them up and make them look like they're supposed to be that way. So when it's really cold, my ankles will be freezing.

"You can shop online, but if they don't fit right, you have to send them back. And most of the time, I'm just like, 'Forget it.' "

Lisa Leslie, 6-5, former Los Angeles Sparks star and Naismith Hall of Famer

"I would say my No. 1 tall girl problem is that people have to ask me every day, 'Do you play basketball?' I've had people make comments about my height every day of my life. That can get annoying. I'm thankful for it; I used it. You don't go around commenting on someone's weight or size, so it's just really annoying. It's the kind of thing that people should just say to themselves: 'Wow, she's really tall.' But I don't need to be informed that I'm tall. I get it."

Tina Thompson, 6-2, WNBA's all-time scoring leader

"I've been blessed to be able to find clothes and shoes; for me that hasn't been that difficult. Probably the most annoying are the awkward, lame conversations and the clich? one-liners. Like, 'Is the view better up there?' What do you say to stuff like that?

"Just say hello, introduce yourself and let's move on to politics, sports, whatever you want to talk about. The lead-in with the tall-girl joke was very unnecessary."

Sylvia Fowles, 6-6, Minnesota Lynx, 2016 WNBA defensive player of the year

"A lot of jeans that come in longer lengths have flared legs. I hate flares. I hate wide legs. I feel like all tall-girl jeans should be skinny. So when I do find a pair I like that fits, I buy them in every color.

"If someone asks me the basketball question, I change it up. I say, 'Oh, actually I play water polo.' And nobody really wants to talk to me much about that."

Swin Cash, 6-2, just retired from New York Liberty

"Airplanes would be first. My jeans would be another. I get mad all the time, because jeans just aren't cut properly.

"Then there's the 'Tall guys like short girls, and vice versa'... that can be a tall girl problem.

"With the standard hotel-room shower, and you're trying to wash your hair, you have to maneuver around.

"You are always going to get asked if you play volleyball or basketball. And if you were to say that you didn't play sports, people look at you with a kind of disdain, like, 'You wasted your height!' Your height just makes them think you automatically have to be an athlete."

Nneka Ogwumike, 6-2, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA MVP

"One of the shortcomings of being tall -- ha ha -- is that you can never swing your feet when you're sitting on a stool.

"And you always have to be at the back of a photo. I like being in the front. That's why a lot of times in photos, you see me lying down in front. I want to be seen, you know?

"Pants aren't so bad, because nowadays there are a lot of different outlets to buy from. I do almost all of my shopping online, and the clothes are super trendy, which is awesome. I love it.

"Another huge issue is sitting on airplanes. Actually, though, I'm not sure that's just a tall girl problem. That's like a human-rights issue. (Laughs)

"I also feel like climbing stairs is a little more difficult for us, because of the leverage. And I feel more tired after stairs, and that's confusing to me because I'm athletic.

"People always assume I'm a basketball or volleyball player. One guy, though, came up and asked me if I was a ballerina. I said, 'Are you being serious?' and he seemed like he was.

"The short guys are always like, 'I love me a tall girl.' And it's like, 'Seriously?'

"I love shoes, and people will say, 'Why are you wearing heels? You're tall already.' And I said, 'That has nothing to do with me wearing heels.' So that's pretty annoying."

On peoples' reactions to seeing her with sister Chiney Ogwumike, who is 6-3: "It's always like, 'Where are you guys from?' and I'm like, 'Is that question just because we're tall?'

"But overall, I have no issues with it. It's a beautiful thing."

Jantel Lavender, 6-4, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year

"The biggest one is clothes, although it's gotten better over the years. But you can't just go into a store -- if something comes up -- and find pants that fit. Or getting a dress that's long enough for your arms. Or shoes -- you can't just go get a nice pair of heels to wear to an event.

"I shop at ASOS.com -- they have a tall section that is amazing. I have so many clothes now that I'm never caught off guard."

"I would say toilets are pretty low. It's just so far down, and then the stall doors aren't that high all the time, so your head's sticking up. But I think it becomes second-nature for us to adjust."

Candace Parker, 6-4, Los Angeles Sparks, 2016 WNBA Finals MVP

"I'm against stereotypes, so I hate fitting the stereotype. People are like, 'Oh, you must play basketball.' And I'm like [lowers voice and sounds a bit disgusted], 'Yes.'

Has girls' embarrassment over being tall changed? "I hope it has. My daughter is around so many tall women, I don't think it registers to her that she's dwarfing her classmates. She's tall; she holds her shoulders back with pride. We tease her about her big feet, and she loves them and her long legs.

"I think it's generational. I wasn't always the happiest being as tall as I was, but I learned to accept it and then love it."

A'ja Wilson, 6-5, South Carolina forward

"Other than clothes sometimes, I don't really see any problems with being tall."

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Before you buy, make sure the car fits your size

By Jeff S. Bartlett, March 06, 2017

To find out which vehicles are better or worse for tall or short drivers, Consumer Reports took a closer look at test scores of recently tested vehicles, for seat comfort, driving position, access, and the view out. The shortest tester is 5 feet 1 inch, and the tallest is 6 feet 2 inches.

A handful of cars are especially versatile and are rated very highly by both tall and short testers. Families with different-sized drivers might consider the Honda Accord or the Subaru Forester. Similarly, several models serve neither tall nor short drivers well, such as the Porsche 718 Boxster. Sports cars by their very nature cater poorly to both extremes: Tall people hit the roof, and short people can't reach the clutch.

Bear in mind that some models excel at driver space to the detriment of backseat passengers. All measurements can be compared on the model pages, available from the linked names below.

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I have a rare physical abnormality, an abnormality not recognized by the medical community, but instead by the fashion industry: I have giant feet. While most women in the united states wear a size 7 or 8, and some even hit 9 or 10, I wear a size 12 women's shoe. And while my height, 5'11″, helps to offset the peculiar largeness of my feet, keep in mind that I've worn the same size shoe since I was 5'4″. I also have large hands. Large enough to quite easily palm a man's basketball. Had I lived in a time when dainty gloves were a requirement, I would have been sent off to live in a community of others like me. Others who until recently had to face the constant despair of never being able to shoe shop "off the rack".

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Sunday, 7 June 2015 - 6:30am | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna | From the print edition

Roshni Nair, Averil Nunes, Rama Sreekant

Too short or too tall, they don't fit society's definition of 'normal' and often find themselves on the margins of mainstream life. But they have taken on the challenge imposed by their height to forge their own identities. Roshni Nair, Averil Nunes and Rama Sreekant get an insight into the the struggles of those who give us valuable life lessons in how to make the most of adversity

Gender games

"One of my clients, a schoolgirl, lost all self-confidence as she had a tough time due to her height," says Chhabria. "She'd slouch and shun socialising because she perennially feared she'd be made fun of. As it is, every girl is body-conscious at a point. When kids make fun of you at this juncture, it can scar."

Goregaon resident Vijaya Pawar has been witness to this. She stands 5'10" tall and is hardly what one would insensitively call a 'giant'. But she grew up at a time when the average Indian height was less than what it is today. "In my village, people would say things like 'Tu bahut jaldi budhdhi ho jayegi', or 'You're so big now, why aren't you married yet?' This was when I was still in school," she says, and admits the pressure to fit in led to the drooping of the shoulders and consequently, a slight but lifelong hunch.

"I've seen mothers of girls who are 5'9"-5'10" encouraging them to stoop because they 'won't get boys who'll marry them'," shares orthopaedist Dr Neeraj Bijlani. Public infrastructure is also not adjusted for tall Indians, leave alone 'abnormally tall' ones, he adds. So having to constantly bend or sit uncomfortably in seats that are ergonomic only for the majority can predispose one to joint problems.

Then there's Scheuermann's Disease, a classic example of a socio-cultural phenomenon leading to a medical issue. Bijlani explains: "This condition is caused due to constant slouching, which affects the growth of the vertebrae and creates a hunchback. In my practice, the male-female prevalence is 1:10."

There's more. "If those affected are still growing, belts, braces and posture correction can be undertaken. The condition can't be reversed for adults. Their only option is corrective surgery," he says.

Citing numerous studies, The Atlantic's Joe Pinsker said in a May 2015 article titled 'The Financial Perks of Being Tall', "...an extra inch is worth almost $800 a year in elevated earnings." Meaning the taller you are, the more you'll earn – if you're in a 'Western' country.

Former I Am She Miss Universe India runner-up Reha Sukheja is yet to have a level playing field, leave alone get a fatter paycheck than peers. At 6'1", this 24-year-old is often rejected at auditions for commercials due to her height. "People say, 'Sorry, you're too tall'. If I'm auditioning for 10 ads, I'll go beyond step one in maybe two-three. Mostly since those will be 'solo girl' ads with no men," she says.

When she was in school, her PT teacher pushed her into the basketball queue even though she wanted to play volleyball. And having to cock her ear to hear what people around are saying is routine. "It's awkward posing for pictures. And yes, people look me up and down – first to see my height, then at my feet to check if I'm wearing heels and then back up again for confirmation," she laughs. But all this, she adds, isn't a bugbear like
the professional constraints she faces.

In an atmosphere where significantly tall women condition themselves to bending, slouching and feeling overtly conscious of their heights, Sukheja is an exception. It helps that her father and mother – former model Renu Sukheja, herself 5'10" – never made her feel small about her height. Reha always maintained a straight posture, basically flipping the bird to all those who encourage 'lambus' to do otherwise or say things like tall girls don't 'need' to wear heels. She also has no qualms dating shorter men – her current boyfriend is a few inches shorter. "If both of us are okay with it, I don't see why anyone else should care," she underlines.

This is the attitude parents, teachers and guardians should foster in the considerably tall instead of alienating them further, says Anjali Chhabria. Society will keep projecting its anxieties on anyone with a different body. The antidote is to be accept and be comfortable in your own skin.

How long, then, before those like Sukheja – and others of varying body types – get to play in a level field? One can only hope it won't be a wait for eternity.

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Hi!

I just wanted to let my friends and family know that my second book "Bigfoot Still Lives in Idaho" is now available for purchase! I am excited to finish this book! It is bigger than the first book and includes brand stories of Bigfoot sightings from all over Idaho.

The best place to get a copy is at www.bigfootlives.info or talk to me personally. While you are at that site you should also check out the very cool T shirts we have available.

Thank you for your love and support throughout the years, this has been an incredible adventure!

About Becky

I was born in Pocatello, Idaho and lived on the Fort Hall Indian reservation the first part of my life where there are many Bigfoot stories. I have been interested in the Bigfoot since I was about ten and started collecting these stories while I was in high school. The book, Bigfoot Lives in Idaho, was written with those stories from all over Idaho and was published November 2012. Since then I have been collecting stories and pictures for the next book which will be out later this year.

I am one of the 100 tallest women in the United States and in the top 200 tallest women in the world, but I still don't compare to the Bigfoot. I have big feet but theirs are definitly bigger.

I love to hear stories about Bigfoot - please share yours!

Visit Becky's website

This article is somewhat "old" but still makes for a good read:

She might have to duck her head when she walks through a door. But Britain's tallest teenage girl likes towering over her friends.

Jessica Pardoe, 18, who is 6ft 9in in bare feet, said: "I'm really proud to be this tall. I don't mind being a bit different. And it has so many advantages.

"I love going to music festivals and it's great to be able to see over everyone's heads."

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SHE WAS bullied in her school years for towering above her classmates.

Now, Willerby woman Jessica McCubbin has had the last laugh, after shining in the Miss Beauty Curve finals in London. Jessica, 22, finished in the top ten at the pageant for plus-size women. She was also crowned Miss Publicity and Miss Top Model.

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