I'm six feet tall.
Besides the relatively minor cons, being tall puts me at a distinct advantage professionally, interpersonally, and heath-wise.
Cons include general social stuff, like insensitive people saying things:
- You're so tall!
Seriously? If you find yourself saying this to someone you've just barely met, consider substituting that adjective for something else: You're so Asian. You're so fat. You're so skinny. You've got such a big nose.
Just...don't. Pointing out obvious physical characteristics is obnoxious, even if you see it as a compliment (eg 'You're so tall, I'm so envious, I would give anything to be your height!'-- I've heard this one countless times, and I Do Not Believe You).* - Wow. It must've been really hard for you, growing up.
Yes. It was. Thanks for helping me revisit the pain! I was 5'5" when I was 10 years old. I've heard more 'freaks of nature' comments than I care to elaborate on, and I've been asked "How's the weather up there?" at least a thousand times. - It must be hard to date.
There are, actually, guys who like tall girls. Amazing! It is, though, true...it's harder to date than it would be if I was under 5'10". This falls under shit you shouldn't verbalize to a tall person (tall woman, actually; guys don't have this problem unless they're over 6'10" or so). - I don't even notice your height.
Don't bullshit. I mean, c'mon. I'm six feet tall. That's like saying you don't notice someone is black. "I don't see color!" What. Ever.
For me, being tall has been a struggle. I'm perceived as a good leader, so I'm often chosen by a given group to lead, though I prefer not to (but as a result of this life-long perception of others, even when I don't want to lead, I perceive I'm the most qualified.)
I prefer to date guys 6'2"+, which limits the dating pool quite a bit. Add on that I also don't like dating assholes, I'm looking at less than 1% (guess) of the available men, half of whom (another guess) wouldn't want to date someone as tall as me.
On the reverse, there are guys who really dig long legs and tall chicks. It feels good to find those golden gems, probably much in the same way a curvy girl feels when she dates a guy who loves curves.
And, I dated a guy recently who told me he noticed his attraction toward tall women went way up after dating me. Win for tall women, this guy was great; Enjoy.
Another random, odd con: Living in Mexico, I saw a doctor who did a scan on me and determined the organ she scanned was much larger than it should be. This made me panicked for a few days until the results came back normal. No, it wasn't an abnormally large organ. It was just abnormally large compared with women who are a foot shorter than me. This happened to the author of The Tall Book (see references, below), when she was incorrectly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer while in Cambodia.
I had an ignorant doctor in rural North Carolina at one point, too; she tested me for some disease (don't recall which) and said I was so incredibly tall that she couldn't believe I hadn't been tested for it yet. Thanks; height isn't a disease. It's actually healthy.
Pros -- there are a lot!
- From an early age, tall people are perceived to be intelligent, and they're perceived to be good leaders. The way society deals with us tall folks actually helps make us better leaders. If someone is expected to do well at something, they're more likely to succeed.
- We are, statistically, more intelligent than shorter people (see the last pro).
- We tend to excel at athletics. I lettered in basketball as a 14 year old. Interestingly, our propensity for doing well with athletics also affects our later ability, as adults, to be good leaders.
- Tall people are statistically healthier. Long legs correlate with health. We live longer.**
- We're paid more (3% more per inch, up to 6'6"). There is an alarming wage-gap between shorts and talls, making it an issue comparable to the gender gap in wages. We're not more likely to hold a PhD (or only marginally so), or be more qualified.
- We're more likely to hold office. We're more likely to be CEOs of major corporations.
- Height has a lot to do with healthy early childhood development (specifically, as mentioned by Benjamin Golub, good nutrition), which correlates with intelligence, confidence, and social aptitude. Tall and lanky would be the norm, if childhood health was universally equal.
In short (ha!) there's a whole lot going for tall folks. Aside from having to deal with being the freak in the room sometimes, I can't really complain.
I do note, however, after writing this answer that my Con section is all anecdotal (and long); the Pro section is all statistically based. As much as I try to be comfortable with my height, I still have a lot of insecurities about it.
--
*I worked at a pet store when I was 16. At this point, I was already at 6', and very sensitive about people mentioning my height. A guy came in to buy some dog food. He was over 7' tall, just enormous. I thought to myself, "Hey! I can give this guy just one interaction today where someone doesn't mention his height."
As I was handing him his change, my manager came out, dropped a bag of pine shavings, and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD YOU'RE HUGE!"
#facepalm
I think people are more apt to point out tallness because tall people are actually perceived to be leaders/skilled/intelligent, and therefore confident. Someone is less likely to point out other obvious physical traits that don't correlate with positive stuff.
**With the exception of a few diseases that correlate with extreme height.
References: I'm currently reading a book called The Tall Book by Adriane Cohen. Most of the info in the 'pros' section is from the book; I'll update it as I continue reading and add the references. I just got too excited about being tall that I had to answer this question before finishing the book!
The Tall Book: A Celebration of Life from on High: Arianne Cohen: Amazon.com: Books