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Prejudice around height and it's seeming acceptance among society.

StoneFox

Member
I'm 5'2" and I get excited when I meet an adult shorter than me. I don't know why, I guess it's because it's so rare.

Tall people have forgotten what it's like to be short. :p
 

Metroxed

Member
If you go outside you see so many guys below 6' with cute girlfriends.
a hot dude with a fat woman? super rare.

fat women got it way worse think. sure they could change it, but studies show it's very hard and next to impossible. you could argue it's their own mistake, though. but I am in the camp that says you should not discriminate against either. but sexual preference is not discrimination.

What? Losing weight is not "next to impossible". Yes, it can be hard but it all comes down to discipline and self control. Barring a very few, selected cases, overweight people are all completely capable of losing weight if they really want it.

You can't say the same about height though, that's the thing that is actually impossible to change
 
Anyone who says that being short is easy or you're not judged hardcore for it isn't short.

If I go to the gym, I'm a manlet. If I get mad about something then I have Napoleon syndrome. My height is "cute" but not attractive or desirable. I look far younger than I am so I am taken less seriously. It's just shitty all around and I can't think of anything that has been more of a hindrance on my life than my height. I can lose all the fucking weight I want but I can't change my height. I am 5'3" for clarification
 
I'm 6'2" and it's pretty neat. Except when people at the grocery store ask me to get things for them on the top shelf.

Also hotel shower heads are placed way too low. I have to crouch down to rinse.

I moved into a new apartment recently and before I changed the shower head it every time it was like that scene from Elf
 
5'7" and it really hasn't been a huge problem for me. I think it's been brought up about a dozen times. The only person who has ever really used it to try and wind me up was an ex girlfriend and she was a bellend.

It may affect how I get on with the females but I'm largely unaware of it.

The colleague I work most with at work however is 6'7. I can imagine that makes me look ridiculous.
 

milanbaros

Member?
As someone considered tall(I guess), its very weird how its now clamored for. While I wouldn't say I was a reject by any means, growing up I still would get jokes about being long and lanky and having bigger feet. Now women basically have height requirements on their dating profiles. Not complaining but people are very strange.

Being very tall is just as much a target of ridicule though.
 
Being very tall is just as much a target of ridicule though.

True, had that thrown at me all the time during youth. I was already as tall as my teacher when I was like 7 (short teacher though) and I always stuck out like a sore thumb when the class had to go anywhere. Thankfully though, I've always been too blissfully stupid to care about any of it.
 
Being short or average sucks if you're on dating websites, I'm sorry short/average men. But, otherwise, the world is made for you.

I'm not even very tall (6'4"), but here are the things that get progressively worse the taller you get:
  • Cars
  • Flying
  • Trains
  • Movie theatres
  • Theatres / Concert halls (these are actually the worst, I don't go to theatres because most were built a century ago and are extremely physically uncomfortable... I was in physical pain at the end of 'Fiddler on the Roof,' legitimately almost walked out during the brutally long second act because the chairs in the old, historic theatre were horrible for anybody 6ft +)
  • Booths at restaurants
  • Desks
  • Pants
  • Shirts
  • Shoes, boots
  • Doorways
  • Beds
  • Old buildings
  • Ceiling fans
  • Boats
  • Bed sheets
  • Blankets
  • Hotels
  • Roller coasters
  • Most rides at theme parks
  • ...

So, average-sized guys, you've got your casual discrimination when dating... people discriminate against you because dating is a discriminatory thing by design... You're looking for someone you like and discriminating from people you don't like. Very tall people (6'6" +) have real structural and systematic discrimination when living their regular life, every day.


I'm 6'6" and except for pants and shirts (I don't buy them often, but it works) this list is the truth. Especially flights in economy class are horrible.

People told and tell me jokes about my height like "How's the air up there", but I just smile and nod it off. I'm actually thankful that I'm not on the other side of the spectrum, because being tall mostly has more pros than cons, but being ridiculed and being small is something that I would find very annoying. It's not supposed to come of as pejorative. I just think smaller people, especially men have it far worse.
 

Necron

Member
Somehow glad I'm extremely average in height (well, apparently just slightly above average) with 178 cm (5 ft 10) for men based on the USA and Switzerland height averages (wikipedia numbers). Can't say I've ever had these issues and have luckily never seen them at the workplace (i.e. making jokes about short men, jokes about tall women).
 

Rad-

Member
Well there are positive sides to being short. For example if you work out you look more buff more easily. Also you won't get as much back pain when older.

But some women definitely care about height. Many of my woman friends basically have a rule that a guy has to be over ~180cm. "It would look weird if I were taller than him when wearing heels" etc are stuff that I have heard them say.
 

RSP

Member
A lot of tall people where I live. I'm 6'2" and rarely the tallest in a room of people, except when I'm with the inlaws who are all much shorter than I.
 
I have had lesbians tell me that they wanted somebody shorter than them for a partner. I'm 5'9" and while it is a pretty normal height than I'm happy with, it kinda sucks when they tell you that. Despite getting asked to grab stuff from top shelves on clothing stores. And I quite like when girls are taller than me.

I had to stop wearing heels to dates because of being a head taller with them on :/


Apart from that, my main First World problem related to height is that bigger sizes of women's clothing only get wider, but not longer. So all pants are capris unless I buy in shops for "tall women". Which happen to be from 6" upwards and they end needing tailoring too. And that the kitchen in my home was made for somebody shorter than me and I keep hitting myself with the extractor fan.
 

Shredderi

Member
Oh shit, happy birthday. :) Mine's December 28th so I'm kind of used to being by myself during those days since people are usually spending the holidays with family, but I get how it can feel crappy. I'll raise a glass of wine in your name. If you want to co-op a game or whatever just let me know. Enjoy!

Oh man thank you that is nice of you :>

Happy Birthday yo.

Much appreciated mate!

Well there are positive sides to being short. For example if you work out you look more buff more easily. Also you won't get as much back pain when older.

But some women definitely care about height. Many of my woman friends basically have a rule that a guy has to be over ~180cm. "It would look weird if I were taller than him when wearing heels" etc are stuff that I have heard them say.

Haha I hear that all the time too with SOME of my woman friends. Ironically the woman friend who doesn't care about height at all is like 185cm. Tbh, I find the "heel rule" a bit odd. A guy has to compete against a manufactured clothing component but is not allowed himself to use an artificial length boost. But that's dating side and they can prefer what they want, as far as I'm concerned. I know I have my own preferences as well.
 
Honestly, I know only one guy I consider short, he has a pretty good looking GF though while I sit here, 6' tall, forever alone ;)

Being short in the dating space can be tough from what I've heard from a few female friends. Nothing as vulgar as you can read in some of the Tweet collections you can read on the subject, but a lot of them outright stated that short guys just don't do it for them.

Then again, someone I talked with once said that she always thought she'd never date someone shorter than her until she met her current BF and now she really doesn't give a fuck, so I guess often it's just women saying the things society expects them to think and say.
 

zoukka

Member
Yep the world is a shallow and judgemental place. Any clearly visible anomaly about your looks will attract shitty behaviour and discrimination from most people. Weight, height, facial structure, build and countless other things just create the combination of how much shit you will have to take from people.

Ignore the judgemental idiots and focus on people who are intelligent enough to accept and love your physique.
 
Man, I think being short would be pretty tough. Its not a problem you can really complain about. People in general aren't going to be very sympathetic.

Honestly, if i was short I think id be thinking about it all the time. How unfair it is. Just the way girls react to a legit short person is pretty unfair.

I don't think I know a single lady who would be willing to date a shorter man, much less someone their same height.
 
I don't think I know a single lady who would be willing to date a shorter man, much less someone their same height.

Some tall women do. I'm 5'10" and the majority of my serious relationships have been with guys either shorter than me or just barely taller than me. All the men in my family are 6'4" and up, so I've never found tall men to be particularly attractive.
 

Media

Member
I have had lesbians tell me that they wanted somebody shorter than them for a partner. I'm 5'9" and while it is a pretty normal height than I'm happy with, it kinda sucks when they tell you that. Despite getting asked to grab stuff from top shelves on clothing stores. And I quite like when girls are taller than me.

I had to stop wearing heels to date because of being a head taller with those :/


Apart from that, my main First World problem related to height is that bigger sizes of women's clothing only get wider, but not longer. So all pants are capris unless I buy in shops for "tall women". Which happen to be from 6" upwards and they end needing tailoring too. And that the kitchen in my home was made for somebody shorter than me and I keep hitting myself with the extractor fan.

Oh my God this annoys me so fucking much! And at 5'9 it's not like we area freaks Of nature tall, but fuck finding pants that fit that don't gap at the waist and have huge pants legs for thighs.
 

wilsonda

Member
Looks matter to people. If you're ugly, short, etc., then you need to work extra hard to make sure you find value in society. It's just something people need to get over, because it's not going to change.

This. Looks matter even in the workplace doesn't mean you have to be a model, but you should at least be presentable.
 

TEJ

Member
I have the opposite problem.

I'm around 6'6 and people are sometimes intimidated by my size. I get nervous easily, and twitch around a bit....

I don't want to hurt anyone, but sometimes people are scared of me.
 

entremet

Member
Just accept that genetic cards you were dealt and work on what you can control. Worrying about height is an extreme waste of mental energy. Their will always be people with more attractive genetic gifts.
 

HerrPalomar

Neo Member
Deal with it. This preference for height is so deeply ingrained in the DNA it is never ever gonna change. Why worry about something you can't change? Focus on what you can change, or continue to blame the world because you have not hit the genetic lottery on every department. Your choice.

Choice 1: Be a depressed sack of shit, because oh my god in one department you have a disadvantage. Nobody likes these kind of persons.
Choice 2: Own it. Learn how to not give a fuck about every thing that is not perfect. Life will never be perfect.
 
Deal with it. This preference for height is so deeply ingrained in the DNA it is never ever gonna change. Why worry about something you can't change? Focus on what you can change, or continue to blame the world because you have not hit the genetic lottery on every department. Your choice.

Is it "in the DNA" though?
Many women don't seem to care, and those who care often have very shallow reasoning like "it looks weird when I'm next to him".
Sounds mich more like nurture than nature, I think.

Don't get me wrong, I know it's not something to focus on as a short guy. Mostly, I think it's weird how acceptable it is to talk about short people being less desirable in often rude ways.
 

HerrPalomar

Neo Member
Is it "in the DNA" though?
Many women don't seem to care, and those who care often have very shallow reasoning like "it looks weird when I'm next to him".
Sounds mich more like nurture than nature, I think.

There are always outliers. There are also men who like overweight woman. BUT: Genes hold culture on a very very tight leash. But even if it would be nurture. This is not gonna change anything for the individual person affected. It it not changing in his lifetime.

Although it has been known that women prefer tall men in mating for evolutionary reasons, no study has investigated whether a taller husband makes his wife happier. We analyzed two datasets (N = 7850) that are, together, representative of the Indonesian population to determine whether this is true. A greater height difference in a couple was positively related to the wife's happiness. This relationship gradually weakened over time and entirely dissipated by 18 years of marital duration. The husband's resourcefulness was a minor mediator in the relationship. We thus argue that the husband's height and its correlates made his wife initially happy, but their influence waned over time. Nevertheless, the long period of the dissipation indicates a powerful impact of male height on women's psychology, probably prepared by evolution.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188691530060X
 
There are always outliers. There are also men who like overweight woman. BUT: Genes hold culture on a very very tight leash. But even if it would be nurture. This is not gonna change anything for the individual person affected. It it not changing in his lifetime.

Like I elaborated in my edit, it's not that I find preferences unacceptable, it's the way it is handled.
Just as tasteless as "no fat chicks". There are ways to do this without putting people down.
 

HerrPalomar

Neo Member
Like I elaborated in my edit, it's not that I find preferences unacceptable, it's the way it is handled.
Just as tasteless as "no fat chicks". There are ways to do this without putting people down.

Of course. I am always just so sad that going from the threads in the off topic forum a lot of people on neogaf seem to live very distracted lives and concern themselves with so much unecessary shit. "GAF I lose my hair, what should I do?" "GAF I am short, I hate being short" "Gaf, I am 28, why do I age" " Gaf its so hard being overweight" "Gaf its so hard being skinny" ....
 

KingV

Member
Honestly, I know only one guy I consider short, he has a pretty good looking GF though while I sit here, 6' tall, forever alone ;)

Being short in the dating space can be tough from what I've heard from a few female friends. Nothing as vulgar as you can read in some of the Tweet collections you can read on the subject, but a lot of them outright stated that short guys just don't do it for them.

Then again, someone I talked with once said that she always thought she'd never date someone shorter than her until she met her current BF and now she really doesn't give a fuck, so I guess often it's just women saying the things society expects them to think and say.

I think there is truth to that. Also, I think it's a bit inexplicable, but taller women, in my experience care less about height than average height women. They face some of the same height discrimination for being tall, I think, and are also used to being about as tall or taller than dudes, so don't see it as weird.

I'm 5'6" and about half of the women I've dated seriously (and my wife) have been 5'8"+
 
It sucks but what can you do. I have red hair and freckles and I've gotten shit for it my whole life. Society has its ideals of beauty that no one here is going to be able to change that.
 
Of course. I am always just so sad that going from the threads in the off topic forum a lot of people on neogaf seem to live very distracted lives and concern themselves with so much unecessary shit. "GAF I lose my hair, what should I do?" "GAF I am short, I hate being short" "Gaf, I am 28, why do I age" " Gaf its so hard being overweight" "Gaf its so hard being skinny" ....
Oh absolutely.
Also, yikes.
I'm losing hair, am pretty short, gaining weight, and 28..

It sucks but what can you do. I have red hair and freckles and I've gotten shit for it my whole life. Society has its ideals of beauty that no one here is going to be able to change.
I was wondering, do people with your looks get openly rejected for exactly that?
I know red hair and freckles used to be undesirable, but I always thought that kinda took a 180 degree turn?
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
Just accept that genetic cards you were dealt and work on what you can control. Worrying about height is an extreme waste of mental energy. Their will always be people with more attractive genetic gifts.

Again, this is like saying 'hey, just cheer up!' to a person suffering from a depression. Profoundly stupid and lacking in empathy.

It's not remotely how it works. People aren't 100% rational beings and it's asinine to assume that people preoccupied with their short stature will just one day be able to get over it.
 

entremet

Member
It sucks but what can you do. I have red hair and freckles and I've gotten shit for it my whole life. Society has its ideals of beauty that no one here is going to be able to change that.

Sure, but then there is acceptance that life has tons of fun to offer. You don't have be an adonis rich movie star to have a great life. It seems in this FB and Instagram era there is this huge pressure to live a Hollywood lifestyle.

Some of the most happy people I've known looked rather normal and plain, didn't have six pack abs, had boring, yet reliable jobs and so on. I feel current society has an obsession with being the most attractive, having a super exciting career, and so on. Millions if not billions people live enjoyable but rather mundane lives and are not constantly thinking of their height, weight, etc.

Again, this is like saying 'hey, just cheer up!' to a person suffering from a depression. Profoundly stupid and lacking in empathy.

It's not remotely how it works. People aren't 100% rational beings and it's asinine to assume that people preoccupied with their short stature will just one day be able to get over it.

If you do suffer from emotional issues, sure take care of that. But eventually, you do have to make a conscious decision to accept what you cannot control. Life has tons to offer beyond looking at height. And no, I'm not talking about serious emotional issues caused because height.

You're also reading way too much into my post. Learn to understand context next time. The OP is talking about the societal, not the personal.
 

HerrPalomar

Neo Member
Again, this is like saying 'hey, just cheer up!' to a person suffering from a depression. Profoundly stupid and lacking in empathy.

It's not remotely how it works. People aren't 100% rational beings and it's asinine to assume that people preoccupied with their short stature will just one day be able to get over it.

And the other option is what exactly? It's so interesting how some people on GAF, always think society must change for them.

There are people that learn the deal with horrible disabilities and chronic diseases. There comes a time in the life of adult when he has to stop being a victim. What kind of life is that? Walking through day to day life and always being concerned how tall you are?

EDIT: Real Depression is a disease. It is quite disgusting to compare it to somebody who feels sad about being on the short side. If you suffer from depression because of your height. Please seek therapy. There are ways to treat depression
 

Caelus

Member
If you do suffer from emotional issues, sure take care of that. But eventually, you do have to make a conscious decision to accept what you cannot control. Life has tons to offer beyond looking at height. And no, I'm not talking about serious emotional issues caused because height.

I think most short men get that. But if people want to vent, let them vent. This goes for anything out of one's control. It's part of the acceptance process.

It becomes unacceptable when it turns into some red-pill circlejerk hatred towards women and society.
 
If my boyfriend wasn't tall I'd never be able to buy stuff from the top shelf at the grocery store.


(I have nothing against short dudes, though.)

You underestimate short couples.

trenchcoat.jpg
 
Guess I drew the long straw:

Mom: 5'0"
Father: 5'7"
Uncle: 5'0"
Me: 6"2

No I'm not adopted lol. Extended family isn't tall either though somewhere back I think I had a great uncle that was 6+ foot. Guess the genes skip some generations.
 
So odd to see people telling others to cope with specific struggles they haven't faced. People deals with shit in many ways and if venting in a NeoGAF thread helps, why not let them? Why tell them to shut up about it? It's normal for shit to get you down once in a while if you're facing it every day, therapy or no therapy.

This goes with all insecurities that you can't change. It's normal and human to feel this way and to want to talk to someone about it (not exclusively a therapist).
 
Guess I drew the long straw:

Mom: 5'0"
Father: 5'7"
Uncle: 5'0"
Me: 6"2

No I'm not adopted lol. Extended family isn't tall either though somewhere back I think I had a great uncle that was 6+ foot. Guess the genes skip some generations.

Did everyone else not get enough nutrition or something? Serious question, since that's obviously a factor.
 

DJ_XMX

Member
5'4 here and life has been tough mostly dating (due to height not face or body , face i consider am average and body am probably above average due to my fitness indulgence and healthy eating habits ) , the rest is fine :) I can take jokes easily, we just need to accept we are different in our own way. Back to the subject at hand I found dating easier in countries where women are generally shorter, so Asia and mexico have been kind to me in dating :)
 

cromofo

Member
What is tall tho?

I hear people saying 6' is tall which is ridiculous. I consider 6'2 to be tall-ish and everything upwards to be tall.
 

cromofo

Member
Guess I drew the long straw:

Mom: 5'0"
Father: 5'7"
Uncle: 5'0"
Me: 6"2

No I'm not adopted lol. Extended family isn't tall either though somewhere back I think I had a great uncle that was 6+ foot. Guess the genes skip some generations.

My dad is barely 6' and my mom is like 5'5 and I ended up at 6'4.

Not that I complain lol.
 
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