to think lots of people are "heightist"?

[MardyBra]

On the MiL from hell thread someone stated that the groom wasn't much of a catch because he was a short-arse. I'm shortish and my DH is v short for a bloke. Doesn't make us (automatic) mingers. Why do some tall people have a misplaced sense of superiority.

[OTheHugeManatee]

People make assumptions about other people based on their appearance! Really?

[Bennifer]

I think for a man, there's an idea that when you hit six foot, that's great, and it doesn't matter anymore...

Six foot "anything" and it's good, but then I suppose it's good in the same way that size 10 (say) is idealised for a woman

[MindyMacready]

"Short People" is a song by Randy Newman from his 1977 album Little Criminals. The verses and chorus seem to be a pointed attack on the short. The bridge (sung by Glenn Frey), in contrast, states "short people are just the same as you and I." Newman confirms that the song is about "prejudice," as was widely thought, but added that it was "about a lunatic". As with many of his songs, such as "Rednecks", Newman wrote the song from the point of view of a biased narrator. Like Dire Straits' 1985 hit single "Money for Nothing" which used the same lyrical technique, the song was misunderstood by many listeners, who wrongly assumed that it reflected the performer's personal viewpoint.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Don't want no short people.... but... fat bottomed girls you make the rockin' world go round.

[paddypoopants]

I would agree many women are heightist when it comes to dating men. So many of my single friends, however desperate, always list tall on the internet dating as being a prerequisite.
One of my single male friends who is 5' 10, says that many woman put 6' down as their limit. He is funny, clever and good looking and would never have regarded himself as short before. It's ridiculous IMO.
It's really not a big deal being a short woman (I am) apart from all decent skirts falling squarely mid calf so I look like an RE teacher with my sturdy calves.

[Bandwithering]

Oh completely and totally. It's the last acceptable 'ism'.

I think that in Scandinavia they discovered that shorter men were more likely to commit suicide. And all around the World tall people earn more.

I might be accused of being paranoid, but I think sometimes tall people don't even 'notice' short people... for friendship I mean. I feel that at the school gates the tall mums seem to notice each other and be friends with each other. The only tall friends I've had were from situations where we were thrown together and had to get to know each other!. Everywhere you go, the crowd that seem to be in the middle of everything, in the known etc.... they are mostly tall. Exceptions made for particularly good looking shorter people perhaps!!

Sometimes I feel that I am perceived to be more childlike, that my suggestions (have less weight)..

I'm sure there's lots of research into this. I'd be interested in it, but it'd also depress me I think. I'm not even bothered about the fact thta i have to get clothes altered all the time. That pales in comparison to the other things.

If anybody has any lovely short brothers who are kind, funny, clever, good humoured but can't find a girlfriend, send 'em my way

[Spuddybean]

I am 5ft 10in and people comment constantly, i am a size 12/14 and curvy with long hair yet i have been asked if i; 'am a man in drag', 'am a russian shot putter', 'throw the javelin' etc. When i was a teen i used to be very self conscious.
I have found shorter men very aggressive to me, as if they blame me because they feel inadequate.
My exMil thought i shouldn't wear heels as it would make me taller than her 6ft son. Before our wedding she kept on at me that i should be shorter than him in the pictures!!
My current DP is 6ft 2in and we get 'started on' in pubs/on tubes all the time because we are tall. It's just so weird.

oh and don't get me started on trouser lengths and sleeves - shorter people can take them up, i can't sew extra material on!

btw i'm totally happy with my height - it's others who seem to have a problem.

[dweezle]

at women of 5' 10" who get picked on for height. I'm 6' 2" and have not had anything like this since at school, and even that died a death before I hit 14.

Certainly no-one has commented adversely on my height in my adult life - maybe they're too terrified by my Amazonian appearance.........

[ScarletOHaHa]

MY DH is the same height as I am - 5' 5''. My friends are definitely heightist when it comes to dating and apply height restrictions (more fool them).

Short(er) people have as much right to get angry and totally disagree that a Napoleon complex actually exists.

When I bought my house, somebody asked me if I would close my curtains so I would feel safer. They thought that thieves/attackers would be more likely to target us cos my DH wouldn't be able to defend us.

[Spuddybean]

haha dweezle, i have been called 'amazonian' by pissed prats very often. They have said things as a chat up like 'you could probably beat me up..but would you like a drink' er no, not really thanks.
I think it is regional - i have loads of comments in Europe especially Spain where the people seem tiny. I get stared at in restaurants and on more than one occassion men had asked my exH would he handled 'such a big woman'(with grabby billowing hand gestures to illustrate their point).
They see it as a compliment in a 'what a woman' kind of way, but it gets tedious when you just want to eat your tapas!

[manticlimactic]

I'm only 5'3. I quite like being small I like tall men though, well at least a few inches taller than me. Of the shorter men I've met (under 5'8) and dated they have all being arrogant knob heads. But then that might be just how they are rather than their height but me and my friends attribute it to short man syndrome.

[ScarletOHaHa]

manticlimactic attributing behaviour to 'short man syndrome' is heightist and discriminatory.

I think you have been dating 'arrogant knob heads'.

[Longtalljosie]

Spuddybean I totally agree. From the "Gosh you're looking really tall today. You are REALLY tall aren't you?" from a colleague who has known me day in day out for seven years (just the other day) to one woman who told me that I would never find a husband who would be faithful to me because of my height "I mean, it's not natural, is it?" Another gem from her "You're just TALL aren't you? I look at you and all I see is TALL" I'm 5'11".

[daimbardiva]

I'm 5'11" and have never been made fun of for my height (perhaps mildly at school) - in general it's something folk seem to be jealous of. I have to say, I love being tall. I also love wearing heels, and it doesn't stop me.

Incidentally, my (gorgeous!) dh is 5'6". It doesn't bother either of us that there is a height difference between us (although it does seem to bother/endlessly fascinate other people), and being shorter than average, or having a wife who is (shock, horror) taller than him does not seem to have affected his confidence or held him back in life at all!

Yes, historically, height may have been linked to nutrition, affluence etc. but I do think that people need to get over themselves really. And I include in this single friends of mine who'll be put off going out with a man because he is shorter than them.

[SpecialFriedRice]

I'm pretty average at 5ft 8 and I wouldn't want to be with a guy shorter. I'd feel like the masculine person in the relationship. I want to feel protected by a man (not literally as I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself), not like I'm going out with a boy.

I don't know if I'd class it as an ism as such. Speak to any person and they have their preferences. Some men prefer short, size 8, brunettes. Some prefer blonde curvy tall girls. Same with woman, we all have different preferences and what we find attractive. I personally don't usually find blondes attractive. I like tall, brunette men with a bit of meat on them. I just dont find men shorter than me attractive.

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

I wish that height was linked to wealth. I am 5'10" and a size 19-20. I haven't had comments in either Belgium or Switzerland, but I was asked numeous times whether I was a ladyboy in Thailand. That gets a bit wearing.
DH is around 6 feet tall, I could wear heels and be taller than him, but I would fall over. Our DD was predicted to be slightly taller than me, but I am doubtful, she doesn't eat enough for one thing.
At her school, there was a boy who was just over 7 feet tall. Poor chap, he had dreadful trouble finding a car big enough for him to learn to drive in.
My sister OTOH is just short of 5 feet tall. She also has trouble with cars. She currently has a chinqacento.

[Empusa]

"Bonsoir. I agree it's been shown that tall people earn more and but there have been no studies to show they are more intelligent or adept. So it must be society's prejudice."

Quite.

[noddyholder]

It depends what you consider 'success' if you are measuring it by material gain via career then Katie Price is successful if you are measuring it by being happy and fulfilled then height is not relevant!

[springboksaplenty]

I don't see it as a prejudice as such. Everyone is allowed to have their own preferences when it comes down to physical attraction. To say that that is not allowed is odd.

I am 5'4 and my dh is 6'2. I wouldn't date a shorter man and that is matched in my friends. All the girls are average-ish heights with a few being 5'10 but all of our husbands/partners are well over 6 foot (amazingly on occasion my dh is the shortest one there!).

[AngryBeaver]

I am 5'9,dh is 5'8 ...we have friends whose father definitely thinks he is superior because they are a taller family. He calls his gs "big x" and my ds "little x" even though they're the same age ad my ds is average height for his age. And lots of other comments to do with height, Oh dg is a big strong boy look at your little ds trying to catch that ball!
I swear one day I will be forced to say,
"Yeah,it must be easy to catch a ball when your hands are the size of FRIGGIN' SHOVELS!"

I'd much rather ds be average sized and not look years older than he is (theyre both 3,but he looks 5) He can't talk well and is still quite babyish in lots of ways so people think there is something wrong with him.
(My cousin is 6'6 and had that problem for years.People would assume he was much older and then were puzzled by his immature behaviour.)

The grandfather of the family barely looks at dh and definitely has a problem with shorter people. I remember years ago when I was little,he made a comment about my father regarding his height.

[mumblechum1]

I like tall men.

[Kalinda]

For anyone interested, there was a Radio 4 programme on last week featuring that Randy Newmann song. Seems it completely backfired on him and he got lambasted by various humour-free groups in the US. I'm 5' 3", and I managed a chuckle.

[RustyBear]

It may not be an -ism to have a personal preference about height (though I personally think any kind of rigid preference like that is a bit daft), but it definitely is to laugh at shorter men dating taller women, which I have frequently seen on here and elsewhere.

[cherryteat]

I am 5 feet tall, DH is 6' 3. People do take the mick. I find kissing standing up & dancing together to be difficult. I hate that petite clothes ranges are so limited and so much more expensive.
We have moved into a house where I have to stand on tiptoe to look out of the upstairs windows, I have to stand on a chair to open & close them and cannot reach most of the shelves in my kitchen.
Incidentally I have the randy newman single 'short people' on vinyl, first time i've heard (read) anybody mention it for years!

[FooffyShmoofferschinhair]

"My DH is 6'5 and his best mate is 6'8. When they go out, invariably someone tries to have a pop at them and start by saying to them 'bet you think you're hard because your tall'. It's pathetic. Some people do have a chip about their height"

yy Geekcool. My DH (6ft 6) has always had that for as long as I've known him.
Unfortunately it looks like my DS (he's 9 and 5ft 1in) is getting the same treatment.
For some people being tall is a pissing nightmare.