Do women really rule out average height men, or is it online talk?

[Uravinalaugh]

My younger step brother who is 19 [I am male btw], told me that women only want to date much taller men, he's roughly the same height as me, 5'7 [5'9 in thicker soled trainers lol], and is very introvert and hasn't had any dating experience, he has a few friends and I have noticed girls in the past being nice to him/liking him when I have seen him socializing. I was aware of this height bias which shows up quite a lot online and on social media, even here on mumsnet I have seen dating related threads where many women appear to be very dismissive of dating shorter men [used to nose sometimes using my OHs old account ,she didn't mind ahaha]

Because of this, I have been noticing often when I am out in public the heights of men to see if this is true, and it very clearly isn't. Last weekend I went to a well known seaside town for the day, due to the weather it was packed so millions of people and I would say literally the amount of couples of all ages where the man was average/slightly shorter than average height was the majority, it very clearly isn't the case that most women are not attracted to men below 6ft, 5ft10 or whatever. I myself have also never had a huge issue dating in the past, I never even knew I was particularly short until seeing this height related stuff online, and where women are concerned my height has never been mentioned

Was curious if this is only me that's noticed this, I think it could be more of a gen z thing than millenial and above? I'm not sure, but it definitely doesn't seem to match up with what I have seen with my own eyes in real life, have tried to reassure step bro that his height is fine, I think his parents have too, but don't seem to be able to convince him

Newsflash. SOME women are shallow and are only interested in men that fit their own profile as to the Alpha Male they want, regardless of personality, i.e. they may prefer tall, athletic looking with muscles, tattoos, beards, flash car, etc. and completely ignore the personality. Hence why lots of women end up in trouble in bad, abusive relationships. Because they chose looks over other qualities.

Thankfully not all, if not, most women aren't that shallow and look at the bigger picture of ALL aspects of the man, not just the physical attributes.

Yes, we'd all like to be rogered senseless by a good looking Alpha Male, but most get over that in their teens, fill their boots with the "attractive bad boys" when it doesn't matter, and then grow up and choose their "life partner" on a broader range of attributes, such as personality, career, kindness, honesty, etc.

Based on MN one would think Netherlands are short compared to UK....

It's a preference for some women but definitely not all.
Personally I am baffled why being tall is meant to be "better", I've never understood that.
My husband is a bit shorter than average and I'm a bit taller than average. He's taller than me but not much. I've never really given it much thought but maybe it's a factor in attraction for me. I don't think I've ever dated anyone noticeably tall but have definitely dated other men around my own height and maybe a couple slightly shorter, shock horror.

I like being able to walk along and chat with our heads at roughly the same height. I think I'd lose some of the conversation if it was (literally) going over my head.

In our younger and more passionate days it also made impromptu kissing easier as well as having sex standing up. No awkward bending and stooping!

Tell him to go back to the OG red pill and stop being led down the ridiculous path of the charlatans preaching some derivative red pill including the whole ‘men need to be X height otherwise they’ll be single - buy my course today’. No one cares about height if the lad has good hygiene, is moderately active, has a sense of humour and is, at a very basic level, interesting due to hobbies.

Seriously though, get him offline.

I prefer people with dwarfism

I ran the gauntlet of online dating and I recall there were an awful lot of women's profiles that explicitly stated a preference for a tall man or at the very least a man taller then them (in heels). This was closely followed by a preference for no bald men. Must have been a fairly depressing experience if you were a man who fell short (no pun intended) on both those fronts.

I wonder if your step brother has been watching too
much content from the manosphere..? They’d have you believe this kind of nonsense. Of course women don’t only want to date much taller men.

He just need to get out there socialising with women. He’ll find someone to date. At 19, there’s really no rush.

Kindness, chemistry and confidence are much more important than height. Maybe there's an overlap in some men if they put so much stick in physical appearance. I do find it odd though. That men who are often so judgemental about women's beauty standards are suddenly worried the tables have turned. Imo women give a lot less of a shit about looks/ height.

I think social media gives such a bad impression of women, that they only want men who pay for all their meals/are much taller than them. In the real world I've never known any women like that. I guess I like a man to be the same height as me or maybe a bit taller..I'm 5ft 6, and would have no problem whatsoever with 5ft 7. In fact I prefer men to be only a little taller than me. I don't like them to be too tall so I have to crick my neck looking up at them! 😄

It's an online/dating app thing isn't it. Mostly for single people.

Lots of men around 5'7"/5'8" in my family and they're all married with children, presumably passing on their 5'7" genes 😂

This is the problem with the manosphere. They’re pumping all these ridiculous ideas into young minds, when we know that women like men who are confident and know who they are. Harry styles wears pearl necklaces and blouses and he also has women throwing themselves at him - including me, given the chance.
My partner is only a few cm taller than me. I have dated taller and shorter. It’s about so much more than height.
I have a slight preference for shorter men these days because it’s just easier to share a bed, they take up less space and everything just fits nicely together. But I would never go on just height - it’s always personality.

This sums it up. It's an online phenomenon, not a real life phenomenon.

Interesting. And do you have a sense of why that is? Do you want to feel small in comparison?

Why are you so angry and defensive? Maybe because you're single and your silly little rule is preventing you from meeting someone while all your friends are already partnered up?

Notable how you keep ignoring the question about how you can tell the difference between someone 5'11 and 6'0. Probably because you can't.

I’m 4’8”. Literally everyone is taller than me so I couldn’t give less of a shit about height. I’ve dated 5’0 men and 6’5” men. It’s internet talk and the biggest load of shit ever. My two closest friends are engaged and the woman is a lot taller than he is. They’re the happiest couple I know.

Most people have no clue how tall 6 foot really is. I'm from an tall family and am the same height as the average UK male, so many people who assume Im 6 foot tall. Im not, Im 5ft 9.

I’m 5’8 and my husband is only an inch taller. It bothers him more than it does me.

He’s by far the shortest man of any of our friends, so he does think of himself as a short arse. I feel a bit sorry for men as the expectation of height is very much there among women.

I’ll admit that personal bias too. We have sons and were quietly delighted when they both outgrew their dad’s height by some margin. One is 6’2 and the other is 6’1. It shouldn’t matter, but it does.

I prefer men over 6ft ( I’m 5ft 6 )
all the men i dated have been inc DH have been 6ft -6ft 3

DH is 6ft 3 and one of the first things I asked him was how tall are you as he was sat down

my preference is for taller men
I wouldn’t date someone who was say under 5ft 9

I’m from a tall family. At 5’10 I’m the second shortest. I’m just not attracted to shorter men. I had a boyfriend who was the same height for a while and holding hands was uncomfortable, I felt “big” and unfeminine. I couldn’t feel “sexy” with a someone shorter than me. If that makes me shallow so be it 🤷‍♀️

I'm 5"9 and have gone out with men from 5"7 to 6"3. Doesn't bother me at all.

This is why anyone who brags that they need a 6’ man in embarrassing to me.

I’m a ‘very tall’ woman of 182cm (in real terms 6’, technically 5’11.5) and the majority of men are not taller than me. In other words, most men are not 6’. It’s still above average for a man. Short ladies, he’s lying to you, he’s 5’9.

My OH is 5’7 and Im very happy with that. I don’t see it as a flaw I have to get over, it’s something I find attractive in its own right. I really cannot get the obsession with height.

I’m 5’7”

My last two DPs were both 6’4”. They were arseholes.

my current DP is 5’6” and an absolutely wonderful man. More of a man than those two put together.

so, from that sample I’d say shorter men are the best!

I would have had my filter set to taller than me many moons ago with online dating, I’m 5ft 7.5 and my husband is 5ft 10 so a normal height for a man and slightly taller than average for a woman. We are both millennials and I don’t think I would have gone for someone shorter than me in my younger days but I don’t think I’m that shallow that I would automatically have ruled some one out on height if they ticked the majority of my wish list.

When i was younger always used to really find small, thin men attractive - think The Small Faces type of guy.

Then I met my first DH. His often exoressed opinion was that small men were generally aggressive and full of themselves to compensate for their lack of height. This sort of tempered my favourable opinion of smaller men- as no doubt it was intended to.

Move on a few years , long after my first marriage ended, and I moved to an area where the native inhabitants are naturally really quite small. Men and women. There are loads of smaller men and loads of smaller couples. I must admit not so much the younger generation who are following the trend to be larger.

Obviously not all small men are attractive to all women. But horses for courses and plenty of women, especially those small themselves, find them attractive

But if this is reported on by filters, is that's just women initially putting in their "preferred" type of man to see what's out there, and then presumably changing their filters when they realise their "Mr Perfect" isn't there, so they change their filters to "Mr Acceptable" instead, i.e. tweaking the height, age, location, weight, eye colour, occupation, etc., as time goes by and they don't get enough hits, so realise they have to compromise?