Sociological Images brings us a video talking about implicit bias against short men. The scientifically valid tool discussed in the video, the Implicit Association Test, measures how biased someone is against a group, even in ways they may not know about: if the test-taker is faster and more accurate at sorting tall men and good things into the same category than tall men and bad things, the test-taker is biased in favor of tall men.
The IATs have shown a systematic bias against short men– in fact, the scientist interviewed in the video compares the magnitude of the effect to that of race or ethnicity. Even more interestingly, this is almost entirely a subconscious bias. After all, outside of dating sites (in which women often request men 6′ or taller, partially so they can wear heels around their partner without feeling like they’re emasculating him, and isn’t that a rat’s nest of kyriarchy), very few people think about height as a gendered axis of oppression at all.
And don’t get me wrong: it is gendered. I would be very, very surprised if short women experienced the same bias that short men do. Height is, after all, a symbol of power: if you loom over someone, if you’re bigger than them, you appear more powerful than them on a very primal level. In Western culture, we associate men with power, women with weakness. A short woman is merely doing what her gender requires (and may actually experience a larger dating pool and less worry about high-heel-induced castration complexes). A short man is, in a certain way, failing as a man.
It’s also important to note that these biases are all subconscious. No one wakes up in the morning and says “fuck, man, short men are idiots and pussies, I fucking hate short men and am going to try to make them drink at their own water fountain.” There are very few anti-short-man hate groups. Even those portions of the Internet which have the primary function of stewing in their own grievances against every person who is not exactly like their readers usually only hate short men casually and in passing.
But for a lot of people, subconsciously, a tall man just seems… more imposing. More attractive. More like he knows what he’s doing. More charismatic. More of a leader. More of a man. All those little, intangible, gut-level things that can make the difference between a hiring or a promotion and a dead-end career or a night shift at Starbucks.
You can be racist, or sexist, or classist, or ableist, or even heightist without knowing it. You can appear to yourself like you don’t have a kyriarchal bone in your body and still perpetrate the kyriarchy without meaning to. The process of unlearning kyriarchal conditioning is just that– a lifelong process. (This, incidentally, is why a lot of people support affirmative action. You’re already getting a leg up from all the subconscious biases people have, you might as well let the rest of us have a chance.)
This blog made me think of my early 20’s, as I was rejected by the foxes who chased after the Alfa males and showed no more interest in me than glancing at a blade of grass next to the highway traveling at 75 MPH. And this made me think about my own personal experiences with tall women, a slightly different story from this blog, but same result due to being a Beta male. One 6’ tall girl, in a gym, talked to me with such a look of disinterested she couldn’t have looked or acted more uninterested if she had… Read more »
Height is also a proxy for age. When you’re a child, people who are taller than you are also either adults or older children, and not deferring to them is a good way to get into trouble. On the other hand, anyone shorter is fair game. The “short person = child” instinct probably doesn’t go away just because someone isn’t actually a child, either…
Height becomes less of a proxy for age when other traits are taken into account, though. For example while I am short, I am consistently judged to be older than my actual age because I am balding (male pattern baldness, not shaved head) and bearded, and this overestimation of age has been consistent since I was 17.
I’m also under five feet like Layo and people are sometimes pretty patronizing toward me. LIke Layo said, not worthy of respect or authority and treated more childlike and undermined often. That is until I open my mouth. I actually think it’s one reason why I can be pretty vocal and strong in that resolve because it’s hard to get people to take you seriously unless you demand it when your petite. People always feel like they get to ask you how tall you are and how “cute” you are and make other condsending comments. Sure, being called “cute” doesn’t… Read more »
I’m a woman and I’m under five feet tall. Yes, being profiled as childlike and thus unworthy of respect or authority all my life has been just wonderful. How likely do you think it is that someone my size will climb the corporate ladder to upper management? The “larger dating pool” someone mentioned consists of men who want a subordinate, victim, or jailbait type, unless the guys are also short (my preference is for short men, so that part is nice). On the plus side, I’m rarely sexually harassed because men don’t consider me threatening enough to need to be… Read more »
I hear you so much on this post! I too am a small woman, perhaps 5 feet even, if that, and skinny/athletic. Dealing with people who patronize me and treat me like a little kid got old looooooong ago. Mostly it’s kindly old ladies at my church, but still, I cringe when they pat me on the head and talk to me in a baby voice. I am 24 and graduated with highest honors from university last year, yet they treat me like I am in elementary school. They do not speak to the female high school student this way,… Read more »
“It’s also important to note that these biases are all subconscious.”
How is that possible when many women openly profess a preference for men who aren’t (in their estimation) short? Their bias is no more subconscious than certain men’s bias against small breasted women.
Some people would say that it’s a preference for tall rather than a bias against short. That would mean that some men have a preference for large breasted rather than a bias against small breasted.
I was thinking something similar about the subconscious part. I don’t think height discrimination is always subconscious. It’s pretty overt a lot of the time.
This is purely anecdotal, but I’ve heard similar stories from a lot of other short people, especially short women. People expect me to be tall. Sometimes even people who’ve known me for a while will suddenly realized they’re looking at the top of my head and say, “I thought you were taller than me!” I’m a noisy, emphatic, slightly aggressive person (I hope I usually direct this tendency in a useful way), and I was also very tall for a very short period of my life. Women in my family usually do all their growing and puberty stuff between the… Read more »
As the token macrophile and giant fetishist, I feel like I should be saying something long-winded here, but… I can’t think of anything. Well, other than that I agree, and it’s a pretty shitty thing. And yes, while tall women do get treated similarly (I’m not even that tall–5’8″–and I’ve felt it)? It’s not nearly to the extent that short men get discriminated against.
Short women get to be pixies while short men are, I dunno… imps.
Short men are leprechauns!
If only all short men really were Tyrion Lannister.
Actually I’m not sure if the world could live with that high a level of witty quipping.
Tyrion is a great example of this phenomenon actually. Look what Tyrion requires to (even partially) compensate for his short stature:
-Smarter than literally everyone he comes across with the exception of Varys and Littlefinger
-Richer than everyone he comes across with the exception of his father (considering his status as heir to Casterly Rock)
-Of higher social status than almost everyone he comes across (Member of a “great house” with close ties to the throne)
All that together and he is still defined by his short stature, and suffers for it.
And it turns out that there is a wage gap when it comes to eight. An US studu from 2004 have stated that it amounts to about USD789 per inch* (which would make it linear) while a German study found that it was nonlinear. The German study** also stated this: The maximal effect for men is evidently above the mean of the male height while the analogous maximal value for women is below the average female height. The preference for tall people is partially due to endowment and partially due to discrimination or unobserved productivity effects which differ between small… Read more »
These studies aren’t actually that surprising – brains and bodies are tremendously expensive, requiring large amounts of fat and protein, respectively. Individuals who haven’t had access to sufficient nutrition early in life may therefore have less of each left over for growth after basic metabolic maintenance cost. We know that children growing up in poverty can have serious, life-long consequences as a result of this, which is the rationale behind many early-childhood nutrition assistance programs.
Height seem to be about 60-80% hereditary based on several twin studies (see wikipedia on human height). And the result of the German study is surprising in light of your insufficient nutrition theory since the study found that “…maximal value for women is below the average female height.” therefore suggesting that something else is at play also. I doubt malnutrition is a large factor in developed countries.
Perhaps it’s genetic? Not saying that it is, just that this is one of those things that you can’t blame on either culture or inherent human nature without a lot of evidence backing up your claim. Otherwise, you can only note that it exists, decide whether it’s a real problem, and then figure out if anything can or should be done about it. Personally, I’m not too fond of tall people, men or women. I prefer those who are about my size or shorter. Feels less threatening. I also have a strong rebellious streak against authority figures who appear threatening.… Read more »
In many species height/size is an “honest signal” of mate genetic quality. Large individuals must not only have the genetic predisposition to height, but also the foraging/hunting efficiency to reach that height, which therefore implies good genes for foraging/hunting. Testosterone also plays a role, and also works as an “honest signal” – because testosterone is an immunosupressor, only males with strong immune systems can afford to crank it out at high levels consistently and thus develop the associated secondary sex characteristics most strongly. Of course, this is all based on animal studies and ignores culture, but there’s a very real… Read more »
There’s probably something to this argument about genetic selection. But, there are also some significant problems with that as an explanation, even if we leave out cultural issues. (And if we assume genetic and cultural factors are totally separate categories.) Being taller does not only confer some survival advantages; it also confers some disadvantages as well. More compact bodies lose less heat and may even be more efficient at consuming calories, no small difference when it comes to living outdoors and foraging. A stocky male physique might be more optimal than a tall physique. Larger men consume more food calories,… Read more »
Your first objection is actually called Allen’s rule – for warm-blooded animals, as climate gets colder, appendages get shorter, in order to conserve heat. However, Bergmann’s rule also applies – warm-blooded animals get bigger as climate gets colder, because simple increase in size also reduces surface area to volume ratio. Both have been found to apply to humans. Also, remember that size makes it cheaper to move a given distance (as measured in calories above baseline per meter), and metabolic rate scales to and exponent of 0.75, meaning that larger species/individuals require absolutely more calories but less calories per kg… Read more »
You’ve got it a bit backwards. No short women do not get that treatment because women are supposed to be pocket-sized and in need of protection from the big strong men. It’s the tall women who feel it. Tall only belongs on the runway, in the real world it is far from an appealing attribute. Afterall, don’t men believe heels are sexy as long as they’re still short enough to not suggest power? Patriarchal conventions are working both ways here. No one is benefiting from it.
Look at ads in the personals sometime. How many men say they are looking for a short woman? How many women say they are looking for a tall man? Example: “Looking for a single man who has a real job, tall, sense of humor, kind, generous, enjoy travelling, 5-10 years older and loves chubby girls…and most important looking for a serious relationship that leads to marriage soon.” “After all, don’t men believe heels are sexy as long as they’re still short enough to not suggest power?” IMO, heels are sexy as long as they’re still short enough to not constantly… Read more »
Eh, not to make this all about me, but I’m pretty tall and have been told by men countless times that this makes me undateable or unattractive. And in the personal ads I’ve seen, many men say they’re looking for “petite” women. I think most of us are influenced to some degree by a culture that says attractive men with are tall and strong while attractive women are small and delicate.
I’m pretty sure when men say they’re looking for “petite” women it means they’re looking for women that aren’t fat.
Really? I thought it was a synonym for small, that is, short (or at least, not tall) and thin. I’m pretty skinny but have only ever been called petite as a joke!
Nope, petit means short and skinny.
I’ve seen a lot of guys attacted to tall women. I’m among them, although it’s not a mandatory thing. In my case, I just like to be able to look a woman in the eyes without leaning way over (I’m 6’4″).
You do see it from time-to-time in pop culture, usually when focus is placed on women’s legs.
That explains why so many short men (and even tall men) go for shoe lifts nowadays. My cousin had an interview last week and when I asked if he was ready, he answered me “Well yes, I’ve got my shoe lifts yesterday”. He got his shoe lifts online from http://www.liftheightinsoles.com and I’m really not sure if wearing shoe lifts for interview is a good idea. Any thoughts?
Ehhh…no. Men do that because of women’s bias. One came before the other. It’s not chicken and egg. Even women that are 5’1″ and 5’2″ are out saying 6′ and over. Unless you’re walking on a ladder…it doesn’t matter.
Sure, women’s bias about men’s appearance totally came before men’s. Uh hu. It was women who started to go after pornographic magazines with photoshopped models as cover, drooling over men with breast implants and such. Men are just vengeful victims.
Should women now just have men and boys as cattle, banning them from working, voting, choosing who to marry and even going outside alone, having 5 years old boys as their “husbands” and even denying that men have souls only because men did that first?