‘Heigtism’ – a growing epidemic’?!
“A recent study showed that 23% of men compared to only 4% of women would accept a dating relationship where the woman was taller”.
Are you a guy under 6’0ft? Then read along with caution because a recent poll has showed that 71% of women said a guy under 6’0ft ‘wouldn’t stand a chance at a date’. Unlucky then, given that the average height of a man in Britain is 5’10, quite a few inches short of the 6’0 – 6’6 Adonis many of us ladies dream of.
It might surprise you then, that in contrast men are more open minded to meeting women who are taller than themselves with 45% happy to date a taller woman according to retailer High and Mighty. Whilst normally I take polls and surveys with a pinch of salt this one hits the nail on the head and is in direct correlation with my experience both at Mutual Attraction and through one on one date coaching. Height is a real stickler for women but for men? Not so much.
It’s well documented and widely acknowledged that women prefer to date taller men but why? Many psychologists have aimed to answer just that.
The Cave Man
In an age where man was the hunter and provider, it’s logical that women would have a preference towards a man who is strong, energetic and can protect the family. Height, perceived strength and masculinity have long gone hand in hand, whether rightly or wrongly and a study by Silventoinen in 2001 suggests ancestral women developed a bias to prefer tall men as mates and may have transmitted the propensity for tall stature and associated heritable advantages to their children. Additionally, they suggested females may prefer taller males because these males provide direct benefits such as the ability to intimidate rivals. Well C can be pretty scary first thing in the morning!
The Highland fling
During ovulation women were more likely to say they were attracted to taller men claims Pawlowski & Jasienska, 2005. In other words when a woman is at her most fertile she is looking for the very best genes to pass on to an offspring whilst companionship and parenting takes a back seat and the evolutionary need to reproduce with ‘the best’ kicks in. As we already know, for women height is high on the list of a good characteristic to be passed on so we aim high!
Tall, dark, handsome and dreamy
Culture plays a huge part in influencing us right from birth. How many Disney heroes are shorter than their beautiful Disney princess? Why in every teenage angst movie is the kid that’s being bullied short, slim and geeky (Leonard Hofstadter from BBT a prime example) and even Bridget Jones had her own Mr Darcy – the epitome of tall, dark, handsome and Daniel Clever wasn’t too bad either! Do we still live in a cave man culture where the taller the man the stronger, more handsome and desirable he’s perceived? If this is the case then last year’s incredible Paralympic success really taught us nothing.
Why aren’t all men giants?
Why then, if we accept the view of ‘survival of the fittest’ and natural selection and if we are programmed to find taller men far more attractive, why are we not all walking around with strapping 6’0 hunks on our arms? Most importantly does anyone still use the word hunk?! Surely we should all be getting taller and having very large babies – ouch!
Over the past 150 years the average human height has risen by 4 inches, but this isn’t down to evolution. How do we know that? Studies conducted in industrial England show that children born into lower socioeconomic classes were shorter on average than children born into wealthy families and we know that poorer families had larger numbers of children. If we follow the theory of evolution then the population should be getting shorter as the shorter population were more successful in passing on their genes. In other words we would all be on par with Bilbao Baggins!
Instead the population as a whole grew in height meaning natural selection is ruled out and instead the growth is put down to nutrition. But before you reach for that apple, Dougherty explains that we have now likely reached the upper limit and the average height of a human man will probably never exceed that of basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, who stands at a whopping 7 feet and 1 inch tall!
So in a nutshell, culture and sometimes our genes tell our brain that tall = strength, masculinity and provider which in turn make them desirable.
Does that mean these hotties don’t get a look in with the ladies?
If these guys were members of my introduction agency Mutual Attraction they would be pretty lacking on the date front as most of our clients take the stance of the ‘taller the better’ and generally speaking anyone guy below 5’8 is going to be a challenge to match. That means they would be missing out on these beauties:
Ryan Seacrest – 5’7
Mel Gibson – 5’8
Antonio Banderas – 5’8
Dustin Hoffman – 5’5
And my personal crush David Spade who comes in at 5’7.
The Step Up approach
If the 71% of ladies in the poll will really only consider dating a guy 6’0 or over then they better get used to being single as I’m afraid there’s just not enough tall blokes to go around! Salska argued that women use the step up theory, in other words as long as the guy is taller, even by an inch or two – they’re happy. I can relate to this personally and in terms of what my female clients are looking for. We use the step up approach because if we didn’t most of us would be single for a VERY long time!
If height is still top of your ‘must have list’ though never fear, jump on a plane to the Netherlands where the average height for a guy comes in at a whopping 6.5 inches!
Final word
Height is important for many people, there’s no doubt about it but don’t let it dominate your search for love, after all it would be a shame to miss out on the love of your life over a few inches 😉