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Tallest Stereotypes
Many stereotypes about what it means to be tall
are propelled by supposedly "scientific" studies that
purport to compare tall people with short people. The bulk of these
articles fail to mention what the researchers are using to define
as "tall" in
many of these studies. We've compiled this index in an attempt to
keep track of all the articles published to support tall stereotypes
Defining "Tall" Differently
The bulk of the articles listed on this page fail to mention what
the researchers are using to define "tall". Because there
are so many 5ft9 people around to tell six-footers how "tall"
they are, many of these "scientific" findings may well
be true for them, but it's unclear how things stand for folks who
are closer to seven feet than the standard 'six foot is tall for
this study'.
You Be The Judge
Anecdotal evidence by Height Site visitors seems to suggest that
many of these claims soon evaporate when guys get to about 6ft4
and ladies get to about 6ft2.
»TALL LIFE
There are many aspects of the tall life that short people seem to
idealize
• A common
stereotype makes shorter people think that big feet, hands,
ears, or nose is an indication of a man's endowment. This stereotype
even cost
one reporter her job. Researchers at University College London
say there is no evidence linking a man's shoe size to the length
of his penis. more-»
»TALL NATURAL LEADERS
If height were really a major component for leadership, more politicians,
world leaders, and even CEOs would be far closer to 7 feet tall.
• By inspection of the limited data listed on THIS
SITE, we are supposed to see that tall men are overrepresented
in the leadership category, and short men are over represented
in the follower category.
What's missing however, is a list of qualities they believe leaders
and followers possess or demonstrate and the amount of qulaities
from the list to be included in the leader, follower or inconclusive
catagories.
»TALL MONEY MAGNETS
Maybe short people think tall folk earn more because we have to
pay more for clothes, shoes, cars and other items to accommodate
our bigger bodies.
• Dalton Conley, director of NYU's Center for Advanced Social Science Research, and NYU graduate student Rebecca Glauber found that a 1 percent increase in a woman's body mass index — a measure of weight relative to height — pushes family income down by about 0.6 percent.
Conley and Glauber also found that the conventional wisdom that tall men were more successful than shorter men did not hold true. "The talk is that height for men is what slimness is for woman, but it turns out there is absolutely no effect," Conley said.
»TALL BABE MAGNETS
Many stereotypes seem to exist in the realm of marriage, and dating
but the ones about mate selection and increased reproductive success
seem to be the most popular.
• This British article claims taller men are more sexually attractive to short women and are more likely to father children.
• The ABC TV Show, 20/20 took a look at some popular notions about romance, love, sex and marriage. One of the questions was, "Are short men at a disadvantage when it comes to romance?"
59.3% said Yes, women always go for the tall ones.
40.7% said No, tall men might get the first date, but short men eventually get the girls.
Then they go on to "prove" their point by citing on university study with such a small sample pool that it is statistically insignificant. Like most media, they rely too heavily on anecdotal "evidence" and write things like, "Men who are 5-foot-9 — that's average — or taller clearly have it over their more compact cousins. And it turns out a man's height has always helped him get to first base. Nearly 10 years ago, 20/20 concocted a test to illustrate an indisputable rule of love: height matters. 20/20 recruited men tall and short and put them in lineups behind a two-way mirror, then invited groups of women to look at the lineup and choose a date. The women were told various positive things about the shorter men — the men were described as having interesting careers, impressive educational pedigrees or a lot of money. The women always chose the tall men. Nothing succeeded in making them prefer the shorter men. One woman even suggested that 20/20 describe the tall men as "murderers" to even the odds for the shorter men in the test.
"Professor Allen Mazur of Syracuse University, who at 5-foot-7 stands a few inches below average himself, did a study that found taller men are likely to marry more often and have more children. Mazur said one possible reason for his finding is that "taller men, by virtue of being more attractive to women, perhaps have more opportunities with women other than their wives, which leads to a breakup of marriage, which leads to a remarriage to a younger woman, which leads to another child." He never even considered the fact that taller people might have more self confidence.
"Would it be fair to say from the study that it seems that taller men were hot and the shorter men were not? "That would be an inference. You could also infer that the shorter men are better husbands, and they have more long-lasting marriages," Mazur said."
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