Tall and Short Make a Match

[Reduce]

@skysayl Nah, no feet for me. Just the inches, please. It doesn’t even have to be all three – I’ll settle for just one or two!

[foreverlurk]

@skysayl hehe honestly IRL I would never have mustered enough courage to say what I actually think. Maybe if I make it should like a joke, ah-ah. But seriously, 5’ 7" seems rather tall for women, no? “Ideal” height my arse. I think prehistoric women were peak if you look at that table of historical heights.

[blehb]

While 5’7 isn’t super tall, it is interesting that the ideal height was above the average for women. I’m curious how the results would differ under a more extensive study, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still the same. Taller women are so beautiful!

I’m smack dab in the middle of the average height range, so I don’t get the adorableness of being short or the elegance of being tall. We’re just kind of boring.

[foreverlurk]

@blehb It’s very interesting to me, but mind this isn’t representative statistically when done in a single “contemporary society class” at college. Maybe a more rigorous survey wouldn’t have the same results.

Kink aside, I’ve always found shorter women cute, but that’s just my preference. Although I cannot be entirely sure it’s not my size fetish taking over, hehe.

I’m an inch below average for guys in my country and while it does limit the dating pool, it never bothered me that much. Once shrunk, they’re all mouse-sized to me

[miss-lillipants]

@foreverlurk said:

But seriously, 5’ 7" seems rather tall for women, no? “Ideal” height my arse.

@blehb said:

While 5’7 isn’t super tall, it is interesting that the ideal height was above the average for women.

For a long time, I defaulted on the belief that men liked short women. So I found it very interesting to learn that there are a lot of men who don’t like a big size difference (“big” by “normie” standards). They preferred shorter women, but otherwise liked for them and their partners to be of similar heights. One guy, for example, described interactions with short women as physically awkward when it came to hugs and kisses. Dude was clearly an amateur, but it was fascinating nonetheless.

@blehb said:

I’m curious how the results would differ under a more extensive study, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they were still the same.

Here is a recent (2022) cross-cultural study of height preferences in a partner, done with 500 men and women across Canada, Cuba, Norway and the US. It found a general preference for taller-than-average men and shorter-than-average women, but interestingly, they also found that the men (but not the women) had a preference for shorter women for short-term relationships, and taller women for long-term.

Anyway, so skimming through the article. For Canada: the preferred height for women was 165.6cm (5’5") for short-term relationships and 167.2cm (5’5.8" or just say 5’6"). So the preferred height has been reduced! Cuba, Norway and the US are shorter - though just a bit!

We’re just kind of boring.

Nah, we’re our own brand of compact fun

[blehb]

@miss-lillipants That study is so interesting! And I might be reading the results incorrectly, but it looks like the preferences for women, both short-term and long-term, are still above the average height? (At least for here in the US, which I believe is around 162 cm.) So it seems like the survey done in the original post was reflective of this. Again, I might be misinterpreting things, so correct me if I’m wrong.

[miss-lillipants]

@blehb no, I agree. Again disclaimer: I did skim the article, and they seem to sort of address the “shorter-than-average” statement, but there were a couple of glaring discussion points that contradict it, e.g. that preferred heights were taller or shorter relative to the responder’s height, not necessarily by the national average. Canada and the US (I think safe to say Cuba too) have the national average female height at about 5’3"-5’4". Norway seems to be the only one in the study where the preferred height actually is shorter than average (their national average height is 5’6"). Maybe they discuss it in more detail? But it could also have just been a misinterpretation on their part.

[foreverlurk]

@miss-lillipants said in Tall and Short Make a Match:

One guy, for example, described interactions with short women as physically awkward when it came to hugs and kisses.

W-what!?!

Very interesting study, I can’t say I can relate to the height-to-duration-of-relationship ratio but fascinating nonetheless.

[Olo]

My long-term partner is 5’3, six inches shorter than me. I haven’t conducted a survey of all her exes, but I get the impression that they were all as tall or taller than me. She thinks of herself as below average height, lamenting that she can’t reach something “because I’m a dwarf.” She’s never mentioned my height as a factor in her choice to be with me one way or the other.

I myself have never had the luxury of having preferences with regard to such things as height.

[skysayl]

@miss-lillipants said in Tall and Short Make a Match:

For Canada: the preferred height for women was 165.6cm (5’5") for short-term relationships and 167.2cm (5’5.8" or just say 5’6").

Am I the only one who finds it odd there are different preferences for short and long term partners?? I feel like it’s suggesting shorter women are preferable for flings.

For my part at least, I haven’t found myself with a preference either way because most people are taller than me period end of story. My last ex-partner (who was also into size kink, funnily,) was 5’5" but again, even if that’s below average for a man he was still taller than me lol

[Olo]

@skysayl said:

Am I the only one who finds it odd there are different preferences for short and long term partners??

I, too, find it an overcomplicated thing to get hung up on. But then, I have never set out in search of specifically a short- or long-term partner. I have absolutely zero confidence in my ability to judge anyone’s suitability in that respect.

OTOH, I wouldn’t expect a potential partner under three feet to last very long under most circumstances.

[foreverlurk]

@skysayl said in Tall and Short Make a Match:

I feel like it’s suggesting shorter women are preferable for flings.

Yeah, that’s a rather weird conclusion to draw from the data.

Also, specific to Canada but being short/taller than average height can vary by provinces, as those of British descent are usually taller than those of French ancestry (ie. Quebec has shorter men and women, by about an inch on average)

I wonder if they cross-referenced that with the average number of partners. To answer meaningfully a question like “do you have a preference for height” and “how long was your relationship”, you need to have had multiple relationships / data points. Otherwise it’s not statistically significant.

For instance I’ve only ever had three, maybe four “serious” relationships in my life, and while I can empirically say I have a preference for shorter women, but it’s not a dealbreaker. I wouldn’t turn down someone based on that alone.

[SmolChlo]

@skysayl picked up on that too Hookup with the shorties and wife the tall one? Made me wonder if their insinuating that some people bury and ignore their genuine preferences for whatever looks good or is deemed acceptable by society. Idk maybe I’m reaching but I’ve seen and have had this discussion a few times

[foreverlurk]

@SmolChlo said in Tall and Short Make a Match:

Made me wonder if their insinuating that some people bury and ignore their genuine preferences for whatever looks good or is deemed acceptable by society.

This behaviour sounds adjacent to the Halo effect, which associates traits like being fat means you’re lazy, being tall means you’re powerful, being beautiful means you’re a good person.

Consequences of that unconscious tendency? There’s the height wage gap, where tall people make more money on average. There’s the beauty card that let you get away with almost everything. That sort of things might explain why some people prefer to have a taller mate (and, consequently, offspring).

[littlest-lily]

I do wonder how the data was collected (maybe the link discussed it, I didn’t dig into it). Someone might not have thought to themselves that they’d want different heights for short and long term relationships. But if someone is filling out a questionnaire that asks for a partner’s ideal height and then it went “but what if it was short term?” I could see the person go “eh, what the heck, might as well go nuts” and not put all that much thought into it. I could be wrong though!