Height Discrimination

[ioncannon152]

I recently stumbled upon this article. I wonder what are your opinions on it?

http://www.jonathanrauch.com/jrauch_articl...last/index.html

and also :

http://www.shortsupport.org/

Will height discrimination be eliminated in communism? Or perhaps it will linger because it is deemed natural to "look down" on short people?

[Amusing Scrotum]

Well I'm 5'4 and a whisker!

So I must admit, I found that article most interesting and some of it's points were quite startling.

I had heard before for instance, that women tend to prefer tall men with broad shoulders on a purely sexual level and I'd heard the stuff about U.S. Presidents, but it never occurred to me that "tall people" do "better" in life.

Though to be honest, creating another form of "identity politics" seems pointless to me. Indeed, I'd be embarrassed if I ever "marched for short peoples rights".

Perhaps I'm in victims denial!

This I always love....

Originally posted by Short Guys Finish Last
Tall men are seen as natural "leaders"; short ones are called "pushy". "If a short man is normally assertive, then he's seen as having Napoleonic tendencies," says David Weeks, a clinical psychologist at Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

Napoleon was 5'6, which was average for a European man in 1800. Indeed, he'd be quite surprised to learn that he's now considered the stereotypical "angry short man".

However, I guess the concept of "short man's syndrome" does have some relevance.

From around the age of 13 onwards, I consciously decided that on the football field I'd be a nasty bastard. If I couldn't physically dominate you, I'd make sure I'd make sure I left my studs on your shins!

Curiously, a lot of bigger footballers were surprised when I'd try to "match them" physically. Almost as if they didn't expect a small person to even try.

Others, just booted me back!

Indeed, one of the few autobiographies of "famous people" I've read, is the autobiography of the professional footballer Roy Keane.

He is notorious for being a football "hard man" and his attitude was developed playing kids football on muddy pitches in Ireland. As a youngster he too was quite short and he too also consciously decided to be a "nasty bastard".

So I think there is probably some truth to the popular conception of "short men" being more aggressive. And it probably lies in the most raw of male hormones!

As to whether it constitutes discrimination, I think not. It is just, one of those things I suppose - and in a Communist society, where people are free to do whatever they please, then I don't see how "short men" would suffer.

At the very least, I now know there's an even slimmer chance of me moving up the "class ladder".

Pity!

[LSD]

I'm 190c (that's 6''2 or 3 I think? -- I don't know fucking imperial :P) and I weight 110kg, so I'm always having trouble buying clothes. On the plus side, though, I don't exactly "blend into the crowd".

It's probably true that larger people get more respect. Certainly I'd say that from personal experience I find people are more likely to follow my ideas when we're talking in person as opposed to, say, on the phone.

I'd imagine it's a biological thing. The more physically imposing someone is the more likely you are to pay attention to them as they are more likely to pose a threat.

A good deal of our subconscious reactions are atavistic in nature. If someone seems potentially threatening, even if we don't realize it, we probably concentrate more on what they're saying.

[Hegemonicretribution]

I am shortish, around 5'8, but I do work out, so my body slightly works to my advantage in that respect. However I do have problems at work, I have problems reaching the majority of pint glasses overhead, and this has caused back problems for me after a couple of years of over stretching to reach them.

I have to stand on my tip toes every 30 or so seconds at work just to do my job, and during busy times there are nealy no glasses I can reach without jumping. Of course it would be against health and safety to have anything behind the bar for me to stand on, so I just struggle

I think 6ft is a reasonable height; and practical for most situations.

[timbaly]

I'm 5' 11" and I can see advantages and disadvantages with this height and body size. I have trouble buying clothes often as well as shoes. However being tall makes people perceive you as smarter and more attractive. Being tall gives you the edge in job interviews as has been proved by many social psychology studies.



Hegemonicretribution, isn't 5'8" average?

[RedStarOverChina]

Is there, then, no good news for short men? No: there is none.

:P OMG thats mean!

I'm 5 11 or about 180cm, and I do want to be taller. The good news is that I think Im still growing.

Not only do tall people grow richer, rich people grow taller.

This is true. The friends I grew up with--who are mostly rich are all over 6 feet tall.


I look like a dwarf when Im with them.

[bed_of_nails]

I am only 5'9", but my best friend is 6'8". He goes by "Moose".

Being too tall, or too short, is a disadvantage in modern society because of subconcious height expectations.

[FULL METAL JACKET]

Originally posted by bed_of_nails@Feb 27 2006, 10:13 PM
I am only 5'9", but my best friend is 6'8". He goes by "Moose".

Being too tall, or too short, is a disadvantage in modern society because of subconcious height expectations.

6'8"? Damn! That's pretty tall. Well am 5'9 as well. Alot of tall guys I know tell me the disadvantage of being tall is leg and knee problems. Can any tall person here vouch for that?

[Tormented by Treachery]

Riiiiiiiiight at 6'0" , although my stepfather is 6'7".

[LSD]

I just feel that it's my social duty to inform you all that the imperial system sucks and metric rules.

Mainly cause I cant understand imperial for shit and the metric system is so fucking simple.

I mean really, it's so much more precise to give your height in centimiter. Imperial is just ...weird. All these quotation marks and crazy base-12 crap ...and what the fuck is a "yard" anyways?

[Tormented by Treachery]

Originally posted by LSD@Feb 28 2006, 06:22 AM
I just feel that it's my social duty to inform you all that the imperial system sucks and metric rules.

Mainly cause I cant understand imperial for shit and the metric system is so fucking simple.

I mean really, it's so much more precise to give your height in centimiter. Imperial is just ...weird. All these quotation marks and crazy base-12 crap ...and what the fuck is a "yard" anyways?

D'you know the funny thing about it?

Here we (myself and other Americans) are, using a system that originates from the size of a king's foot!

From town to town each system of measurement was different, and trade was practically impossible... so the King decided to regulate it, based on the length of his own foot!

And we still use it today.

Or so I'm told.

[Amusing Scrotum]

Originally posted by timbaly+Feb 28 2006, 02:33 AM--> (timbaly @ Feb 28 2006, 02:33 AM) I have trouble buying clothes often as well as shoes. [/b]

I find clothes shopping pretty difficult as well. I just about fit into small mens for t-shirts and jumpers, but trousers are really difficult to find, especially jeans.

On the other hand, I have yet to pay VAT on shoes because I still fit into child's sizes.

CompañeroDeLibertad

I think genetics has much more to do with it than the amount of money a person has.

I think the point the article was trying to make, is that if you are tall, you are more likely to be rich because tall people are favoured for jobs.

I also heard somewhere as well, that certain names help you get a good job. Smith is better than Williams and so on.

[RedAnarchist]

i'm 5 foot 9, which is actually the average in Britain, although I actually often tower over many people, but am easily dwarfed by others.

There is different situations that you can feel tall or short in. When i'm on any bus in this country, very often my head is almost touching the ceiling (how do six footers get on british buses? ).


I like my height. It's nice and middle-of-the-road.

[Goatse]

Hah, I beat you all (depending on how you look at it, I guess) - I'm five foot. I'm a fucking midgit, although I'm only 13, so I have a lot of growing to do.

Anyway, I receive some shit on it, but it's not really that bad. Hopefully I'll either grow up physically, or my peers will grow up mentally.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Originally posted by timbaly@Feb 28 2006, 02:33 AM
Hegemonicretribution, isn't 5'8" average?

It used to be, and by many the latest studies that are used still consider it around 5'9 for men. However it is actually approaching 5'11 at least, when the short people of last generation do die, those of my generation will tend to be around about 6 ft, with an increased average.

[Seong]

I'm only 5'3. But I'm Asian and a girl, so I don't suffer from the same stigma as say an Asian guy would. It's sad, but I'm guilty of heightism too.

Scottish Pinko you'll get your growth spurt in a few years. I remember being taller than all the guys at school (haha) and then all of sudden I was getting neck aches from looking up at them. :P

[Floyce White]

Sorry to inform you that any man taller than 5'5" and any woman taller than 5'0" is freakishly tall. Virtually nobody ever gets that tall without eating a lot of red meat. 150 years ago, a six-foot-tall man would have been called a "giant," and only a tiny percentage of men could have been heavyweight boxers.

[bcbm]

I'm 5'11 and skinny as a twig.

I hate clothes-shopping. Nothing ever fits.

[Amusing Scrotum]

Originally posted by ScottishPinko+--> (ScottishPinko)Hah, I beat you all (depending on how you look at it, I guess) - I'm five foot. I'm a fucking midgit, although I'm only 13, so I have a lot of growing to do.[/b]

You're about the same height I was at 13, since then - in 5 years - I've grown 4 inches.

Floyce White

Sorry to inform you that any man taller than 5'5" and any woman taller than 5'0" is freakishly tall.

That would probably be around 90% of the adult population of a country.

The people in the 10% are normal dammit!