Height, does it really matter?

bpatrick

I guess I'm a little shallow, haha. I never completely ruled women out if they were outside of my height parameters but they certainly got bonus points if they did fit my ideal range.

For whatever reason, I've never really been attracted to short women ... just seemed strange if they only came up to mid-chest or something. Having to bend or look down to talk up close, bend over to kiss, not dancing face to face, height differences when intimate, etc... all seemed infinitely more difficult if the girl was tiny, although it's probably not that big of a deal in reality.

I also thought it was weird if a woman was taller than me. I'm a pretty athletic guy, well muscled and a bit above average height, so yeah the whole concept of my mate being larger than me in any dimension was a big turn off. In my mind, having been a D1 wrestler, I just equated anybody bigger than me to be "mannish" in some primal way or whatever.

I know it's not "true" height but I still felt more comfortable if I were taller when we were dressed up and in heels. So if she was in 3 inch heels, and me being 6'02" in dress shoes. I typically looked for women in the 5'06" to 5'10" range.

Debra is 5'08" so everything worked out well. I'm quite certain she was looking for a man who was at least 6'00" since she too has remarked that it would be strange for her to be taller than me assuming she were in heels.

M Grandin

I think shorter guys are far more "dangerous" than tall guys , when it comes to attracting girls. I have seldom seen a tall "Don Juan". Also it is well known that big or tall girls/women are attracted to "small" men - maybe as a kind of "compensation".

jduster

Based on observation and experience...

Men generally like women from 5"4' to 5"11'
Women generally like men from 5"8' to 6"3'

Keep in mind, if you are a woman who by western standards is "too tall", there are plenty of tall guys who won't be too insecure about themselves to date you.

If you are a short guy, there are plenty of shorter women you can date without feeling insecure.

cbetanco

I definitely think heigh matters. I personally have a cut-off of how tall a girl can be before I find them unattractive. The cut-off is exactly 5 ft 9 in (coincidentally my exact height!). I just don't find tall women attractive. Not that they don't have attractive features (nice face, breast, butt, personality) but being taller than me definitely turns me off. Also, I find it is more fun in the bedroom if the girl is not so tall (or overweight), but that is just me

Evo

Unless you have some valid research stating this, I would say you're wrong. Women *usually* prefer men that are taller.

Monique

Haha, I know show shorter guys and that's exactly what they say as well. Probably they're more inclined to take on an "active hunter" role to attract woman, which makes them think they're more dangerous

zoobyshoe

I agree with you, but this could be because they consider taller men "safer" for all anyone knows.

A poll of women would almost certainly show that they will say they prefer taller men. I'd be interested in comparing that to a lie detector/ galvanic skin response test administered while watching videos of guys generally considered "sexy" and appealing, despite being shorter.

What people say and what they actually respond to physiologically can be quite different. Men will almost invariably say they prefer slender women to "overweight" women, but a lie detector/galvanic skin response test might reveal there's not really any difference.

People, men and women, will often go into denial about whom they actually find attractive due to social pressure. Personally, I think women hypnotize each other into believing taller men are better, just as men hypnotize each other into thinking more slender women are better.

turbo

When I was in HS, I barely got past 5'2", and even a growth-spurt in college after I stopped competitive long-distance running didn't get me much past 5'6". Still, my long-term hugger in college was 5'10" or so. I wanted to meet her even before that little growth spurt hit, so I approached her in the cafeteria once and asked if I could sit with her and she pulled out the chair next to her and said "I've been saving this for you." We probably looked like Dudley Moore and Susan Anton whenever we met between classes and hugged and kissed. She liked my music collection and liked it when I would play guitar and sing for her.

M Grandin

Maybe I exaggerated somewhat. There are tall guys who can be regarded as
"Don Juan"s. For instance a friend of mine in boyhood who became a porno-star. But I
don´t know if it was the length of his body that made him success. He was also very good-looking and generally brave - perhaps the most important qualities for a girl hunter.

But generally I haven´t seen connection between body length and success with girls.
As "Monique" stated, shorter guys tend being more active girl hunters - not the least important quality.

A fat man stated: "It is not the length, it is the weight that counts!"

Evo

There was a study published in the journal Nature, their conclusion was that women tend to prefer taller men.

http://www.webmd.com/sex-relationshi...women-tall-men

Of course I'm only 5'3", so most men are taller than me anyway.

I like Serena

So do you like really tall guys, like 6'7" (kind of common where I live)?
Or should they at least be taller if you are on high heels?
Or does it suffice if they are, say, 5'4"?

R.P.F.

Height realy doesn't matter for me. It's all about the brain, and the personalities.

Evo

5'7" is ok, up to 6'4, any taller and I'm staring into their belt buckle.

SHISHKABOB

My girlfriend is about a half inch or so shorter than me, I'm around 5'11". I feel like it'd be awkward if we were different heights, in either direction.

I like Serena

Good! I'm 5'7".
(Which is rather short for a man where I live.)

zoobyshoe

This study is odd for many reasons:

5'6" is not generally considered average, but short. If it's taken as the average, what, exactly, is the height at which men are found not to have fathered children? 4'10"?

Are Polish people that much shorter than other Europeans? If they are, it's the first I've heard of it.

Also, the study assumes without investigation that if a man has fathered a child his height was a factor in attracting the mother. We could probably take all the data from this study and use it to get to completely different conclusions: "Study shows men who have fathered children are less concerned about using birth control". Or: "Study shows men who have fathered children match the bell curve for height in any country". The latter because they say they threw out data, not just on the shortest men, but also on the tallest men. Being inordinately short or tall, they say, might indicate some pathology that affects fertility. It sounds, therefore, like there was a drop off in fathering kids at both sides of the bell curve, and what the study actually shows is that being too far outside the mean is what hurts your chances.

Setting the mean at 5'6" makes you wonder where the tall extreme was set. 6 feet? I think it's a very odd study.

Evo

You doubt the validity of a paper published in Nature? I've been told that anything published in Nature was absolutely correct and only a crackpot would question them. Yes, I was the one saying Nature was guilty of publishing biased studies. Nothing is above bias, especially among a group of individuals, that being in the same field might know each other and share the same opinions. /End rant

Depends on the part of the world, but 5'7" is considered average height for men "worldwide", in western countries, the average is closer to 5'9" to 5'10".

I don't hold much to studies like this, and I think a poll of women would just as easily have corroborated that the majority of women prefer a man that is taller than herself, although being taller doesn't necessarily mean being tall. A man that is 5'4" is taller than me.