Shortchanged: new book on height discrimination

A relatively new book on height discrimination was published in late 2017, thought others might be interested.

Shortchanged: Height Discrimination and Strategies for Social Change

It's written by a business litigation attorney measuring in at 4'10" (147 cm). She's also the author of this website, Short Revolution.

I haven't read it myself since I just found it, but you can sample a bit of it here.

She makes some stupid claims in her website, such as:

Quote Regardless of height, just about everyone wants to be taller. If science could figure out a cheap, easy and painless way to add a few inches to our height, without any negative side-effects, most people would gladly do it.

Everyone who's had an abnormally tall friend for the society they live in knows this not to be true. They detest their height. Humans want to fit in. Most human males want to be average-tall. Not everyone is a megalomaniac who wants to tower over everyone else in the streets. So it is not regardless of height.

I doubt any of my 6 feet friends would want to be any taller. I don't even need to ask them.

True, as long as women don't start growing themselves with this imaginary cheap and painless procedure. If women however decide that they want to look like runway models, tall men might want to scale up proportionately (there's always going to be a few that want to be the tallest in a group). At the current state, women are in a good place when it comes to short stature, much better than men for sure. Women have a convenient safe haven of a word called "petite" while men regrettably don't. Being petite is celebrated, found this article a few months ago and found it interesting.

That being said, you'd be surprised at how many tall guys get uncomfortable when they meet someone who is a little taller! Makes sense considering it's a rare sight, it's a rare emotional reaction. It seems a little crazy but I've heard of tall guys saying they'd like to be a little taller if they have a taller friend; maybe it's because it's better to be tallest than almost tallest. As my dad likes to say, if you're not in first place, you're first loser. Somewhat related, generally interesting study about managing expectations.

Some who are extremely tall do feel camaraderie instead of discomfort though, or they think: do I look that huge to everyone else?

Yeah, it certainly depends on context. I can just assure others, most humans don't want to be 20cm/8 inches taller than the tallest men they normally come across in the streets.

My tallest friend is my most socially awkward one. He has never swam in female genitalia, despite what some here would believe. He watches cartoons and plays MMORPGs with all his free time (not that there's anything wrong with that - he's just not the "alpha manmore" parts of the internet tell me he should be).

Makes sense, some are very comfortable in their bodies and wouldn't change a thing. Don't fix what ain't broke.

I actually know two nerdy married couples, both guys are over 6'2". They both got to know their spouses IRL working at gaming related jobs, then bonded over MMOs. And yeah, both girls liked that the guys were tall; if you like nerds, might as well be a tall nerd. So your friend at least has that going for him, tell him to go outside once in a while!

Just remembered that one of the wives actually joked like five years ago... "Saw in the news, I bet you're gonna go to China someday and get your legs lengthened!" Little does she know.

Quote from: Android on February 27, 2018, 01:38:22 AMI actually know two nerdy married couples, both guys are over 6'2". They both got to know their spouses IRL working at gaming related jobs, then bonded over MMOs. And yeah, both girls liked that the guys were tall;

I'd hope their being tall was just a bonus to them, not a requirement.

QuoteJust remembered that one of the wives actually joked like five years ago... "Saw in the news, I bet you're gonna go to China someday and get your legs lengthened!" Little does she know.

Heh. That's pretty good.

It would be really nice if heightism was something we could fight. But the reality is heightism is here to stay. And the best solution to overcoming are safe cosmetic limb lengthening procedure.