Height preferences have long been debated in the dating and relationship arena. Why do some small women like tall men while others choose mates of comparable stature? On the other hand, why are tall men often drawn to shorter women?
Men have spoken out, questioning why women prefer men of above-average height, average women or below-average in height who state height requirements on dating app profiles or in-person chats.
Several men have made movies on TikTok and YouTube expressing that being under six feet does not inherently make a man a lousy romantic partner.
Jump To
- Study Claims Short Women Prefer To Date Tall Men And Vice Versa
- Claim #2: Height Is Usually Associated With Strength And Power
- Having An Open Mind Will Help You Find Your Match
- Men Who Are Confident Seem To Be Less Rigid About Height
Study Claims Short Women Prefer To Date Tall Men And Vice Versa
Credit: The Sun
Here’s what dating experts say about height differences and why women of all heights prefer taller relationships.
According to Avigail Lev, founder and head of the Bay Area CBT Centre in San Francisco, which specializes in cognitive behavioural therapy, heterosexual women are often attracted to tall males for evolutionary, biological, and sociological reasons.
“Distinguishing between nature and nurture is extremely difficult in many areas, so we don’t know for sure what is more biological versus what is more of a societal influence,” she told Fox News Digital. “There is plenty of evidence to support cultural differences in beauty standards.”
“Evolutionary or biological models would say that height is linked to a mate’s health and strength, or that, sociologically speaking, height is linked to strength, power, the ability to provide and be strong,”
Avigail
continued. “But we also don’t know how much of this is biological versus societal versus epigenetic.”
Credit: Shemazing
Women prefer taller men, according to Lev, because of imposed gender roles and resource availability. Women who rely on males for money and shelter are less picky about appearance when looking for a love relationship, and
Avigail
cited women from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s as examples.
“Men have always favored a woman’s looks over her career, and for women in the past, the career wasn’t necessary,”
Avigail
explained. “Women have become more picky about their partners’ looks now that they have more access to their own resources.”
Society often associates shortness with femininity for women, which could explain why some women prefer tall guys, according to
Avigail.
Avigail
added that same-sex couples with a “feminine” and “masculine” dynamic in their relationships have height or size discrepancies. “Society has conflated femininity with being small, fragile, and petite,” she explains. “And society has conflated masculinity with strength, power, and dominance, but this is about gender, not sex.”
Credit: iStock
Claim #2: Height Is Usually Associated With Strength And Power
Nicole Moore, a licensed life coach who specializes in love, relationships, and body language coaching and runs the Love Works consulting firm in Beverly Hills, California, told Fox News Digital that most of her female clients tend to associate height with strength and safety.
“Many of my clients, regardless of height, have expressed a desire to know that their partner could physically protect them if necessary,” she added.
Many women appear to assume that shorter and slimmer men are incapable of defending them, leading them to believe that the men they choose “should be way bigger than them.”
Nicole
has heard from women in her area of work who want to be with a taller man because they believe it will make them look smaller if they acquire weight, she said. “This has to do with insidious cultural programming that makes us feel like a woman must always be physically smaller than her male partner,”
Nicole
explained.
The urge to be with a tall man does not appear to be limited to small women.
Nicole
described a 5-foot-7 customer who grew up “feeling way too tall” due to her “very petite” mother and sister.
“She wanted a partner who would make her feel small, even when she was wearing tall heels,”
Nicole
explained. “She ended up attracting a partner who is 6-foot-5, and she is incredibly happy with his height.”
Nicole
believes that some tall men love small women because of the same “cultural programming” that convinces women of all heights that they should be with tall men and a potential desire for dominance.
While height preferences are “a very personal thing,”
Nicole
cautioned modern-day daters to explore where their preferences are coming from and whether they are the result of “insecurities” or “outdated societal ideas.”
Credit: Canva
Having An Open Mind Will Help You Find Your Match
According to Jessica Alderson, a London-based relationship therapist and co-founder and CEO of the dating app So Syncd, discussions about height preferences in relationships can sometimes lead to emotions of uneasiness or fear for those who don’t meet standard assumptions.
“But the good news is that attraction is multi-faceted and complex,” she explained in an email. “A variety of factors influences attraction, and everyone has their distinct preferences. Many people are drawn to short men and tall ladies. Height isn’t a part of the equation for others.”
People drawn to a particular height should be able to pursue their desires, but those who keep an open mind have more possibilities in the dating market, according to
Jessica.
Instead of focusing on a potential romantic partner’s physical characteristics,
Jessica
suggested that people analyze matches holistically based on personality, morals, and temperament.
“You might be surprised to find that someone you weren’t initially attracted to could actually be your perfect match,” she wrote. “This does not mean you should compromise your core values or settle, but you should keep in mind that looking beyond your usual type of match can lead to positive results.”
Credit: Canva
Men Who Are Confident Seem To Be Less Rigid About Height
Tallness appears to be valued in society, and the media when it comes to men, and those values can be seen in Western cinema, where Hollywood set designers have built smaller saloon doorways to make actors appear taller, according to Amber Kelleher-Andrews, CEO of the matchmaking service Kelleher International.
From Montecito, California, Kelleher-Andrews told Fox News Digital that while women like tall guys, confident men don’t seem to mind. “My most confident male clientele don’t have a height preference at all,”
Amber
stated.
“They are completely comfortable with the female partner being any height, including much taller. I’ve noticed that these extremely confident men are so secure in who they are and what they bring to the table that they don’t see those extra inches as a must-have or a prerequisite for love,” she continued.
According to
Amber, most of her male clients have expressed a height preference, and eight times out of ten, they have wanted to be paired with a shorter lady. With 30 years of matchmaking expertise,
Amber believes males “feel more masculine, confident, or protective when they are significantly taller than their female partner.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn