It's What's Inside That Counts (Unless You're Short)

Good news, guys: you have been given license to discriminate on appearance! No longer will you have to nervously cough into your hand as you explain to a female acquaintance that you're not that into the friend she's trying to set you up with by alluding to some made up character flaw. "Politically, we're from two different worlds" and "I'm just not in a place where I'm ready for a relationship" are things of the past. From now on, you can just be honest: her friend isn't that hot.

What seismic event has brought about this revolution, this unshackling of the male ego, this bright shiny day of the soul?

Women are shallow too.

For too long, we've had to listen to the refrain, "men are so hung up on looks. It's what's on the inside that counts". We've endured the looks, a mixed bag of superiority, condescension an derision. We've never had an answer to those looks. Until now.

It turns out that women prize the inner qualities in a man, placing less value in his physical qualities unless that man makes them look bad in high-heels. Yes, the vast majority of women don't want to date men who are shorter than they are.

You might be tempted to dismiss this as the opinions of a single woman. To that I would answer, read the comments. Almost every single one reaffirms the bias in the article. The number of women who complain that dating shorter men cause them to stop wearing heels lest they look "Amazoninan" is enlightening.

I’m only 5’7” and I even have a hard time finding guys tall enough! I want to be able to wear heels without feeling like a giantess. I also had a rude awakening once I hit the real world that most guys aren’t super tall, even though my brothers/dad are 6’2” - 6’5”.

I think my minimum is a guy who is the same height as me, but I won’t go shorter. I think it’s psychological, but if a guy is shorter than me, I automatically feel like he’s “younger” and not as mature as me.

I feel the same way about a girl who can't find a date in a well lit room.

I had a conversation in this exact vein perhaps ten or eleven years ago with a woman. She had obviously brushed up on her Orwell, as she had the technique of doublethink down cold. She repeatedly insisted on holding the following two beliefs simultaneously: that she could never be attracted to a man who was shorter than her, even if that man was perfect in every other way, and that she didn't judge people by their appearance.

This line of thinking is reflected in a comment from the linked article:

I am totally guilty. But I see it as a preference thing too. Some people aren’t attracted to skinny people or fat people. I, personally, am not attracted to a short man. It is unfortunate though because it seems like that is the majority of men left out there.

So, it's cool for me to say I'm not attracted to "fours" then, right?

The only rebuff came from someone called "happypants" (and no, it was not me), who had this rejoinder to complaints that kissing a shorter guy required some sort of magic training or the ability to manipulate the laws of physics.

"How do you kiss a guy who’s six inches shorter than you?"

The same way a guy kisses a girl who’s six inches shorter than him.

Preach it, brother!

Really? It's okay to exclude man from the dating pool because they're shorter than you, but if a guy excludes a woman because her appearance, it just goes to show how shallow men are and how enlightened and superior women are? I call shennanigans. Women have been pulling this on us forever, guys. Today is our INDEPENDENCE DAY!