# How tall (or short) is too tall (or short) for you to find attractive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796 "2015-06-29T17:34:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/101 "2015-07-02T00:57:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > What both of you (and others) are defending here is the right, or “entitlement” of females (well, actually, everybody) to be as shallow as they please, where in fact there’s a whole lot of extreme shallowness going on out there. Of course, nobody can dispute that right. But one can still criticize the shallowness of females who use a male’s height as their first filter, excluding males shorter than themselves from their dating pool right up-front so that they will never look beyond to see what else short males may have to offer. > > All that does is limit their own dating pools, as well as the dating pools of short males. Lose-lose. There’s also the shallowness of heavier (“BBW”) females who price themselves right out of the dating pool by keeping their “standards” too high, which often means refusing to date shorter males. > > I was going to use the word “hypocrisy” instead of “shallowness” in the above paragraph, but that isn’t quite right. It was noted above that people just find attractive the types they find attractive and even a “BBW” couldn’t be called a hypocrite if she isn’t attracted to short males. Okay, I don’t argue with that. “Hypocrite” and “hypocrisy” aren’t the right criticisms there. Shallowness is. I’m sort of baffled by you, and exactly what your concern is, other than “life’s not fair,” but I’ll respond one more time. I’m not a hypocrite, or entitled or shallow. I simply, like most people, have physical preferences. I have never hurt for male attention, so I’m not concerned about the size of my dating pool. I’m not panicked by being single, either. All people, whether they’re tall, short, or “BBWs” (yes, even then) have the right to not settle. Whether or not they find love isn’t a concern of yours or anyone else. It doesn’t matter if you think they’re “doing it wrong”. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/102 "2015-07-02T02:35:14Z")
Ms. P is about 5’5", which is in the middle of the women I’ve been out with height wise. I don’t recall ever seeing a woman and thinking “I’d ask her out if she were taller/shorter.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/103 "2015-07-02T03:06:15Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > But one can still criticize the shallowness of females who use a male’s height as their first filter, excluding males shorter than themselves from their dating pool right up-front so that they will never look beyond to see what else short males may have to offer. Well, one _can_, but it’s kind of a jerk move in a thread where the OP explicitly says he’s looking for superficial replies. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/104 "2015-07-02T03:11:05Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Well, one _can_, but it’s kind of a jerk move in a thread where the OP explicitly says he’s looking for superficial replies. See [Post #45](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18478860&postcount=45). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/105 "2015-07-02T03:14:23Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > See [Post #45](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18478860&postcount=45). 😉 While it’s nice to see someone admit to threadshitting, it would be ever nicer if you’d stop doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/106 "2015-07-02T03:56:06Z")
Too tall? Only if they have one of those conditions where they keep growing and die way too young. If he would have me, I would go for any pro basketball center, or Tommy Tune. Too short? As long as they are mostly proportional (I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could handle actual dwarfism), there’s no such thing. I have dated men much shorter than me many times, some who were close to my height, and have never dated anyone taller. Not because I wouldn’t but because the opportunity never seemed to arise. (I am currently 6’1", I used to be more than 1" taller) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/107 "2015-07-02T04:45:10Z")
I’m 6’2”. I’ve dated girls between 4’8” and 6’2”. I enjoyed the girls at both extremes and all the women in between…with the sole exception of one: my ex. I don’t so much dislike my ex because of her height (5’6”), but for the fact that she abandoned her family, drained and burned 100% of our joint marital assets and moved into the house next door to my daughters and me with her 3 flea-bitten dogs and flea-bitten boyfriend who gets drunk and harasses us as early as 5am. Yeah, I picked a winner with that mid-sized wife. I wouldn’t date a girl over 12-feet tall. Any girl taller than that I imagine would be quite expensive to feed (e.g. at a fancy seafood restaurant: _“I’d like 5 lobsters and a gallon of Chateau Lafite, garcion.”_ And, we’d have to always sit in the back row of the movie theater, particularly if she had a poofy hairstyle. At the other extreme, I wouldn’t date any gal less than 2-inches tall. Well, maybe I’d date a 2-incher, but I wouldn’t marry her (that size and under would make sexual liaisons somewhat awkward). Ok, on reflection, 2-inches would be doable (I just thought of some sexual possibilities)—however, 2 centimeters, or 2 millimeters is most certainly out of the question…to marry…dating would be ok…if she’s kinky. My ideal woman would be 6-inches tall. Cheap to feed; lots of sexual possibilities; a voice so tiny I could easily drown it out when she bitches at me; and she could fit in my shirt pocket when we go shopping. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/108 "2015-07-02T07:59:08Z")
As a guy, shorter than about chin height is not comfortable physically. Since I’m square in the middle of the bell-curve, much smaller than that is a pretty tiny woman. Much taller than me is probably not not comfortable psychologically. In college, I dated a girl who was nearly the same height as me. She may even have been very slightly taller. I didn’t notice it particularly, once I got over the novelty of kissing someone without having to do more than tilt my head to the side. She was bothered quite a bit, making sure to always wear flats, not put her hair up, etc. An unconscious factor might have been that her father was quite tall, to the point that he had things custom-designed for his height when they built their house, and her mother was also apparently fairly tall for a woman. We didn’t break up over height — the relationship just faded away over summer — but I’m sure the height didn’t help. I haven’t dated a woman significantly taller than me. That disparity tends not to happen, no matter how tall the woman is. I don’t really know how I’d react. I don’t _think_ I’d have a problem with it since I’m pretty secure in my masculinity, and find strong women — mentally or physically — attractive. Proof is in the pudding as they say, and I have no real-life experience other than seriously hitting on a couple of Amazons in my single past. FWIW, my wife is small enough to be annoyed by her size. The top of her head is parallel with the bone of my jaw. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/109 "2015-07-02T20:21:36Z")
I’m a dude, just short of six feet tall. I was in a relationship with a woman who is five foot two. Too little and cute. I thought of her more like a child than a grown woman, which feels horrible to type but there it is. Of course, her acting like a child might have had something to do with it… My wife is over five-ten. I like it quite a bit. I think tall women are hot as hell. When she’s in heels I feel like she towers over me though. I feel like just a little guy! But I like her in heels so I’m torn! Life is so hard. A shorter woman fits better when spooning, which is a plus because I’m a rockstar cuddler, but a taller one gives you more surface area to play with during sex, which is a bigger win in my book. You get to put your mouth/hands on so much stuff! For me, I think 5’6"-5’8" would be about perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/110 "2015-07-02T20:27:31Z")
Stuff. Stuff??? Oh, to be enlightened… ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/111 "2015-07-02T21:39:09Z")
I don’t think height matters to me all that much. As long as the person in question is attractive (in _SOME_ way) height, for me, is pretty low on the list. ---
**Author:** ![ThisOneGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@ThisOneGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisOneGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/112 "2015-07-02T23:02:55Z")
I’ll admit to being a tall guy (6’4") who is almost exclusively attracted to short women (5’4" and under). There are many nice looking tall women, but it is the small ones who get a second look. Wife is 4’10" and I’m all the time thinking: “She’s so tiny, and that’s so hot!” My mother (5’9") did complain that all the tall guys want short women and she can’t wear heels. ---
**Author:** ![ParkedHampster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@ParkedHampster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParkedHampster)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796/113 "2015-07-03T00:12:00Z")
I’m male, towering in at an impressive 5’7" I’ve dated from 5’2" to 5’8" I’d say 5’8" is pretty much my upper limit and about 5’ even is probably my lower limit. I have enough problems feeling short without my SO telling me so [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-tall-or-short-is-too-tall-or-short-for-you-to-find-attractive/723796.md?page=5)