# Is it vaguely creepy if a guy only likes women who are significantly shorter than he is? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617 "2010-04-01T18:47:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/21 "2010-04-02T00:34:19Z")
No. I don’t find many shallow preferences for dating/sexual partners ‘creepy’ or inappropriate. That might be because I have quite a few of my own (I am a woman - and I am not attracted to tall guys, to name just one item on my long list of utterly shallow deal-breakers. More than 5" above my average 65" is a big turn-off). > [@](#): > > Human males and females differ in a number of ways, and it’s perfectly normal for a man to prefer women with traits from the feminine end of the spectrum (or vice-versa), even (or especially) when the trait is more pronounced than normal. This is why, for instance, so many men like big breasts, because women have larger breasts than men, and why women tend to like men with broad shoulders, because men tend to have broader shoulders than women. And by the same token, men tend to be taller than women, and so it makes sense for men to be attracted to shorter women, and women to taller men. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/22 "2010-04-02T01:24:26Z")
I myself generally prefer shorter women, with the exception of women who have really long legs and know how to use them. ---
**Author:** ![Nightfall1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@Nightfall1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightfall1)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/23 "2010-04-02T01:40:04Z")
I ALWAYS dated tall slim girls for YEARS. I ended up marrying a wonderful women who is 5 foot tall. I’m 6 foot tall. You fall in love with whoever you fall in love with. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/24 "2010-04-02T01:47:58Z")
I’m 5’11" and I love petite women. Most of my serious relationships have been with women at least 6 inches shorter than me. They’re cute. I like cute. It has nothing to do with domination (not my thing at all), I just find smaller women attractive. It’s probably a bit of a learned preference, anyway: I’ve had good experiences with smaller women. I kind of associate “petite” with “nice”. I’ve never ruled out anyone based on that, though, and have had a couple of girlfriends around the same height as me. I don’t find tall women unattractive, by any means, it certainly isn’t a deal-breaker for me. Physical type is only important enough to sort women into the categories of “I could be interested in that” or “not for me, thanks”, and height really doesn’t have much impact on that. I’m not that picky. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/25 "2010-04-02T01:49:25Z")
I wonder if I was ever rejected because of being too tall. I know my first husband was insecure about it in college because he griped about me wearing heels to a dance. (I ignored him.) My husband says that he always thought he preferred short women … until he met me. I told him he should have been looking straight ahead of him the whole time. Ellen, 5’9" ---
**Author:** ![CutterJohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@CutterJohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CutterJohn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/26 "2010-04-02T02:26:31Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I was simply starting a thread based on an **overhead** conversation, as is my wont. Found yourself in the midst of a pack of amazons, eh? 😃 > [@kapri](#): > > I am 5’8" and sensitive, so I feel hurt when a man is attracted only to short women. 5’8" _is_ short! I have 7 inches on ya! Personally, I’m not a fan of the 5 foot nothing girls. I always feel like I’ll break em, and the extreme height differential makes walking together, holding hands, etc, a very big nuisance. Also, I have a propensity for picking them up when hugging them, which annoys some. Sorry, but bending that far over is very uncomfortable! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HardlySanguine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HardlySanguine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HardlySanguine)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/27 "2010-04-02T08:03:36Z")
No, I don’t think it’s creepy. It is a bit shortsighted, though. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/28 "2010-04-02T09:06:34Z")
> [@HardlySanguine](#): > > No, I don’t think it’s creepy. It is a bit shortsighted, though. Very punny. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/29 "2010-04-02T10:34:11Z")
Well, \*\*\*only \*\*\*liking any particular sort is vaguely creepy, inasmuch as it suggests a certain level of fetishism. I mean, if given the choice between a fabulous woman who’s 5’7" and a screeching harpy who’s 5’2", choosing the latter based solely on her height is creepy. For that matter, absent the choice of the former, being with the latter based solely on her height is still creepy. Preferences, on the other hand, are normal, if not generally very rational. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/30 "2010-04-02T11:48:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I’m not hung up on it; note that I expressed no opinion one way or the other. I was simply starting a thread based on an overhead conversation, as is my wont. I think the thread title pretty clearly offers an opinion. Why else would you use the loaded term “vaguely creepy”? Why not ask if it’s totally hot that a guy only likes women who are significantly shorter than he is? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/31 "2010-04-02T12:00:38Z")
Not any more than if part of it is “huge boobs”, so long as he is reasonable about it. I don’t think I need to come up with examples of what’s reasonable and not, plus the reasonableness limits change from person to person. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/32 "2010-04-02T12:27:51Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Otherwise, it’s just personally annoying–I’m six feet tall And how are you doing? As a very tall man - 6’4" - I find it really difficult with women because they are so much smaller. I mean, many women don’t clear my chin, which makes close conversation a literal pain in the neck for both of us. With a tall woman, we’re talking face to face. And a tall woman is a much better fit for dancing as the strides match much more closely. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/33 "2010-04-02T12:38:40Z")
It’s only vaguely creepy if he also wants her to call him Daddy, and never his name. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/34 "2010-04-02T12:42:04Z")
Yeah. I’m 6’1", and my wife is about 5’10". I like tall women, though not as any major preference. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/35 "2010-04-02T12:49:35Z")
During my life, I have dated women who ranged from a couple of inches taller than me to nearly a foot shorter than me. They were all wonderful. SWMBO is about 5 inches shorter: 5’7" and change to my 6’0". ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/36 "2010-04-02T13:21:18Z")
I gotta kind of wonder about people who spend their lives trying to shoehorn people into various forms of creepy. Those people seriously need to get lives. > [@CutterJohn](#): > > the extreme height differential makes walking together, holding hands, etc, a very big nuisance. I totally agree, if by “nuisance” you mean “fun.” Lately I’ve been seeing someone who claims to be 5 feet tall. Yeah, if she’s standing on her toes. On a stack of phone books. I have to bend waaaay over to kiss her. Far from being a chore, I love it. God, that woman puts a smile on my face! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/37 "2010-04-02T13:24:41Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Well, \*\*\*only \*\*\*liking any particular sort is vaguely creepy, inasmuch as it suggests a certain level of fetishism. I mean, if given the choice between a fabulous woman who’s 5’7" and a screeching harpy who’s 5’2", choosing the latter based solely on her height is creepy. For that matter, absent the choice of the former, being with the latter based solely on her height is still creepy. > > Preferences, on the other hand, are normal, if not generally very rational. I have to agree. Having a preference is one thing, being fanatical about it makes it weird. I like short women, but my last girlfriend was about 5’ 10 or a little more. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/38 "2010-04-05T15:54:23Z")
On the plus side, everything tends to match up pretty well once you get horizontal. ---
**Author:** ![breaking-reality](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@breaking-reality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breaking-reality)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/39 "2010-04-05T17:16:53Z")
Nope, I don’t think it’s creepy. Why not? I suppose because it seems like a fairly common thing to me. Guys tend to like women who are shorter than they are, and as stated already, the common height difference between men and women is about 5.5in. And on the flip side, I think it’s fairly common for women to define a guys attraction by his height. Obviously there are exceptions to the rule, but I don’t think either preference is ‘creepy’. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617/40 "2010-04-05T17:17:39Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > I have 7 inches on ya! Let’s not brag. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-vaguely-creepy-if-a-guy-only-likes-women-who-are-significantly-shorter-than-he-is/534617.md?page=3)