<p>Thanks for your post paying3tuition. I am definitely trying to maximize my life. But I think it’s a good mission to make people aware about it, I dont’ know the best way to do it though, except for ranting…at first though.</p>
<p>Verryhappy,</p>
<p>I loved your story! You could have replied, “I’ll stand up as soon as you grow some hair/lose some weight/get a personality/stop being ugly…” It would have got the point across, but of course unlike your boss, I’m sure you would never stoop so low (except perhaps in your mind… 
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<p>Agree with you l00 percent. That’s why I took mega time to write, when usually I’d be watching Jon Stewart now (sacred time).</p>
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<p>Ranting is a great start. You are finding your inner sense of justice and rage.
You are logical and write persuasively.</p>
<p>A third of the men in my family are lawyers. Have you considered it?</p>
<p>are you sure about depp? i know it says so on the websites, but i’ve heard from someone who has met him personally.</p>
<p>oh yeah and i love arcade fire.
i was going to mention that earlier</p>
<p>RE: Women who deal the “you’re too short for me” card.</p>
<p>Yes, mom tried to give that one to dad. . .he wouldn’t take it.</p>
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<p>Thanks for taking the time…and missing Jon Stewart is a big cost (I am dead serious, I love his show)</p>
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<p>Maybe, with all the inspirational stories about short lawyers</p>
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<p>Well he’s as tall as Letterman I think (based on his interview)
and thanks, Arcade Fire rules</p>
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<p>I might have to do that, if I become persuasive enough. But then I might end up being a lawyer!</p>
<p>Does anyone have any ideas about how to make this situation more public? I’m willing to be looked up on as a joke at first. All movements were seen as jokes at first, I dont’ care. I want to fix this, so it helps other people (there isn’t much of a chance of my amending the system in my lifetime or for my benefit…until I’m like 80 years old or something)</p>
<p>It doesn’t really bother me when people make comments about my height. I actually never even though I was that short until fairly recently when it became apparent I wasn’t growing anymore and most girls my age were at least 5’4". I’m about 5’1". When you end up the shortest among a group of gymnasts your age though, you know you’re in trouble. </p>
<p>Of course, I am a girl, and I know it’s harder for guys to be short. The height advantage in traditional sports is just hard to deal with. Even though I don’t think I’m that short, I get comments a lot. I’ve never really been in a situation where I thought someone was trying to be malicious about it. People are awkwards sometimes and don’t really think about what they say. They think it might be funny to you. I don’t think it’s all that funny, but rude? Not really, there are worse things you could say to me. </p>
<p>Although, I did spend a lot of time in a culture where remarks about your height (well, lack thereof) are to be taken basically as compliments. “she won’t get very tall”, “she’s stayed pretty small”, etc are taken as positive indicators. So maybe that’s why I just don’t care about it.</p>
<p>Twilight zone episode: The Last Night Of A Jockey
A jockey is sitting alone in his room after being banned from horse racing for life because of altering races by drugging horses. All he ever wanted was to be a big man. He argues with his alter-ego, trying to justify his life and his actions, but his “mirror image” knows better. He is offered the chance to change his life with one wish…</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - The Last Night Of A Jockey 1/3](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsxu7HZvRUo&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsxu7HZvRUo&feature=related) Part 1
[YouTube</a> - The Last Night Of A Jockey 2/3](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y66-yh6ve1U&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y66-yh6ve1U&feature=related) Part 2
[YouTube</a> - The Last Night Of A Jockey 3/3](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMw6nTRM2hk&feature=related]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMw6nTRM2hk&feature=related) Part 3</p>
<p>The only important thing is you carry yourself like a giant.</p>
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<p>Thanks for starting this thread! That has always been a MAJOR complaint of mine; it has happened literally hundreds of times in my life that people will be talking to me and then all of a sudden just stop in mid-sentence and say ‘Wow, you’re short!’ as if I didn’t know!</p>
<p>Would they have said ‘Wow, you’re fat’ or ‘Wow, you have a big nose’ …? No way!</p>
<p>I’m 4’11" and got teased mercilessly in grade school. Really messed me up because I was the only short person in the whole class (a small Catholic school). I felt better when I went to public school and at least found other girls short like me. I would never go out in public without 3" heels until my mid-20s.</p>
<p>I’m pretty much over it now but still get annoyed with short jokes. They’re just so lame. I tell people “Can’t you come up with anything original?”</p>
<p>My hubby is 5’8" (lower end of normal) and I have to admit that I’m relieved our son (miraculously) actually got a bit taller than him, only because I didn’t want him to go thur what I went thru.</p>
<p>I wish I could experience some of this female preference that you’re describing.</p>
<p>I think height is one of the last thing women are looking for, with muscles size, clear skin, and facial structure all being more important than height.</p>
<p>Oh, I like being petite. Just not THIS short!</p>
<p>Ah, to be 5’1"…</p>
<p>I agree with toneranger, back on the first page of this thread.
Some in my H’s family are extremely tall. His brother is 6’10, a couple nephews easily 6’5. Our older S. is now close to 6’4 and does NOT want to get any taller. It’s tougher on some of the nieces, though. Unless you are a runway model type, it can be rough to be a girl who is 6’2 or 6’4. There are plenty of short girls out there for those short guys. For those really tall girls, though, it’s much slimmer pickings. There are some Billy Joel/Christie Brinkley-style matchups out there, but not so many. I used to be about 5’9, but have since shrunk 
. I also couldn’t have cared less about a guys’ height. One of the biggest crushes I ever had was at least 2" shorter than I was, back in the olden days…</p>
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Women want guys who are sure of themselves. Short guys can have less presence simply because they are smaller… and it doesn’t help that some of them become very insecure about it.
I have seen firsthand-- and I know–that attraction has a very, very positive correlation with confidence…at some point, with a very strong or defined personality, women (and people in general) will CEASE to judge on beauty or on height.
So don’t say that height is uncontrollable. Maybe the actual physical characteristic is, but the effects of height? Are very, very controllable. And it won’t start with this whine thread…</p>
<p>This reminds me of a boy in my daughter’s class. They’re only in 6th grade, but he looks like a third grader. He has confidence, good looks and a great sense of humor. Everybody loves him and the girls line up to dance with him at the dances. He just has that “it” factor that attracts people, regardless of his height.</p>
<p>Sorry I haven’t been on this post for two days.</p>
<p>ArcadeFire, I’m a female. So 5’0" isn’t as problematic as it would be if I were male.</p>
<p>Another story: I arranged my son’s Bar Mitzvah completely over the phone with the manager of the party place – picked out the menu, decorations, and so forth telephonically, without ever meeting the manager (a woman). The night of the party, when we (the family) got there early to make sure everything was OK, the manager walked in and said, “[My First Name], that’s you? I thought you were taller!”</p>
<p>I assume it’s because on the phone I was confident. And perhaps that wasn’t her stereotype of what short people are. </p>
<p>One thing to beware of is what we refer to in my household as “short man’s syndrome” – people with a chip on their sholder, defensive, trying to prove “I’m as good as you even though I’m short!!” Often people who are too eager to prove themselves, people who don’t demonstrate confidence and a willingness to go second, instead of always being first.</p>
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<p>Oh yes! I run into that ALL the time! I have a business in which I am on the phone a lot. I have a strong voice and when I’ve spoken with someone on the phone and then meet them in person, they often say “But you don’t sound short!”</p>
<p>Now what exactly does a short person sound like? Obviously they assume that short people have no confidence.</p>
<p>Yes, yes!! “You don’t sound short.” I love that line; I’ve gotten that one too!!</p>
<p>From the OP:</p>
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<p>Is there anything going on with the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission on phsyical characteristics and hiring practices? Is that part of the US Dept of Civil Rights.</p>
<p>Or taking it to an extreme, look around the websites from ‘short people’ meaning those with actual dwarfism as a medical condition, to see what resources they link to for employment opportunity support.</p>
<p>I’d love to see a funded research study on this topic. One reason lawyers do well, even if they’re short, is that justice is blind and juries are seated.</p>
<p>I’m serious, I think this is an explorable topic, at the very least within academia and with eventual carryover into workplace law. </p>
<p>Follow the money. When short people begin to gain equal opportunity in hiring, their social attractiveness will follow behind it soon. I’m sure there’s provable workplace bias in hiring and promotion, based upon height. It’s associated with leadership, so promotions often rest on it. </p>
<p>Of course you have to develop all your personal traits meanwhile, but as an academic exploration, I think it’s worthy. You’d have to prove that with all variables controlled, people are losing chances in the workplace due to this one physical characteristic.</p>
<p>If you’re shopping for a college major, perhaps Sociology, or anything that resembles legal theory (LJST and other departments at some places). They don’t get you into law school, but let you explore legal philosophy which is simply very interesting. For an exemplary department, see Amherst College’s major in “Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought.”</p>
<p>A way to make things public is to become educated so you can become an agent of change. Also find others who share the concern (that’s where the dwarfism site idea came from). Work as a team; find alliances with others with overlapping issues.</p>
<p>Good luck. I hope you pursue this further. From college you could educate yourself to the level of PhD in a field that could research these issues under funded grants concerned with economic development or employment (from the financial side) or psychology (from the personal side). The meaningful government funding agency might be those concerned with our Gross National Product because we’re wasting a lot of talent and opportunity because of a stupid old bias in the culture.</p>
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<p>I once watched a TV show in which they asked various women if they would date a particular short man (about 5’1") who was standing on the stage. No matter how they characterized him, such as, “He’s a doctor” or “He’s a multimillionaire,” or “He’s a famous comedian,” none of the women said they would consider dating him.</p>
<p>^^That’s a good demonstration of social bias, among women who are able to attend and be in a TV audience on a weekday afternoon. Hopefully this OP will aim higher, and remember:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You don’t need to date “all” women, you just need to find someone special.</p></li>
<li><p>Height differences are irrelevant in bed. Bed matters more than most vertical situations. But first you have to find someone (not everyone) who’ll go out with you. A much smaller pool. </p></li>
<li><p>You’ll face more initial social rejection than others because of height, but
once you make a true friend, it’s all there and the height becomes less and less important, eclipsed by all of your actual interactions.</p></li>
<li><p>This is your big challenge. Others are given other handicaps but this is yours. Nobody has it all.</p></li>
<li><p>My family dislikes the bromides, like “good things come in small packages.”
One aunt said, “Yes, like poison.” She was a bit sharp-tongued.</p></li>
<li><p>People say things that make very tall people uncomfortable socially, too, but I doubt that tall folks lose out on employment opportunities as much as short people. Still, it’s a good awareness to have. I often say something to defuse a weird comment directed at a tall person and get an unbelievably grateful glance. They’re sick of hearing it, too (“how’s the weather up there” junk). </p></li>
<li><p>It hurts much more when you’re young than when you’re middle-aged, so it does get better in the course of a lifetime. My male cousin is 5’2", a Harvard grad, Harvard law, wealthy NYC lawyer, lovely wife (his height) and tiny D’s now getting ready for college soon. He has a profession, a nuclear family, an extended family. He was smart, kind, and hardworking (slaved like any new lawyer…) when someone in the firm introduced him to his wife who was looking for someone smart, kind, and hardworking. Neither are gold-diggers or big spenders, they have intellectual and value-rich homes with spiritual dimension. The firm hired him because he was really creative and brilliant; the wife married him because she loved him and that was just the kind of guy she was looking out for. During college years, he was very quiet. You sound much more engaged. I think you’ll have a happier time than him at the same age.
My point is: even though he might have been unhappy as a younger man, he is absolutely content today. He used all his strengths…</p></li>
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