But now I hate her, so that may not count...
Same with my ex. I can never date someone that short again.
I'm simply too scarred.
Posted on 08/13/2002 6:14:11 PM PDT by blam
Short women more successful with men
00:01 14 August 02
NewScientist.com news service
Shorter women are more likely to have long-term relationships with men, and more likely to have children, according to a study of 10,000 people born in the UK in 1958.
The average height for a British woman is 1.62 metres (5 feet, 4 inches). But those who were between 1.51 and 1.58 metres were most likely to be married and to have children by the age of 42. This relationship held true even after accounting for social class.
The study also found that women prefer men who are taller than average. A man of 1.83 metres (6 feet exactly) was more likely to have a partner and children than a man standing at the average height of 1.77 metres (5 feet, 10 inches).
But why men should prefer smaller women is unclear, says Daniel Nettle of the Open University, who led the research. "There is no evidence that shorter women conceive more quickly or are more fertile in a contemporary population," he says. In fact, previous studies have found that smaller women are more likely to die in childbirth.
Fertility cues
"But we know that men are drawn to things that in our evolutionary past would have been a cue for fertility. And in one sense tallness is a negative cue - tall women reach puberty later and probably their secondary sexual characteristics develop somewhat later," he says.
Nettle thinks the finding that men prefer mates who are smaller than average, but women prefer the opposite, also suggests the height disparity between the sexes is likely to continue.
The genetics of height is poorly understood, he stresses. "Oddly enough, we know that the heights of mother and son and of father and daughter correlate. So it would seem that a woman choosing a tall husband is also choosing tall daughters."
However, Nettle says this choice must also select a factor linked to the sex of the child, which maintains the difference in height between men and women.
Journal reference: Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: rspb.2002.211)
My ex was 5'1".
But now I hate her, so that may not count...
But now I hate her, so that may not count...
Same with my ex. I can never date someone that short again.
I'm simply too scarred.
My mom is only 5'2", so that may have something to do with it. You know what they say, that we guys try to find someone like our mom.
Not me... My Mom is 5'5" and redhead. My Dad's second wife is also redhead, as are both of his brother's wives, and my brother's wife... all of them very fair.
I've only dated one redhead, and she was 5'11" and olive-toned. I've also dated women at 5'7" and 5'8". I'm 5'10", btw.
My weakness appears to be brunettes.
Same with my ex. I can never date someone that short again.
My ex was short and Irish.
I can never date someone that Irish again.
Mine as well.
But now I hate her, so that may not count...
Same with my ex. I can never date someone that short again.
Same with my ex. However, it wasn't the height. It was the top 8 or 10 inches.
I know it. You missed the Joke. Get some sleep.
Me too. My wife is very much like my mother, except my wife is a Latina Morena and can't cook as well. Other than that, they identical...they're both ladies, and that is a rare and wonderful thing to encounter these trying days.
LOL.........tell this to my 6' (in her bare feet) wife.........mother of my seven children. :)
Tall men 'top husband stakes'
Tall men "are more likely to have children"
British scientists have come up with an explanation for why most men are taller than women.
They say taller men are more sexually attractive and are more likely to father children.
Men, though, prefer shorter women, so the two sexes are unlikely ever to end up the same height over the course of evolution.
"It seems that tall men and petite women are favoured in evolutionary terms, even in a modern population, so the height difference between men and women is unlikely to disappear," says Daniel Nettle of the Open University.
The verdict that size matters is based on a study of 10,000 people born in the UK in a single week in March 1958.
Their health and social development has been followed for the National Child Development Study.
Dr Nettle's team analysed data from the study in the year 2000 when the men and women were aged 42.
He found the taller the men were, the less likely they were to be single or childless.
A man of 1.83m (6'1") was more likely to have children than an average man of 1.77m (5'8").
Women, though, were most likely to be married and have children if they were below the average height of 1.62 m (5'3").
'Fertility cues'
The idea is that taller men are deemed more sexually attractive and are more likely to find a mate.
In contrast, men look for "fertility cues" other than height in the marriage stakes.
"We have come to think that men pay attention to physical characteristics of their mates, whilst women pay more attention to status and resources," says Dr Nettle.
"In the case of height, this is clearly not true; in choosing a husband, size matters."
Dr Nettle says shorter women appear to have greater reproductive success partly because there is delayed fertility among tall women.
Short women generally reach puberty earlier while the bodies of tall women spend more energy on growing rather than entering puberty.
Also, tall women have a disadvantage because they have a smaller pool to choose from if they want a man they won't tower over.
The finding will come as no surprise to evolutionary biologists.
Some have long postulated a positive link between male reproductive success and lofty stature.
But not all scientists are convinced that genes are the driving force.
Cultural shift
There is no evidence that these choices are actually favoured in evolutionary terms, says Adam Eyre-Walker from the Centre for the Study of Evolution at the University of Sussex, Brighton.
He says the study was done on British people, so all we may be seeing is the influence of culture.
"We are taught to look upon tall men and small women as desirable," he told BBC News Online.
"This could be completely different in another culture (i.e. look at the different attitudes to fatness in different cultures)."
He says another explanation is that tall men may not be intrinsically more attractive, but they may be more successful.
While this makes them more attractive to a potential suitor, it may be competition between males, not female choice, that is responsible.
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