Even when I was younger, I have always been considered above average in the female height percentile. Now that puberty is over and I am an adult who is no longer growing, being a woman who is less than an inch away from being six feet tall, which is about 7 inches taller than the average American woman, I could never see myself dating a man who is shorter than I am unless he was beyond gorgeous. For most women, however, they do not want a man who is shorter than them and I somewhat agree with this statement.
I want a man who is taller than me for multiple reasons. The first being that tall men make me and other women feel feminine and protected. Most women would only date men taller than them. This could be because height is considered a sign of masculinity. Masculinity goes hand in hand with women feeling safe in the comfort and presence of the men that they are dating.
The second reason why I would prefer my partner to be taller than me is because I may end up falling in love with him. I am 5’11”, so if the man I am dating is 5’6″ and we decide to have a child together, my son could end up being 5’5″ and that is far from good. I want my son or daughter to be tall and athletic. In order to have good genes such as height and an athletic structure, I would have to date a man who has those genes to help me pass them down to my child. I am already tall and athletic, so dating a man who is built the same way would almost ensure that the chances of my child being well built were good. By dating a man shorter than me, I think I would be stunting my future child’s growth.
When choosing a man to be with, this preference is moderated by your own height, potential dating options and relationship expectations. For me and almost half of the population of women in the United States, height always comes first when deciding if a man is suitable enough for us to date. If he is not my height or taller, then he is automatically and immediately less attractive to me. I no longer think about long term situations such as if I want to take the time to get to know or date the man, relationship expectations if we do end up in a relationship or the physical attributes and genes that would be passed on to my child. All of that goes out the window as soon as a man stands up and his head is at my chin or shoulders.
As the dating pool continues to shrink for me and other women who can relate, we tend to see dating short men as an option. However, men believe that height is not everything. In fact, I have even had a man who was about 5’4″ tell me he wanted me to have his children so they would have a shot at being tall. Anyhow, women, most of the time, do not enjoy or prefer to date a man who is somewhat shorter than them but men care far less about the height of their partner. Regardless, I still prefer who I am dating to be my height or taller.