don't get shorty

So okay, I'm short. According to statistics, the height of the average American male is approximately 5 feet 9.5 inches, and I stand 5 feet 5 inches tall, which puts me around the heights of Michael J. Fox and Jason Alexander.

Looking into my past, I've worked at places where sure, I was shorter than most of the other guys, but it wasn't all that pronounced. But to watch guys my height on TV, it's really striking, discouraging, really. The thing I've noticed with their characters is they seem particularly short. I mean, look at how tall their co-stars are. Take Spin City for example - don't all the other male characters seem to be well over the average height? Aren't they all well over 6 feet tall? At my places of work, there were other guys that stood a little taller than me, and maybe taller than that, but not everyone. I guess it's just Hollywood and the typical casting process (which isn't supposed to be real anyway) but there's such a disparity between Michael J. Fox's character and the others.

The females all appear to be unusually tall compared to average, except perhaps for Heather Locklear, who with heels still stands taller than Fox's character.

As much as I tell myself that Davey Jones was the most popular member of The Monkees, I am sensitive to being short, especially as a guy. I suppose I can understand that most women are only attracted to guys that are at least a few inches taller than themselves, but even the very petite women are often looking for tall guys too. It's like they are carrying around one of those height requirement signs that are found at amusement parks: "You must be at least this tall to go on this ride."

This heightism extends from the purely physical where the strong survive and attract mates all the way to business and boardrooms. There are exceptions too, of course, such as Ross Perot, who is known less for being dynamic, but 'feisty' because of his lack of stature. I remember reading a book about a well-placed businessman who wrote of a chairman-of-the-board who managed to have a commanding presence in spite of standing just over 6 feet tall. Just over 6 feet tall? I wish.

But like everything, it's all relative...