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In a study published in the spring issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, Timothy Judge at university of Florida found that taller people generally tend to receive higher evaluations and be paid more even when the job involved has nothing to do with height (via USA Today). When I look back at the findings of this study, I am least surprised. We all have experienced or dished out discrimination regards height. Ask any dreamy eyed girl about her prince charming and being tall almost always tops the list. All the vertically-challenged people of this world can unite and still never be spared the ignominy of not matching up to the standards of a height-loving world. Of course, diminutive men have made a mark in this world and Napoleans, Gavaskars and Devitos abound but on an average, shorter people have a distinctive disadvantage.
I am not only talking about the need to have that damn stool to get the cookie from the top shelf but the general perception to battle the perception that taller people are seen as authoritative and as stronger leaders. Although I would have wished for a six-foot plus height, thankfully I do not qualify as a shorty and of course, that is relatively speaking. I wish I had paid more attention to my swimming lessons or pulled myself up couple hundred…err make that a million times more on the rusty pipe in our backyard. But being average and ordering around tall dudes has a different charm altogether. I don’t seriously mind being around tall guys but it’s the vertically-aligned girls that give me the scares. Although being face-to-face with a certain desirous anatomical detail has its advantages, too much of anything can be repulsive. I knew there was a reason I never was into WNBA and anorexic tall supermodels. If I wanted to know what the weather was in the stratosphere, I would tune to the Weather Channel.
Parents have always tried to pump up their kids’ height and complaints of their kid not growing enough is reason enough for the quack to prescribe steroids. Walk around Warden Road or Kemps corner during family time and you will see enough sights of palm-tree like kids hovering over their pygmy parents to dispute theories of genetics. I wish I had some steroids to add couple of inches but then that would be the end of my Olympics dream (yeah…you heard it right…long story). My little cousin was no longer little when I was home last and had begun giving me serious competition. The worst part of it was that she is still growing and I wouldn’t consider someone mistaking me as her younger brother as a compliment. She wouldn’t like it either. But I digress.
Talk about height discrimination is becoming a serious concern. Wonder if Walmart is listening and checks up if it also discriminates on height while they are at it (for sex). Till then the shorty can exact sweet revenge by punching the most easily accessible anatomical details of his taller partner.
by Patrix | on Monday, June 28th, 2004 at 6:54 pm | 
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