Category: Heightism

Don’t Mistake a Short Man…

August 23, 2025 By arne hendriks Off

There is an interesting South African proverb that says: Don’t mistake a short man for a boy. This proverb implies that we consider size to be an indication of characteristics that are associated with children (inexperience, lack of strength, naievity, playfulness, innocence, dependence, curiosity, unconditional…

Dead End Kennedys

November 20, 2024 By arne hendriks Off

The title of the iconic punk band Dead Kennedys‘ last album “Bedtime for Democracy” (1986) is said to come from the film “Bedtime for Bonzo” starring Ronald Reagan and is an indictment of Reaganomics, neoliberalism, war, and infobesity. It also features the track “Shrink”. The…

SitzZwerg

September 28, 2023 By arne hendriks Off

In the Appendix to the online dictionary Wictionary is a section called “Terms considered difficult or impossible to translate into English”. One word that caught our attention is ‘Sitzzwerg’. The German word Sitzen means to sit, and Zwerg means dwarf. Thus a Sitzzwerg is a…

Miss Heightism

October 31, 2021 By arne hendriks Off

If your ambition is to be Miss France there are considerable discriminating parameters. You cannot have children, you cannot be married, tattoos are forbidden and you have to be at least 170cm tall. Selection on height is outright height discrimination and an example of the…

The Not So Resolute Desk

November 30, 2020 By arne hendriks Off

At first sight it seems rather curious that a man so sensitive to the image of power as is Donald Trump, would allow to be photographed sitting behind a very small desk. His large body in relation to the small table just looks awkward. Plus,…

Height Blind

January 8, 2020 By arne hendriks Off

Greater height in humans is commonly associated with advantages such as leadership skills, wealth, intelligence or social status. Differences between short and tall men are often found for these traits, mainly in favour of tall men. But are height-related effects biologically determined or do they…

Calimero Complex

November 14, 2018 By arne hendriks Off

In the Low Countries the Calimero Complex refers to people, organisations or countries that feel they’re under-appreciated because of their small size. The name given to the complex refers to the lead character Calimero in an Italian animated cartoon series featured in the early 70’s…

The Devil’s Dwarfs

June 4, 2015 By arne hendriks 0

At the onset of the First World War the British Army announced that no man under the height of 160cm (5 ft 3 inches) was deemed strong enough to fight and serve their country. As the war dragged into the second year, with enormous loss…

Tall Tales: Tall Men

December 1, 2013 By arne hendriks 6

Most women prefer tall men over their shorter rivals. Over a century of feminism hasn’t changed much about that. Unfortunately this preference is one of the forces that leads to a global increase in human height. Because of women’s preferences tall men have more children and…

Force-Feeding Milk

June 2, 2013 By arne hendriks 1

On the occasion of the FAO’s World Milk Day the Thai Ministry of Health’s director-general Jedsada Chokdamrongsuk revealed an ill conceived plan to boost Thai’s youth milk consumption from 14 to 60 litres per year. The reason for this? To  increase the average Thai male height…

This Crowded Earth

November 30, 2012 By arne hendriks 1

This Crowded Earth by Robert Bloch is a 1958 novel set in a future where overpopulation has inspired science to create a small human race with the use of hormone therapy. The story starts in the late 1990’s when suicide, crime and accidents have increased steeply…

Overcoming the Height Gap

September 13, 2012 By arne hendriks 0

There’s a 40% difference in height between the shortest 5 percentile and the tallest 5 percentile of the adult human population. That puts humans amongst the Earth’s most hypervariable species. Shrinking the body will create an even greater height gap, Younger generations will be shorter…

Overcoming the Uncanny

March 12, 2012 By arne hendriks 0

People are often disturbed by the idea of shrinking the human species. The confrontation with unusually small-sized adults sometimes triggers a psychosomatic sensitivity  also known as the uncanny. The uncanny is a Freudian concept of an instance where something is familiar, yet foreign at the same…

Height Tax

February 27, 2012 By arne hendriks 0

Being tall is expensive. You need more of everything just to sustain yourself, and for most of it either you pay or the environment does. Tall people are an increasing burden on the planet. A 20% increase in height equals a 73% increase in weight. And all…

Medicalizing Short Stature

November 17, 2011 By arne hendriks 0

The US market for growth hormone is estimated at 22 billion dollars. But it wasn’t always so big. Two growth hormone producers, Eli Lilly and Genentech worked hard to medicalize short stature and convince children and their parents that being short is a disease rather than a natural…

22 billion reasons to keep growing

May 17, 2010 By arne hendriks 0

In 2003, the US Federal Drug Administration approved the use of human growth hormone for healthy short children in an attempt to make them taller. There is nothing medically wrong with these children; they produce normal levels of growth hormone on their own. They are…

310 for every Cm

May 10, 2010 By arne hendriks 1

A 2003 University of Florida and University of North Carolina study found that short people are paid less than their taller peers: Each centimetre in height amounted to about $310 more a year in pay. In a similar study conducted in Australia in 2009 by professor…