By Mandy Feder
“How”s little Mandy today?” That”s how one of my co-workers greets me daily. It”s true, I am vertically challenged, to be politically correct; or short, to be direct. I come by it honestly though, my family members are all short. My colleague means this in an endearing manner and it is received just that way.
I”m not bothered by my stature. Sure, I”ve been called “little girl,” even well into my 40s and had a yard duty monitor at my daughter”s elementary school ask me once why I wasn”t in class. The sun must have been in her eyes, for sure.
Some people in South Korea perceive small stature as a deficit. Clinics to increase height are popping up around the country. Height is associated with success to many.
The average height difference of North Koreans and South Koreans is fairly significant. In North Korea, for instance, at 5-foot-nothing, I would be considered average. In South Korea, the average height for women is about two inches taller.
Height is associated with nutrients and since North Korea experienced a food shortage because of drought and crop failures, the average height is one of the shortest in the world.
North Korean soldiers are a bit taller than other North Korean citizens because they are fed more plentifully.
According to an article in the New York Times, “Swayed by the increasingly popular conviction that height is crucial to success, South Korean parents are trying all manner of remedies to increase their children”s stature, spawning hundreds of growth clinics that offer hormone shots, traditional Eastern treatments and special exercises.”
It”s possible the South Koreans are correct about the treatment of people in relation to the height. For instance, where did the expression, “talking down to people,” originate?
According to the Height Site, “Height hierarchies are established early, and persist for a long time. Tall boys are deferred to and seen as mature, short ones ridiculed and seen as childlike. Tall men are seen as natural ?leaders;” short ones are called ?pushy.””
“If a short man is normally assertive, then he”s seen as having Napoleonic tendencies,” according to David Weeks, clinical psychologist at Royal Edinburgh Hospital. “If he is introverted and mildly submissive, then he”s seen as a wimp.”
Height, or lack of, is a much larger societal issue for men than it is for women. Statistically women are judged negatively, more often, based on weight.
The Height Site ponders varied aspects of daily life, including employment, perception and inter-personal relationships, in an article titled “Short guys finish last.”
According to CNN, “in May, the New York Times reported on a disturbing phenomenon in the People”s Republic of China: Otherwise highly qualified applicants for government jobs are being turned down because they are too short (and often just barely so). As part of an effort to put the nation”s “best face” forward in the global economy, Chinese ministries have adopted height and other aesthetics requirements.
“Although the Times article appeared to be intended as an amusing human-interest story, the issue is in fact quite serious for those affected. Height requirements in China, for educational as well as employment opportunities, tend to be set at roughly the national average, and accordingly large portions of the population are excluded by them.”
So apparently some people are being short-changed emotionally, financially and socially.
Unlike other physical attributes, height is a challenging, if not impossible, physical characteristic to alter. Overcoming the bias may be a tall order.
Mandy Feder is the Record-Bee managing editor. She can be reached at mandyfeder@yahoo.com or 263-5636 Ext. 32.
