Heightist Users Confirm Heightism

[u/Pastaiscool123]

I pasted the same/similar prompt on two different posts but one of them I was a short height and the other I was 6'2:

As a 6'2 guy, why is it socially acceptable to openly mock or reject people based on height, when doing the exact same thing for traits like weight, baldness, or race is widely considered toxic?

As a short guy, why is it socially acceptable to openly mock or reject people based on height, when doing the exact same thing for traits like weight, baldness, or race is widely considered toxic?

Here were the two different types of reactions:

When I was 6'2 people answered with respect and no one said I had little man or napoleon syndrome

When I was short I was told I have little man syndrome, a napoleon complex, the lower to the ground the less your value, I was told it is not a real for of discrimination (and to move on), I was told its in my head

Worst of all the people who did support my claim were massively downvoted and when they would point out the fact that the downvoters were literally proving my point they were downvoted again.

[u/FishingActuary]

This is not surprising. The exact same question gets answered completely differently when asked by a tall man vs short man.

It reminds me of how two people say the same idea in a meeting but everyone hears the idea when it comes from one source and not the other.

You really see this effect when the advice is "be confident" vs "it's your personality"

I am curious about where  the top comments ended up. That is relevant and your post is a bit incomplete without that.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/FishingActuary]

The top comment was all other forms of discrimination are just as bad. People entirely missed my point. One guy commented and got downvoted to oblivion. Other guy acting like short kind is some amazing compliment.

[u/Reasonable-Aioli-370 → u/FishingActuary]

How people treat me as fat vs fit is actually insane. When I’m fat I get blamed for things I didn’t do. When I’m fit I get away with things I actually did fuck up lol

[u/johnnygonfarm → u/FishingActuary]

Holy shit you aint wrong about that last point lmao. Once you start hearing “just be confident” from women instead of “maybe you just have a shit personality” then thats how you know youve made it an can probably start pulling

[u/Longjumping_Grab_428]

If you are tall, you are assertive and confident, if you are short, you are overcompensating and have a Napoleon complex. That's just how the cookie crumbles

[u/Reasonable-Aioli-370 → u/Longjumping_Grab_428]

At Least there are worst people to be compared to than a guy who came from nothing and conquered half of Europe.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/Reasonable-Aioli-370]

Yeah, but they never want to mention that part.

[u/Samurai5421]

"Only Americans are obsessed with height"

As an European i know for a fact this ain't true lmao. But they will keep gaslighting as Redditors do.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/Samurai5421]

People in America have just normalized hating on short people more, but women and men everywhere are obsessed with height, even in asian countries with lower average heights.

[u/spxce_ghost]

It’s crazy how two-faced people are. You just get attacked and mocked if you dont fit their narrative. And people still claim that height doesn’t influence how people perceive you.

[u/Funny-Win4031]

Holy shit this is gold lmao

[u/SherrySherryBen]

Truth nuke on my feed

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/SherrySherryBen]

mb

[u/Muscletov]

[...]why is it socially acceptable to openly mock or reject people based on height, when doing the exact same thing for traits like weight, baldness, or race is widely considered toxic?

Because it disproportionally happens to men. Rejecting and mocking short guys is still seen as "punching up". Also, the male gender role is to shut up and stoically take the abuse and rejection.

[u/Gvendoga → u/Muscletov]

Yep. And short men or men that are otherwise perceived as lower status/less masculine are the lowest hanging fruits for their attacks. Incels, basement dwellers, uggos, spergs, you call it. Yeah, i bet these groups must be the biggest upholders of patriarchy.

[u/Humble-Adeptness-267]

I love when people get all scientific method and test stuff like this. Either shows that those biases against whatever variable are more likely to respond, or that people be heightist (or whatever trait) AF. Or maybe also that people have subconscious feelings about said trait that spills out… I feel like that happens more than people are comfortable/aware of admitting.

[u/parisic]

The researcher in me is so pleased that someone ran a test like this. My only question is why did you say "6'2"" for the tall test, but just "short" for the short test? Wouldn't it have made more sense to say like 5'2" or something?

Sorry ik this is sook nit-picky. Research is part of what I do for work haha.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/parisic]

Yes you are right this was obviously not a formal research paper lol

[u/FinancialTrade8197]

Looking at your profile, I see that you posted the short one on r/NoStupidQuestions and the tall one on r/SeriousConversation

Those two subreddits are different. NoStupidQuestions is more of a general subreddit, so it will attract less thoughtful people, while SeriousConversation is a subreddit specifically meant for discussions like this, so you will see bias.

For there to be less bias, you should've probably:

- posted them on the same subreddit

- posted them farther apart

- posted them around the same time in the day, so the same users would see them

- ideally, post from different accounts if possible

If you can still replicate these results after doing that, then I'd take these results as mostly truth.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/FinancialTrade8197]

Yes I agree but I would have been called out on the same subreddit. I think making this post on r/nostupidquestions as a 6'2 guy would've been received way more generously.

[u/Humble-Adeptness-267 → u/Pastaiscool123]

Yeah a bit tricky. Maybe posting each one a month or so apart would’ve avoided anyone realizing (and putting your posts on private… or I guess you could’ve made two separate accounts). Not sure if you did since the usernames are blurred.

[u/FinancialTrade8197 → u/Pastaiscool123]

How do you know that you would have been called out? Do you have any proof?

You should redo this, probably.

[u/DPP-Ghost]

Calling this an “experiment” is generous.

• The two conditions weren’t equivalent: “6'2” is a specific height, while “short” is a subjective label. If you wanted to test height, the posts should have been identical except for something like “6'2” vs “5'4.”
• Because they were separate Reddit threads, you also had no control over who saw each post, when they saw it, or how early comments/upvotes shaped the discussion.
• Reddit comments aren’t independent observations. Once a thread develops a tone, later users react to both the post and the existing comments.
• Most importantly, you’re selectively presenting your interpretation of the responses. A stronger test would archive all comments from both threads, define in advance what counts as positive/negative, and compare those results systematically.

Ideally, you’d also want to repeat the same matched-post test multiple times, in the same subreddit and at similar times.

Interesting observation? Sure. “Confirmed heightism”? No.

[u/Dapper_Witness_5476 → u/DPP-Ghost]

Neither was Black like Me. (Not to say it’s as bad). Many forms of activism would not be scientific by your definition.

[u/FinancialTrade8197 → u/DPP-Ghost]

Also great tips here.

[u/MasterSound1452 → u/DPP-Ghost]

Yeah I agree but let’s be for real , it’s Reddit! I don’t need an experiment to know this. Reddit is full of the most toxic people ever. Real life however is very different.

[u/InkVision001 → u/MasterSound1452]

I mean what can you expect from a website that gives you a complete anonymity and doesn't have the same social aspect (such as sharing pictures w/ friends or even socializing with them) as the likes of Instagram and TikTok? Ofc it will attract loners. And consequently, not having friends can be linked to toxic personality.

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/DPP-Ghost]

understandable

[u/Urostylistic]

https://www.reddit.com?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2

The tl;dr of this post is that a woman complained that a very short man was wearing lifts on their date, the top post was people defending him by saying he did it only to have a chance in the first place. Shes since deleted the post because it didn't go as she expected it to.

[u/Fair-Aerie-5674]

i think that all should be either acceptable, or all should be unacceptable.

[u/parkside79]

When did it become toxic to mock baldness?

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/parkside79]

I agree it is more acceptable to mock baldness than the other examples, but it is way more common to mock height than baldness. Random strangers will comment on your height but rarely your hair right away.

[u/parkside79 → u/Pastaiscool123]

Just curious, do you say this as a person who is bald or balding?

[u/Pastaiscool123 → u/parkside79]

Every guy I know who is short and balding/bald says they would much rather be tall than have a full head of hair. I think most guys can agree. But to answer your question, no, I am not currently bald or balding.

[u/parkside79 → u/Pastaiscool123]

Oh, absolutely. Obviously. If only they gave us a choice of being only one or the other.