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Should 'Heightism' be treated equal to racism, sexism etc?

Poll

Is Heightism as serious as racism-sexism-classism?!

Survey time again. But this one is more for my own fun than for my GCSE so you don't have to give a massive lecture if you don't want to. Ill go first!

I say yes. You cant change your height for the most part. It is a static feature just like your race, sex, social caste. Short men earn less because they are less likely to be promoted than their 6'2 counterpart , live shorter (lol), have great difficulties attracting mates, socialising. Imagine Chinese people suffered all that for no reason! We would say it was racism no doubt.

Your turn. :smile:

EDIT --------------

I completely forgot about tall people having a tough time too...... :facepalm2:

(edited 13 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

username549578

In short, its high time issues like this were taken a little more seriously. Its a tiny population of people who will never reach their true potential due to their height :frown:

Reply 2

Socio__Lizzy

Original post by Lewroll

In short, its high time issues like this were taken a little more seriously. Its a tiny population of people who will never reach their true potential due to their height :frown:

I feel down now :frown:

Original post by Socio__Lizzy

I feel down now :frown:

Sorry I was so mean. I have a short fuse.

Reply 5

HumanNature1992

6ft 2 here :u:

Also some sources for the claims you make please..

What's height got do with how well you socialise/how long you live?!

Reply 6

S_123

No and I'm 5'1. It's not that big a deal.

Reply 7

Socio__Lizzy

Btw im not an angry short girl. Is anyone a short person m/f here? Can you give us a briefing about your life please lol

Reply 8

ithoughtofthis

If you're a woman, you can be any height you want (heels ftw! :ahee:

)

Reply 9

humy369

Im 4'10. It's annoying as hell and i get teased quite a lot but that's life. And it hasn't affected anything in my life in terms of education or friends. But it is really annoying :mad:

Reply 10

lightburns

Yes. 5'4".

In that I think the "it's racist!" or "it's sexist!" cards are overused. Everyone should calm down.

Reply 11

AP1989

There were no midget slaves or midgets unable to vote. So, my answer is no.

Reply 12

Fabtastic

Original post by HumanNature1992

6ft 2 here :u:

Also some sources for the claims you make please..

What's height got do with how well you socialise/how long you live?!

Hello fellow 6ft 2 'er :awesome:

Found a couple of BBC sources - Tall people earning more - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1038531.stm

Being more attractive to the opposite sex - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2190461.stm

Leading 'better' lives (this one seems a bit dodgy to me) - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8245032.stm

Yeah, I agree - there are too many contradicting studies for that one.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 13

SteveCrain

Original post by Rfc_07

6ft4 ftw

for what win?

Reply 14

Valindrius

I wouldn’t agree that it’s as serious as sexism, racism, etc as I expect any bias due to those is on a conscious level, whereas bias due to height difference seems to be unconscious. I imagine that any suppression of social groups as a result of conscious bias is far more profound due to the way in which dehumanising thoughts might make it easier to abuse others. Of course, that is wholly based upon anecdotal evidence thus has no true validity, but my (very poor) knowledge of history would seem to confirm this via slavery, disenfranchisement, etc.

However, I have read some evidence suggesting that height is correlated with chances of promotion or professional success. Naturally, such a difference may not be present if such studies were replicated and it’s possible that the correlation existed due to sexism rather than heightism, as sexist attitudes would cause fewer women to be present in the upper echelons of industry thus the average height would increase. Though, this explanation is somewhat problematic as the average height for an individual in an elite position is far above that of either sex. If I accept the data analysis as valid then the only conclusion I can reach is that there is some level of prejudice linked to height that affects employability and promotion based upon an irrelevant quirk of nature.

This means that I would approve of further exploration into the matter so that it can be counteracted, and would similarly support efforts that encourage employers to scrutinise their motivations for choosing candidates so that they are as meritocratic as feasible. My initial instinct at one time would have been to dismiss this as ‘silly’ or that it’s ‘common sense’ that there isn’t any true discrimination, but I prefer to override my fallible brain with raw numbers rather than relying on unsubstantiated prejudice.

(For those that might, hypothetically, be shallow enough to care about this detail when deciding the legitimacy of my comments: I’m 6’4”.)

Reply 15

Psyk

Original post by Socio__Lizzy

stating your height on the internet is not going to get you laid btw.

You're right.

My penis is 8 inches long.

Reply 16

JHE

Original post by AP1989

There were no midget slaves or midgets unable to vote. So, my answer is no.

That.

Reply 17

wactm

Original post by Socio__Lizzy

stating your height on the internet is not going to get you laid btw.

Well being 6'3 I already get laid :wink:

Because of course height is the only reason ever

Reply 18

Steve Edwards

Yeah, one day height discrimination will be seen the same way as racism is today. Basically more information is coming out about how it affects people's lives, pay, promotion etc, chances in politics, business, the media etc.

Once people said racism was part of life - if you were black it was just tough luck. There were all kinds of negative stereotypes about black people. That's changing. Now racism is the problem of racists, not the people discriminated against.

But here's an illustration about how far we have to go before height discrimination is eliminated: could Barack Obama have been 5'3" and still been elected? Probably not - but he could be black!

So, a lot of work to be done. But things are moving in the right direction, I think.

Reply 19

Steve Edwards

Original post by AP1989

There were no midget slaves or midgets unable to vote. So, my answer is no.

Is that the only criteria? After all, racism didn't stop when the vote was granted or slavery was abolished. In a sense, because height discrimination is more subtle and pernicious, and because its effects are just as bad, it's worse.

Many people think it's perfectly normal to treat a person of 6'4" differently to a person of 5'2", or to make heightist jokes or comments. That can certainly change. People can reflect on the morality of their attitudes, choices and behaviours.