Asian American Attitudes toward Height | Asian American Poll

AA ATTITUDE TOWARD HEIGHT
(Updated Saturday, Jun 6, 2026, 12:07:54 AM to reflect the 100 most recent valid responses.)

Assuming you are an Asian American, how important is height in your assessment of a person's attractiveness?
It's a key element of attractiveness. | 20%
It's one of many factors I consider. | 44%
It's less important than other personal qualities. | 28%
I am not attracted to tall people. | 8%

Assuming you are an Asian American, which best matches your feelings toward your own height?
I'd like to be 3 inches taller. | 43%
I'd like to be an inch taller. | 27%
I'm happy with my height. | 26%
I'd like to be an inch shorter. | 4%

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Beijing Angelique,

Right, shorter guys have the burden of "proving" that they are not what they may appear to be.

Femininity and sexuality are really rooted in the "female function" in society -- one part "fertility" (procreation), one part "good genes", and the ability to raise children and have a successful "family" (hence they are all related in some way). Femininity and sexuality are symbolic notions of these underlying values; and as our social roles as men and women have changed over the years, so has our notions of femininity and masculinity.

Masculinity on the other hand is more based on the notion of "power" as well as sexuality (part good genes and part sexual potency).

The ideal male must therefore not only be powerful, but also possess desirable genes and be sexually potent besides -- symbolically or in reality.

And as I've said, the symbolic aspect has become or is becoming the far more important component, as our society turns more into an information economy, we become more influenced by the "mass media", and the "Hollywood" syndrome (it's how you look that counts) pervades every sector of our lives.

po Wednesday, May 01, 2002 at 08:30:38 (PDT)

Soul Searching,

Yes, I agree that "smallness" is associated with youth, but as far as men goes, it's more a negative association than a positive one because of its inverse association with "power". Moreover, most adult men don't want to be considered "boys" (unless they're gay and they're into old fat guys).

Because smallness is associated with youth and inversely associated with power, short women are better able to get away with it than men are. Nobody really minds a "powerless" women (real or just symbolically), as long as she's pretty and nice to look at.
po Wednesday, May 01, 2002 at 08:14:05 (PDT)

dan,

I find your posts to be fascinating. First, its your estimate on the Average height of Taiwanese. Before that, you wrote about your friends. On April 5, you wrote:

"my bro is 15, and he is only 5"8. i'm very concern about his height because he is the shortest among his dozens of friends( all asians). his friend came to visit from taiwan this spring break, and that foe is 6"6 (15 years old)!!! then, there's henry 6"5, 220+ lbs., jacky 6"4 140lbs, roger 6"2 200lbs, my young cousin 6"1 200lbs, couple more that are around 6", and the rest are about 5"10. they are all ASIANS (taiwanese and koreans mostly) and these kids are all 15 years old (should grow 2 or 3 more inches at least)...."

Wow, you personally met a 15 year old from Taiwan who's 6'6" and growing?! Is he on the Taiwanese national basketball team? Did you know that the tallest basketball player in the Taiwanese national basketball team is 202cm (6'7 1/2")?

Please tell us more about your gigantic friends. I'm sure they (if they exist) will crush the stereotype that Asians are short. How are henry, jackie, and roger doing? Do they play any organized athletics; their size is a genetic gift very few black or white males possess, and even fewer Asians. Are they Taiwanese or Korean; you said most of them were one of those. I know so many Koreans in the teens, 20s, and 30s; the average (male) height of my Korean friends in their 20s is around 5'9". Yes, I also have Korean friends who are like 6'1" to 6'4", but for every 6 footer, I can also name another ten who are under 6 foot, with heights as low as 5'2".

I don't think Taiwanese on average are any taller than Koreans. We were talking that northern Asians/Chinese are taller than southern Asians/Chinese. Well, Taiwan is far down south of Korea, about the same latitude of Hong Kong. Korea is a peninsula off of northern China, and we discussed how tall the northern Chinese are. So Taiwanese on average can't be any taller than Koreans.

Did you know that I have Taiwanese friends as well? The males in their 20s probably average around 5'8" to 5'9". There are 6 footers, but they are in the minority. They lived in Taiwan in the past, and have visited their homeland. When I told some of them that a stranger informed me the average height of Taiwanese males in the 20s is about 6 feet tall, they were laughing! What do you say to that?

B. Lee Wednesday, May 01, 2002 at 02:11:51 (PDT)

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