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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napoleon was 5'6", despite the common belief that he was 5'2".
Well, fudge me..... Thursday, May 09, 2002 at 00:31:53 (PDT)

I am an asian girl who is 5'9". how many of these do you see?! geez! i feel like a giant when i am around my freinds. everyone is around the 5'4" range. i've never worn high heels in my life! im sure no one has heard of an asian saying this before, but theres a first for everything.
tall chinese girl Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 23:44:13 (PDT)

This thing about height is "BS."

The greatest warrior to live was Attila the Hun.

He was an Asian man. And, the white people, Romans, Germanics and Slavs depicted him as a short man with small eyes and a round head.

Well, what can we say about good ol' Attila. He brought the Germans and Slavs to their knees. His grandfather, Balamber was a survivor of the steppes (centuries earlier, the Han Chinese drove away his ancestors to Russia).

Balamber came across the Gothic tribesmen. When these Germanic Goths caught site of these Hun horsemen, they were laughing and made mockery of them. (same way as other races men make fun of Asian men these days).

The chief of the Goths, Herman, predicted an easy victory over the "little" Huns. The Huns, with nothing but their ponies, archery and fearless bravery went to battle and said in their Hunnic-Turkish dialect: "Bir uzgunum adem" (one happiness).

A major portion of the Goths were wiped by the Huns and the women and children enslaved. The Goths who escaped (Visigoths, "western Goths") begged the Romans to allow them into safer pastures within the empire to escape the fury of the Huns. The Roman emperor knowing the mischievous natures of the Germanic barbarians sent them to modern Spain (modern Catalan, from "Goth-alan").

The Huns were short Asian warriors. But, they had their pick of white women in their harems. And, they struck fear into even the tallest, biggest white boy.

We know what they later did to the Romans under Attila (notorious for being short). Attila was responsible for bringing down the Roman order in Europe. He could have "Turkified" (Hunnified) all of Europe had he lived longer. But, even today, due to race mixing courtesy of the Huns, you see some Asiatic influences among Eastern Europeans Slavs especially in the Balkans and southern Russia.

Even the beautiful blonde German princess (Hilda, Ildico in Latin-Roman) was the prized bride of Attila.

And, a Roman princess in the eastern half of the empire also promised to wed him and had called for him to "retrieve" her.

***Not to mention that Abyssinians (tall black men from Ethiopia) also served as either ambassadorial buffoons or eunuchs at Attila's camp. And, these were probably the tallest men in the world back then.***
Big little man Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 23:03:50 (PDT)

AC Dropout,

Saturday Night Live has a strong history of short-bashing. Short jokes seem to get the laughs and the ratings in the comedy world.

Another example. In the 1988 Presidential election, George Bush (senior) was running against Michael Dukakis. Bush was 6'2", Dukakis was 5'9". Of course, SNL did a skit of their Presidential debate. Dukakis was generally portrayed as intelligent and mature. But there was this one scene where Dukakis raises the automatic platform underneath him to make him look as tall as Bush. That got alot of laughs. It looks like SNL discovered a winning formula for ridicule, and used it in the next Presidential debate skit, mocking Perot's shortness.

Perhaps the media's influence has a big factor in associating height and leadership.

I also read in a article that short rights movement (like gay rights, womens rights, fat rights, etc...) is becoming more popular, because shorter people are discriminated against more frequently. It looks like the media has much to do with the negative portrayal of short people.
B. Lee Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 22:27:42 (PDT)

TH Lien & Villageidoit:
"So the science of it turns into the turf war between soybean farmers and dairy farmers. End milk subsidies and we might get some less-biased science on this issue."

First of all, I highly doubt soy would ever be a complete sustititution for milk. Soy are only recommended over milk in soy infant formulas (as a last resort) for those who are allergic to cow milk. They have already proven that soy has had an adverse effect on animals. Logically, it would be too risky to use infants as the experiment.

Secondly, the battle is really with the livestock industry...not the milk industry. The government is trying to incorporate soy product into the school lunch program (thus making meals meatless) b/c it contains more nutrients and less fat. However, the livestock industry claims meat contains proteins that kids need. If soy meals continue to grow in popularity, the livestock providers will suffer the biggest lost.

Soy is a multibillion dollar industry and the fastest growing one. It is obvious how powerful they are. Just like any product that receives an overwhelming amount of hype...I would naturally question their health claims.

"...like TH Lien's statement about "got milk" industry government subsidies, what are you going to believe? you said to use our brains, so let's be smart consumers, eh?"

And how are you being a smart consumer? Isnt analyzing the validity of research (espeically when they're contradicting one another) being a smart consumer? Isnt it more favorable for consumers when there is competitions...thus challenging the competitors to provide us with more accurate justifications for their claims?

Ko hun & Po:
"Parents hold the power too and hence, the mental association of height with power and preference for better looking people begin at an early age before exposure to the media."
Agreed.

Po, I do agree with your last post. Except I think height may appear to be of greater concerns to asians than whites b/c there is a greater percentage of asians who are shorters than whites. I see short white people (especially males) struggling with the issue of masculinity and power as well.

AC Dropout:
"The place I saw that information about presidents and height, was SNL during the year Perot was running for office."
That wasnt where I saw the information. I take back what I said about presidents all being over 6'-0"...the source (whatever it was) was not a credible one. Or perhaps I got it mixed up with somethign else.
be Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 22:07:28 (PDT)

"Children see their parents as very tall because of height difference."

OMG! you guys are too much for me. is this sentence an example of a repetitiously redundant statement?
villageidiot Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 12:57:38 (PDT)

"I always thought anglo-saxon meant people from England."

Anglo-saxons took over England from the original celtic inhabitants centuries ago. That's why we know them today as people from England.

"Irish are not considered anglo-saxon and neither are Germans."

No, they're not.

"Three Irish presidents come to my mind: Kennedy, Reagan, and Clinton."

geez. Please do some research.

history of U.S. Presidents Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 12:36:55 (PDT)

ko hun,

I agree.

But it should also be noted that Asians' hyper sensitivity towards height arguably exists because of their sense of inferiority in relation to Westerners, who in general, happens to be taller.

If the power structure were reversed, Asians would arguably be hyper desensitized towards height, since valuing height would in effect, be a form of admission that Caucasians are superior to Asians in some way. Asians would try to rationalize away height; try to downplay its signifance. But as it is a part of nature, it would always exist, of course.
po Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 10:27:26 (PDT)

Beijing Angelique,

It may seem ironic that a "tan" is valued, but it's really not.

A "tan" is an adjunct to the "light skin": it's a recent fashion trend in the West to value tans (but more recently less in vogue than it once was as a result of the skin cancer scare) because it signifies an "athletic" and "healthy" lifestyle.

However, a permanent tan (non-whites) is not really valued -- it must be something added on top of an original white skin. Hence, while a white guy with a bronze colored tan may be aesthetically pleasing, an Hispanic with brown skin will not necessarily be so.

In terms of the East-West mentality, yes, I agree there is an inherent difference. The East tend to view the world holistically -- everyone and everything in harmony; while the West tends to view the world dualistically -- Good vs. Evil, God vs. Satan. In the West's mind, there is always the good, and the bad, and one must defeat the other. Since they perceive themselves as God-believing peoples, obviously, anyone who is different are bad and evil. This is the fundamental worldview of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic cultures. This is also arguably why their social/cultural goals has often been one of domination and conquest. In the East, in contrast, it seems to have been more a goal towards harmony or self-cultivation -- harmony/stability seems to have been the highest goal of Asian societies, even at the cost of material progress.

Some people might point at the Asian philosophy of Yin/Yang as pointing towards dualism, but that is not really the same as the Western notion of dualism. Yin/Yang is a symbol of duality, yes, but duality in harmony, while the duality in the west is duality in conflict and opposition.

po Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 10:22:19 (PDT)

Beijing Angelique,

You said it, loud and clear! Western culture generally likes to proclaim superiority in just about everything. We can bet if the majority of its population had single rather than double lids, Westerners would be claiming that such eyes were the most beautiful in the world.

BTW,in the 19th c., the Chinese were deemed ugly by Westerners because of their high cheekbones. Now, because whites are considered better looking and high cheekbones are in, high cheekbones are considered a Caucasian trait.

As for height, tho', I think most cultures have always prized tallness, especially in men. Whether the same applies to women, I don't know.

Indeed, I am wondering if anyone knows whether tallness was considered attractive for women in Chinese culture: this is a question for those of you studying Chinese literature! In 18th. c English literature, for instance, the heroines were always "above average in height." The old maid, however, was depicted as being very tall and bony--on other words, like today's so-called "supermodels."

Asian Dominatrix Wednesday, May 08, 2002 at 09:43:20 (PDT)

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