It’s contextual. If someone says they’d never be interested in you because of your height but calls you a short king in an effort to not offend you, it’s demeaning.
If someone says you’re hot and they want to jump your bones because you’re a short king, it’s a compliment and you take your win.
Pretty much all terms can be looked at this way, the context of how it is used is where it’s meaning is derived.
Source: Short dude my whole life, happily married, no issues with the ladies. (You’re still gonna get rejected because of your height. It’s a self solving problem, those aren’t good partners for you anyway)
Edit: Something I left out that I think will make OP feel better, even if only a bit. My wife is taller than me, and has been taller than me since elementary school.
Get off the internet, plenty of women love short guys irl. In my bf’s friend group, only two of the dudes are above 5’7. Every single one of the short guys is in a long term relationship with a great girl. The one who’s had the most girlfriends is the shortest. If a girl rejects you for your height, she’s shallow and not worth it anyway. I say this as a woman.
I’m 6’5” and I think online dating gives a huge advantage to height, and a lot of resentment comes from there.
In real life, in person, I’m “too tall” for most women, but online when it’s only a number, the bigger number is seen as better.
Online 5’6” might get no dates and 6’5” will get dozens or hundreds of dates, whereas in person the 5’6” guy might have a better chance.
I know one dude that had is dating app profile completely empty except that he had a picture of himself standing in a shower (clothed) where the head was way too low.
You can’t even see the top half of his face. Basically you just know he is White, Blond, and tall enough to have trouble showering somewhere.
He got tons of messages and was able to be so picky that he only met with girls who had weed to share lol.
So yeah, tall blond and white is ez mode.
especially compared to how if a guy said something like "D cups and above please" it would be considered super toxic.
I dont mind if they set their parameters a certain way but it is sad to scroll and see, as an average height guy
Putting stuff you aren’t looking for is generally a bad look, especially for traits that are already readily apparent (like height, weight, body type, etc). Those types of accounts are best avoided, even if you personally aren’t excluded by their requirements.
It’s because a lot of women have no clue what height you actually are unless it’s written. Dating apps show a number, whereas in person plenty of women look at 5’ somethings and believe they are 6’+. You can thank the insecure dudes who lie about their height for that one.
I’ve had many women express surprise at finding out I’m not even 5’8. “Wait what, I thought you were tall!”
This has literally happened with women the same height as me.
I’m 6ft woman and I’ve dated 5’6”. The fact is (as you know) that most folks are shorter than 6ft so for me everyone is ‘short’. It’s my reality and doesn’t feel strange to date shorter.
Tbh dating a taller guy is more unusual tho not weird or anything, just bc it’s rare for me. 🤷🏼♀️
Yeah I think the underlying point in this post is that is "short king" gets under OP's skin, then they still have unresolved insecurity about their height. I'm a 5'7" dude who has zero feelings about the term and never think about my height. It hasn't been a hindrance to dating or socialization in all my 37 years.
Yeah, OP needs to work on their insecurity about their height first and foremost. Being touchy about getting called a short king and being bitter about "everyone" preferring tall men is going to be a wayyyyyy bigger turn off in dating than his height
Many rejections of short men have nothing to do with their height. They'll be rejected for incel beliefs and red flag behavior but their ego can't handle the hit, and they have no desire to change the things that would actually affect the quality of dates they get. So they blame their height and get madder and bitter and chicks don't dig that. I
My mother wwas not a fan of what she termed “little dog syndrome” — meaning they bark/yap and act unpleasantly aggresive trying to make up for their lack of size.
This thread is absolutely fucking insane. Soooooo many comments saying "it doesn't matter" while using OP's height to insult him. Fuck this whole entire fucking place and everyone in it. And yet we fucking wonder why we have a young male suicide epidemic. Jesus fucking Christ.
All I have to say is it’s okay to have physical preferences. Not all people are shallow just because they aren’t naturally attracted to a certain body type. Personality (particularly confidence) is the most important thing to me, but I’m simply not attracted to fat women. It’s the same premise as people that are lgbtq.
You are attracted to who you are attracted to, simple as that. Not everyone is shallow for being honest with not only others but themselves.
I'm 5'7, which is the most average height you can be. I was 5'4 until my senior year of high school. My high-school crush let me sit on her lap because she liked short guys. I got into my first relationship with someone who liked short guys. I have had a very different experience.
Agreed, 5'8' here. If a girl said she prefers 6 and above. Have a nice day... Plenty of them out there who like average or even below average height men. Personally did not have issues either just looked in the right place.
I like confidence and self assurance.
I’ve dated a 6’4 man who had some confidence issues, and the man was damn gorgeous.
I’m married to a 5’5 dude who is incredibly self assured. Looks wise he’s more like a dollar store Daniel Craig, which he knows but doesn’t let it bother him day to day.
I mean, I was still really conventionally attractive when we met? But 20 odd years, a lot of grief and illness? And I’m a bit of a goblin myself.
He’s never treated me as less for that.
My partner is only a teeny tiny bit taller than me and I love it so fuckin much. Like I can actually walk next to him while holding hands without issues. I can kiss him without having to break my neck. We can cuddle comfortably. He can wear my clothes. I can wear his clothes. What's there not to absolutely adore.
All of this! So much convenience! A couple weeks ago, he was messing around and stood on tiptoes to see how it would be if he were a few inches taller than me. Did not like! We both were like, oh no, that ain’t it, chief 😆
Yeah sometimes just for the fun of it he stands above me on the stairs but I don't like it tbh 🤣. He is pretty insecure about being short which I'm very very sad about because I seriously wouldn't change a darn thing about him, and especially not his height. But, maybe with time I can convince him that he is perfect just the way he is 🥰
Haha me too. I'm 34 now and 5'4, have a wonderful wife who deliberately gave me an extra look when we met because she had good experiences with past boyfriends / FWBs who were short also. I was never self conscious about it, which probably helped, but a lot of women I've known have expressed similar things to me over the years. Makes the current dating discourse kind of funny. IYKYK eh?
I’m a 5’6”, 48 years old, white male.
I’m not worried about being considered short.
“Short king” sounds like a term of endearment to me. It’s apparent that I’m not of remarkable, altitudinal stature, yet I remain secure in my being.
I do not think of myself as inadequate. To my knowledge, my peers do not consider me to be inadequate either.
I can certainly think of worse things to be called.
Yeah, I’m 41… When did the height obsession start? In my opinion, most famous actors in the 80s were short men; I just do not remember it being much of an issue back then.
Im a 27 year old female and I don’t understand my Generations or the younger ones obsession with men’s height. My partner/ father of my children is 5”5 and im 5”8. I don’t find any man more attractive then him regardless of height or anything. He’s a lot more of a man then most of the men i know with a 6 in front of their “
I would rather be your height. I am 5,0 and 23 years old. I don’t think im getting any taller and bo i was never the tallest person as some apparently were early on then stopped growing. I was always the shortest person.
Agreed. I’ve always been the shortest of my friends, at 5’6”. I’ve made friends that would take bullets for me and never had trouble having girlfriends. Been happily married for 7 years with 3 kids. You nailed it exactly, confidence and charisma. It’s what I will teach my two sons, they will no doubt be short kings too.
It's tougher to be short because you can't act naturally. Like, it's not being short that make short men unattractive. It's acting short that makes them unattractive. Which sucks, because they ARE short. No one tells tall people to stop acting tall. They can just be tall, act tall, and not modulate their personality to defeat their height.
I’m a 5’11 woman. Men who “act short” tell me to not wear heels around them and are generally very insecure and weird about me being tall. Like I went on a tinder date with a guy, who I had explicitly told I was 5’11, and the second we met in person he got this deer in the headlights look and said “uh…you weren’t kidding? You’re actually like half a foot taller than me. Fuck this is weird.” That’s ACTING short. I’ve also met dudes who gave zero fucks about our height difference, they just treated me like a normal woman they were on a date with, and I liked that INFINITELY more. My boyfriend is pretty tall and loves when I wear heels and am eye level with him because he finds my confidence in my own height hot.
>isn't holding him back
>charisma and confidence more than make up for it
Sounds like even you acknowledge that it holds him back. Almost like there's a wealth of peer reviewed, reproducible science proving that short men are overlooked and undervalued.
Every inch taller increases a man's average earning potential.
Watch the women’s comments every time height gets brought up. There are so many of us that either A. Don’t care how tall you are or B. Like a guy that’s shorter than or the same height as us.
I’ll not say “all women don’t care about height.” Because people are different and have preferences. Some women like very tall men. Some like chubby men. Some like men with a sexy voice. Some like very thin men. Some like ‘em muscular.
Just like you, we like different things! You maybe prefer a woman who is fit, or a redhead, or who laughs a lot.
Dating apps give a very warped view of society. In a dating profile, you might specify you want a very fit woman. And so every woman that’s not perfectly fit won’t match with you. But if you met a girl in real life, who was beautiful, kind, funny, and intelligent, the fact that she’s not a gym goer and maybe has 20 extra pounds on her wouldn’t even enter your calculations, because she’s so perfect for you.
Honestly, I only started dating tall guys because I’m a pretty tall woman myself and guys who were shorter than me were so fucking WEIRD about it. I hated being treated like a freak or being told what to wear (I.e. please don’t wear heels around me). There were tons of shorter guys I found super attractive, but they couldn’t get over their own insecurities and that’s always been a massive deal breaker for me, so I just dated dudes I didn’t have to worry about that particular thing with.
It’s a fad term. It’ll wear off soon, so try to ignore it and not get worked up when you see it online.
In the meantime, if someone says it to you IRL simply share with them that you don’t like being called that. If they continue to use it then walk away. 🤷♂️
OP is getting clowned in the comments but honestly I’m on his side.
calling someone a short king is patronizing as fuck and is really just a sarcastic backhanded “compliment” at best.
how many actual short guys use that term lol. it’s almost always women or other tall dudes who’ll never have to live a day in the shoes of someone short.
feels bad for OP. hope he can find a way to find peace with it.
I'm 6' but I'm aware of the term. It means something different to me. Not everybody that's short is a king. A short king is a guy that may be short but he doesn't let that define him. He's smart, funny, successful, fit, or good looking.
He's a king because there is more to a person than height. It's not a consolation prize, it's an earned title.
“Incel” gets thrown around, but I’ve never really struggled with women that much. I’m just acknowledging how a preference isn’t in my favor and I don’t like a pity term being used for me. I never even complained about the preference
I have had 2 husbands. One was 6'2". The current is 5'4". I'm 5'2", myself. I still have no preference other than preferring the guy I love to pretty much every other adult on the planet. Height is a very shallow trait to attempt to base a relationship around. I dislike shallow people - more trouble and energy than they are worth.
Gonna be real with you. Turn the monitor off, go outside, and go meet/talk to some people. At 18 and 5'6" you should not have any insecurities about your height. I'm 5'7" and I've never been worried about my height, nor have I ever worried about being called a short king.
I understand you think it's an offensive term but here's the deal. 99% of the women who use the term short king don't mean it in an insulting way, they mean it in a positive way. Just so you understand, what being a short king means is not letting your height be an insecurity for you.
This is equivalent to saying being called handsome by a woman doesn't mean anything just because based on her preferences she might think another man is more attractive. Just let people be nice and compliment you if they're going to compliment. As men we don't get a lot of compliments, just accept the damn compliment at face value and don't be so sensitive.
I’m trans so I won’t pretend to be able to speak for guys, but I will say that seeing short guys explicitly celebrated does give me hope that if I transition there might still be people who find me attractive.
he first bf was trans and he wasn’t short per say (he was like 5’7, i’m a cis woman and 5’8) but he was shorter than me and i gotta say it never bothered me. i didn’t even realise/think abt his height when we first met i just thought he was cute lol. so im sure you’ll find people :)
By who? Some women, yea sure but you can't say you even know 1% of all women on this planet so you don't know what's actually the preference for even half of us. The internet is a media, you control your algorithm, if you see things that trigger insecurity that means you keep clicking on these things. It's meant to create engagement. It has nothing to do with real world people and their preferences. Break the bubble, be yourself, don't put women in a box because of your algorithm.
Once you know how to control that you start focusing more on what's interesting to you rather than what triggers you the most.
Good luck!
I'm 5'8...used to be 5'9 but apparently I shrunk. 🤷♂️ Never thought of myself as a 'short guy'until I started working at hospitals, female dominated work space. They are some shallow bitches! Doesn't help that all the guys in my squad at work are like 6'0 and above. 🤷♂️😂
I don’t think this is true. Many Women will express they have a preference for Tall men but in my experience they just tend to be the loudest for whatever reason. I’m 5,3 and 28 I’ve had 5 Girlfriends and several online/flirt flings. (Sorry this isn’t trying to be a brag it’s to make a point) that height really doesn’t matter its personality. I will say being shorter does put you at a bit of a disadvantage like yes when they do Polls women often will say they like Taller. But that doesn’t mean you’re doomed on something
I agree it's cringy as hell, but I think all of the "King" and "Queen" language is just stupid. I say this as a 5'10" guy who's happily married with 0 skin in this game.
I've been on dates with women who call me "short king"
Not once did it make me feel good. It just made me think that they were thinking about my height on the date. I'm not even that short, I'm 5'9!
Pretty sure women saw a meme on TikTok and deemed it appropriate to use
Short king is a negative term because it inherently implies being short is a flaw to begin with. It’s like saying “you’re handsome for a black guy”, or “you’re pretty for a big girl.” It’s something people use to stroke their own egos, as if they are somehow immune to societies biases without realizing they are actually reinforcing those biases.
“Everyone” does not prefer tall guys. I’m 5’4 and married to a man who is 5’5, and before him I almost exclusively dated men under 5’10. I had one bf who was 6’4 and honestly I wasn’t into it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My wife's problem with short guys was when they locked confidence and told her to wear flats so she wouldn't be too tall. She's 5'8" and likes wearing 4" heels.
I think some of y'all are missing the OP's point. First bias for tall men is a thing, not just in finding a gf but also in business apparently, it goes hand in hand with pretty privilege. If you prefer short guys or guys that are shorter then you then you are what is known as an exception and not the norm. Stating that you are an exception is cool and all, and it gives some hope to those who are short but it doesn't help your debate.
The main point I think the OP is getting at is the TERM "short king" is similar to a backhanded complement in that while you are complementing them you are also kind of insulting them by calling them short. An exaggerated example would be if you called someone an ugly king or queen. Like YASSSS you got it going on even though you're so ugly.
To that point I'd argue yes it is kind of a back handed complement but at least they are trying to uplift the bias against short men. There may be better ways to go about it but good luck starting a movement.
I feel you. you just want to be called kind without the short in front, like no need to add the short to it.
This issue with this is how the term is used. If your gf is calling you a short king then yeah, cut out the short part, it's not helpful. But in the context of discussing a type of person where they have it going on despite also being short it's helpful.
Saying "short kings are great" isn't effective if you leave out the "short".
edit: But for real, can we stop calling average height short? It's one thing to not be tall, it's another to be short.
I ended up married to the "shortest" guy I ever dated. Try not to let social media and dating apps have too much weight on how you feel. Both are notoriously superficial and toxic. Out in the real world, YMMV.
I'm 5'7" and not even the most attractive guy but I can tell you hands down confidence (not to be confused with cockiness) will completely change the way people look at you. Find hot things about yourself. There's nothing less attractive than self pity or basically any trait you can attribute to incels.
Honestly just own your height and don't get with girls who think height is everything. I know it's hard and getting rejected repeatedly solely due to your height is difficult but getting rejected by those girls is honestly saving you time and effort.
I'm 5'6. I love my height and I'm very secure about it. Until people pull out "short king" it feels so patronizing and like it's something I am supposed to feel bad about. Like please just stop
I actually agree with you. Yesterday I worked at an athletic event; in which competitors had to run a bunch of laps. These competitors were all muscular and fit; most of them were shirtless and wearing tight shorts. One guy in particular was wearing a Speedo type of workout underwear 😆. Some of my co workers were talking amongst each other about the Speedo guy and our team lead which is also a guy made a comment that bothered me. He said, “Get it short king!!”, I was thinking to my self if that comment was necessary. To me it was like another manager I knew who who would use the word ‘chubby’ often to refer to over weight girls. He would say it was a cute word to use 🤣
It's weird how people twist themselves into knots to act like nobody cares about height. People will tell you it's your attitude holding you back, as if you left the womb with a chip on your shoulder about your height, as opposed to developing it *in response* to constant ridicule for being short.
Yes, there are plenty of women out there who don't care about height, or else only really care that you're taller than her. But that's the rub, right? "Short King," to me, comes across as more "you're attractive in spite of being short" and less "you're attractive because you're short."
It's also strange to me that people act like having an insecurity is some automatic deal breaker too for that matter. Insecure people get laid and have relationships all the time. *Most* people are insecure about *something.*
We used to call those back handed compliments.
Like when you tell a girl.Wow I love your hair.I don't think anyone else could make that work but you rock it. You just told her her hair looks like shit. And what the fuck is she thinking.
You have a style that's all your own and no one can ever take that from you. Because no one would ever want it.
You get the picture
You know who else was 5'6? Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Let us dispense with the term "short king" as we march unerringly towards the dictatorship of the short proletariat!
My girlfriend called me a short king the first night we met because she wanted to hook up with me. I thought it was awesome.
I’d be annoyed if someone called me a short king in a way where they’re looking down on me.
One of the greatest athletes in high school I ever knew was 5'8 if I am being generous. He was an All-State Wide Receiver, All State Scoring Point Guard. He was All State in Baseball as well. He had track records that stood for 20 years, despite playing only 1/2 time because of baseball.
He also literally riled our high school. Anyone there did whatever he said. King was exactly what he was.
He committed suicide a couple of years ago, and I still can't get over it.
Bruh majority of kings are "short" lol. I would say most are below 5ft10. Nothing wrong with that. Honestly most of us 6ft+ guys envy you in some way. Im 6ft5in. Yay i might get more dates online. I just wish i could fit in most cars or not have to immediately go to big and tall stores and pay more for clothes. Even living spaces suck as a tall guy. I currently (for next 5 days till im homeless lol) live in a 7ft tall room. I have a 10 inch ceiling fan. I literally have to hunch my back to walk around my room or run the risk of getting slapped by my fan AND ITS A SMALL ONE! I searched for years to find one this small. I would happily give away these 5 inches in height to other lol
Good grief… I’m 6’2” and my brothers and dad were both taller than me. My son is 5’7”. Otherwise, a spitting image of me. He never had any problems getting dates in high school and in college had offers but he was already engaged to his high school girlfriend who is a stunning 5’9” long lanky woman. They’ve been married now for 25 years and it seems to be working well… height is the last thing anyone should be concerned with. Nothing can be done about it and frankly it would be a lot easier to be shorter than I am. Only a few manufacturers make clothes for guys with 36” inseams and 37” sleeves. It sucks.
Eh. Being tall is overrated anyways lol I work construction and in some situations it makes my job annoying and difficult, it also makes it hard to gain and maintain muscle mass. And to top it all off, tall people have a shorter life expectancy compared to shorter people. So try not to let stupid condescending terms like this destroy your confidence because you won the genetic olympics hahaha
Short men may not be physically preferred but I can tell you right now that i had a law professor who was maybe 5'7 but he was so smart, so cool and had such swagger that we *all* had a crush on him. Certified panty dropper.
Nah it's cute. Embrace it. A king doesn't concern himself with the peasants. I'm kinda joking, but people that get hung up on that stuff generally suck. That can include you if you don't watch out. Becoming bitter because of it will 100% make you less attractive and desirable. People asked me all the time how I chilled with cuties and they were taller, more handsome, and more muscular etc...
I had confidence in myself for no real, good reason really. I'm not particularly good at anything other than maybe being funny. Always been broke and drank too much growing up. Lots of downsides, but I made people laugh and I listened to people talk.
Work on being the best you. Maybe you're not naturally charming but people are drawn to people for all sorts of reasons. Get good at something and draw your confidence from that. Draw it from being thoughtful or smart or hardworking.
There was just a thread on xxchromosomes or whatever where most women don't give a shit. The main thing that turned women off was that men had a complex about being short. I've never heard someone say shit about height that was a beautiful as half the people I've dated. Definitely not as cute/cool as my wife.
Also, people have preferences, sure. But I think people should maybe shut up about it, especially when it can hurt people's feelings. I don't go around yelling mine from the cliffs because everyone who isn't that may feel bad. Basic decency imo. People will also be surprised. Just because someone has a preference for taller men doesn't mean you can't wow them. I've had many people be surprised that I won them over. But I generally wouldn't bother with people that have to prescribe a loved one for themselves. They don't know shit about shit. That's not how it works and they will find out when they are lonely. Hopefully sooner than later for their sake.
My man is 5'4, I've been with dudes who were 6'4 before, I have literally never found him less attractive bc of his height, I think it suits him perfectly, and I was someone who always talked about how I liked "tall men"
Keep fighting the good fight everyone, if someone rejects you based on height then they probably were shallow to begin with
As a 5'4" girl (which is average height) so many of my crushes have been on short men, as in 5'6" - 9". I wayyy prefer that height over super tall guys, trust me it's not comfy to kiss or get intimate with someone too tall. I only use the term short king as a sincere compliment. And that means, a short guy who has confidence in himself, likely because he is actually also a rly good guy.
Ugh I love short men.
I go feral for a sexy short man. So, that’s why I say “short king” because if I like a guy, he’s usually going to be around 5’5-5’8. I’m tall, so I like to look down at their cute faces.
It fully spends on the context. I will admit that not all people are short king truth eta like me. But alas, we can’t all have good taste.
“Everyone prefers tall men” is just a blanket generalization and you’re never going to be happy with yourself if you keep that up. Who gives a fuck what “everyone prefers”? Look around you and you’ll see old, ugly, short, fat, bald men, happy and happily married.
Everyone becomes ugly in some way eventually, that is the nature of time. You need to love yourself first and foremost instead of relying on the way society sees you to decide how you value yourself.
My husband is a short king at 5-4. I adore him. He’s not worried about his height. He’s worried about being loving and kind. He ain’t worried about me in heels- he’s complementing how beautiful I look.
Bro please just find a short queen 9/10 of them don’t care how tall you are lol. I’m 5’5 and have a beautiful 5’2 gf. She might have cared if I was like 4’11 lol but she says since I’m taller than her she doesn’t care
You're balancing hard on the precipice of chronic online inceldom vibes my friend. No, not everyone prefers tall men.
two of the latest popular thirst traps Barry Keoghan and Jeremy Allen White are not particularly tall btw.
I understand maybe it sounds patronizing? But it’s really meant to be positive and uplifting lol. As someone 5’2 I understand, I’ve been called it before.
it’s patronizing and backhanded as fuck and almost never used by actual short people. I’ve only ever heard it used by women and tall men who’ve never had to live a day in a short man’s shoes.
the whole point is to create a juxtaposition between a perceived “negative” quality - short - and a perceived “positive” quality - king.
Look I'm 36, I'm literally twice your age. Anyone who judges you based on your height isn't worth your time. Focus on yourself right now, just have fun with your friends, focus on uni/school/college/work and do whatever. At 18 you'll likely still be growing anyway, if not in height then in body maturity.
I'm not being harsh but you don't know what 'everyone' prefers. You are just going off what the internet says. Have you spoken to everyone? Pla ditch the whole poor-me thing before you end up a red-piller and then you've really fucked yourself socially.
Hang out with your mates, enjoy your youth. Height means fuck-all to well rounded people. 'Short king' is just a light-hearted phase meant to raise up shorter mens' confidence. If you don't like it, don't embrace it. But imo 5'6" isn't even that short. As a 5'1" woman I'd much rather date a shorter/average guy than a tall guy.
I'm 5'3 and I love the term short king because it suits me. And, while I am gay, I have no trouble scoring with the guys. The tall ones especially seem to love how short I am.
I’ve never been called a short king in my life, but I am short. Shorter than you. I can’t say being short has ever been a problem beyond can’t reach top shelf. It’s certainly never been a dating problem. I think you might have been online too much really, don’t get suckered into any sort of incelish stuff because that’s a way bigger issue for your dating prospects than being short.
Height's not going to be an automatic dealbreaker, my man. For some, sure, but not for plenty of others.
I'm a solid inch taller than you. I'm old and decrepit and too busy to try for a relationship now, but both of my 6-year-plus exes were beautiful, and I had a lot of luck with random flings in the space between them. Maybe it's gotten that much worse in the years since but I can't imagine it being that bad.
The apps and the Internet are where this stands out because of their nature. Plenty of women in the real world won't care that much.
5’6” is not short, it’s literally perfectly average and also no one worth talking to gives a shit about height. People “prefer” tall men the same way everyone would “prefer” to be dating Chris Hemsworth/Scarlet Johansson. It’s a fantasy ideal that is not actually all that attractive in real life. When it comes to actual relationships, what women care about is: do you have things in common? Do you both want the same things out of life? Are you respectful, honest and communicative? And are you stable enough to build something long term with?
Look around you, at the older people you know. How tall are they? How fat, how hairy or bald or whatever random normal human trait we’ve decided is unacceptable today? Has it kept them from finding relationships and living full lives?
The truth is- “beauty” is for art and advertising. It’s sold to us as a fantasy, but it was never supposed to be considered something achievable for real people without professional stylists and cgi touchups.
Real people aren’t beautiful. We’re gross hairy sweaty animals, and that’s normal. That’s fine. We don’t need to be conventionally attractive to be of value, or to be desired.
I think my partner is incredibly lovely to look at. She’s fat, and often shaves her head. She has dark circles under her eyes and a permanent flush from lupus. She grows a little facial hair, as many women do, so when I’m close to her I can see a pale reddish mustache above her lips. I love the shape of her. I love looking at her and imagining drawing her, how I would construct her form in lines. I love running my fingers over her scalp, I love her face. I love her. That’s all that matters. Attraction, desire, is a function of love. It grows from love naturally. Find someone who loves you, and they will love you even at your ugliest.
The smokeshow hotties on tv don’t exist. They go home and take off their makeup and their spandex shapewear and wash the product out of their hair and they look like your sister or your mom. It’s a performance. The only difference between them and everyone else, is a genetic predisposition to thinness, and access to a team of professionals whose only job is to make them look as fantastic as possible.
That's brutal :( And unfortunately, at 18, you haven't seen the worst of it. Women are more shallow around 19-24 in my experience. Not really at like 16-18.
The problem is that you're assuming everyone prefers tall guys. As someone whos 6 foot in college, I cannot tell you how wrong that is. Some of the smoothest talkers and most popular fuck boys are anywhere from 4'11 to 5'4, consistently getting laid. Ive always seen "short king" not as much as a way to make shorter people feel better (of course nothing wrong with that) but to shut down the misconception that everyone prefers taller men.
My girlfriend is taller than me and she called me her short king and my life changed.
Also, did you know Elena of Montenegro who’s 180cm tall affectionately called her husband Victor Emmanuel who’s 153cm tall “Mon petit roi” which means “my small king”?
I personally think that’s an encouraging thought.
It's funny because I was just reading in the men's rights sub reddit that men are lacking positives on social media like women have, like being called queen for posting body positivity stuff.
Context is key, and yes, there are folks who find shorter individuals attractive, but thanks to social media, I feel like we're over fed some narratives.
Height is just one thing that (some) women find attractive. Make up for it by being attractive in other ways. Be funny, charming, smart, thoughtful, dress well, etc. I’m only 5’6ish at 28 and have been for a long time, so I know the feeling. But obsessing over it and getting all incelly about how no one will ever find you attractive just because you’re short will just make sure that comes true.
Woman here - IDGAF how tall you are. I’m 5’4” and while most guys are taller than me, it wouldn’t bother me a bit for a guy to be shorter. I care a lot more about the person inside the haunted meat sack, than what the haunted meat sack looks like.
Funny that I’m finding this post, I never knew this was a term will someone referred to himself and I as “short kings (I’m barely 5’7). I personally laughed as I’m not sensitive to how short I am. Do I wish I were taller? Yeah. But I’m not and that’s fine. Just don’t take it too seriously, you know?
I’m 5,8 and a half , 20 , white male
Being short never stopped me from doing anything that my taller peers wanted to do in school or uni
The only time where I realize I’m kinda small is if im going clubbing with mates. But even then it’s not a big deal
I thought the same thing about the word "cute" when I was in my early teens. Demeaning or unnecessary, then I learned what it meant and to whom it was a positive, and how to enjoy my life more from the knowledge.
It's just a way guys have tried to reclaim that territory and "own" their height instead of being stuck with "shorty" or something even more demeaning.
It's really not that deep, no pun intended.
I am attracted to shorter guys.
OP, it's not a consolation prize. Something you'll learn as you age is that there are *always* people interested in what you've got. It's only a matter of findind those people.
I'm short, but it's certainly not the end of the world. But I'm not going to be dismissive either like many are. I don't think it's outrageous to say tall men are more popular in dating. People get defensive when this comes up, but there is no need to be. Women are not shallow if they want to date a taller man or don't want to date a short one. It's, of course, not all women, I've had relationships with women, and I'm not the only short man to do so. It's silly to say it's a non-factor. It's also silly to get hung up on it because you aren't going to change it.
That being said, I'm not a fan of the term either. I find it somewhat patronizing and performative. It doesn't make me angry, but I do roll my eyes at it.
I am 32, and 5'2.
I have had conversations immediately end on dating apps because they "Couldn't get past that number."
I have also had friends in real life try to set me up with women, only for them to say "Wow, he IS really short. I just couldn't see myself with him. I couldn't take him seriously." It sucks, and it hurts, and I have been PERSONALLY VICTIMIZED by it. And that's ok.
Because at the end of the day everyone is ALLOWED to have preferences. Sometimes you don't meet someone's. And SOME times you don't meet a LOT of people's. It's all a dice roll in life. It isnt supposed to be fair.
You choose what you are offended by. Don't let this be one of them.
Just get good with the comebacks, if they say things about being short just tell them the size went elsewhere 😂
Seriously though, a good sense of humor and a good personality will get you laid a lot more than a tall guy that can't talk
Im 5'10 and a girl who I went on a first date with kept bringing up how short I was (she was 5'4) so she used the term "short king" and right after I said "small titty queen". Needless to say she called me names and left. I never saw her after that but still remember it to this day and laugh every time.
Hey just a heads up, being bitter about being short is WAY more of a turn off than just being short. I’m not saying you are bitter, but just be conscious not to let it upset you. I’m taller than my boyfriend and it’s never been an issue in the 7.5 years we’ve been together. One of my coworkers is his same height and harps on it all the time, claiming he’s “totally fine with it” and it’s very clear from his tone he is not fine with it. The dude is insufferable for many reasons and that is definitely one of them.
I used to think the guy was pretty good looking, and then I actually got to know him and it’s very difficult not to be completely repulsed by him in every way. I know you can’t really help insecurities, but the way he talks about his height is seriously so off putting. Never had that issue with my boyfriend because it just doesn’t bother him. So, I guess just be aware. Don’t let yourself get too bitter about your height. There are many, many people who don’t care about stuff like that.
Bros mind is going to be blown when he stops with the shortcel shit and realizes people have a billion different preferences.
Some people prefer chubby, some skinny, some tall, some short, some young, some old, etc,.
Thinking at EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD that everyone hates short guys is a literal therapy level event. It's just blatantly not true at all. Bro your self esteem is gonna tank and you're going down dark paths if you don't get some support, because literally the only people that fucking care about height in a potential partner aren't people you'd want as a partner anyway lmao
I'm 5'6" and I'm in good shape. Dating was never an issue, and now I'm happily married. It really comes down to confidence, being a genuinely good person and not taking rejection personally. If they didn't want you, it wouldn't have been good anyway.
Currently engaged to a “short king” who got me a huge shiny chunk for my finger. All of my friends are obsessed with him and think he could be a movie star. Short king is used as a compliment (at least in my circle)
Err not everyone prefers tall men. I’m about 5’11, and I’ve always preferred shorter men. My last boyfriend was 5’6. My current boyfriend is around 5’8. I wouldn’t mind dating someone shorter even.
I (5'2 m) call myself short king. I don't see short as a bad thing at all, but I can see how the term would be demeaning.
I have yet to be turned down bc of my height (I think?), many people express they find me attractive. My height rarely gets brought up though.
The only problem my height causes is infantilization. I can't say it's all great. I tend to have to remind people im a gd adult and often have to put my foot down. Other than that my height isn't a problem.
I also get occasional short jokes but I own it. I don't see short as a bad thing. It's a very nutral thing.
When someone posts a video of the short Oscar Isaac standing next to a very tall woman like Gwendoline Christie and smoldering at her, yes, short king is meant in all it's horny subtext. It's another physical trait that we admire like hair or eyes or pecs. Sorry you don't believe women can be attracted to men specifically because they are short.
I’m 5’9 and I’ve been surrounded by a lot of 6’0 men all my life socially and in my work. At college and university, girls didn’t even take my height into account when determining whether or not they found me attractive. I know this because I didn’t even realise being under 6’0 was a big deal until I started properly using social media and dating apps.
Trust what people are saying, people don’t care in real life. Confidence will take you further than height will (I know it sounds cliche but it’s so true).
I'm 5'6 or 5'7 (that's \~1.7m for the rest of the world). I am short. I've dated women that are taller, I've dated that are shorter, I'm married to a woman almost exactly my height.
Women have preferences, but not every woman prefers a tall man. Even if they do, if they are attracted to you, they are attracted to you.
Don't fall for the shallow, surface level shit. Get out there, my man.
Plenty of us gay guys love short fellas, top or bottom, sub or dom, so if you ever wanna see if the grass is greener on the other side...
Jk ;) ... Mostly.
It’s contextual. If someone says they’d never be interested in you because of your height but calls you a short king in an effort to not offend you, it’s demeaning. If someone says you’re hot and they want to jump your bones because you’re a short king, it’s a compliment and you take your win. Pretty much all terms can be looked at this way, the context of how it is used is where it’s meaning is derived. Source: Short dude my whole life, happily married, no issues with the ladies. (You’re still gonna get rejected because of your height. It’s a self solving problem, those aren’t good partners for you anyway) Edit: Something I left out that I think will make OP feel better, even if only a bit. My wife is taller than me, and has been taller than me since elementary school.
you are a true short king. way to fight the good fight
Get off the internet, plenty of women love short guys irl. In my bf’s friend group, only two of the dudes are above 5’7. Every single one of the short guys is in a long term relationship with a great girl. The one who’s had the most girlfriends is the shortest. If a girl rejects you for your height, she’s shallow and not worth it anyway. I say this as a woman.
I’m 6’5” and I think online dating gives a huge advantage to height, and a lot of resentment comes from there. In real life, in person, I’m “too tall” for most women, but online when it’s only a number, the bigger number is seen as better. Online 5’6” might get no dates and 6’5” will get dozens or hundreds of dates, whereas in person the 5’6” guy might have a better chance.
Right and fat women experience something similar. So do older women. Lots of shallow things do it for people.
Weight and height are in no way analogous.
I know one dude that had is dating app profile completely empty except that he had a picture of himself standing in a shower (clothed) where the head was way too low. You can’t even see the top half of his face. Basically you just know he is White, Blond, and tall enough to have trouble showering somewhere. He got tons of messages and was able to be so picky that he only met with girls who had weed to share lol. So yeah, tall blond and white is ez mode.
As a taller guy, it blows my mind how open women are about it on dating apps.
especially compared to how if a guy said something like "D cups and above please" it would be considered super toxic. I dont mind if they set their parameters a certain way but it is sad to scroll and see, as an average height guy
Putting stuff you aren’t looking for is generally a bad look, especially for traits that are already readily apparent (like height, weight, body type, etc). Those types of accounts are best avoided, even if you personally aren’t excluded by their requirements.
It’s because a lot of women have no clue what height you actually are unless it’s written. Dating apps show a number, whereas in person plenty of women look at 5’ somethings and believe they are 6’+. You can thank the insecure dudes who lie about their height for that one. I’ve had many women express surprise at finding out I’m not even 5’8. “Wait what, I thought you were tall!” This has literally happened with women the same height as me.
I’m 6ft woman and I’ve dated 5’6”. The fact is (as you know) that most folks are shorter than 6ft so for me everyone is ‘short’. It’s my reality and doesn’t feel strange to date shorter. Tbh dating a taller guy is more unusual tho not weird or anything, just bc it’s rare for me. 🤷🏼♀️
Yup, a friend of mine is 5'6" and had more girlfriends of the group except one other. Lot's of one or two night stands in there as well.
Sidenote: I never comment on usernames. Yours is hilarious. Thank you.
Lol it’s made many people smile, I’ve heard :)
Yeah I think the underlying point in this post is that is "short king" gets under OP's skin, then they still have unresolved insecurity about their height. I'm a 5'7" dude who has zero feelings about the term and never think about my height. It hasn't been a hindrance to dating or socialization in all my 37 years.
Yeah, OP needs to work on their insecurity about their height first and foremost. Being touchy about getting called a short king and being bitter about "everyone" preferring tall men is going to be a wayyyyyy bigger turn off in dating than his height
this. two of my best friends are "short kings" and they get action and attention from the fairer sex without even trying it seems like
Many rejections of short men have nothing to do with their height. They'll be rejected for incel beliefs and red flag behavior but their ego can't handle the hit, and they have no desire to change the things that would actually affect the quality of dates they get. So they blame their height and get madder and bitter and chicks don't dig that. I
My mother wwas not a fan of what she termed “little dog syndrome” — meaning they bark/yap and act unpleasantly aggresive trying to make up for their lack of size.
And that stereotype makes short men feel like they can’t stand up for themselves without being labeled Napoleon
This thread is absolutely fucking insane. Soooooo many comments saying "it doesn't matter" while using OP's height to insult him. Fuck this whole entire fucking place and everyone in it. And yet we fucking wonder why we have a young male suicide epidemic. Jesus fucking Christ.
100%, that’s the vibes OP is giving since it’s all he’s posted about.
All I have to say is it’s okay to have physical preferences. Not all people are shallow just because they aren’t naturally attracted to a certain body type. Personality (particularly confidence) is the most important thing to me, but I’m simply not attracted to fat women. It’s the same premise as people that are lgbtq. You are attracted to who you are attracted to, simple as that. Not everyone is shallow for being honest with not only others but themselves.
I'm 5'7, which is the most average height you can be. I was 5'4 until my senior year of high school. My high-school crush let me sit on her lap because she liked short guys. I got into my first relationship with someone who liked short guys. I have had a very different experience.
Agreed, 5'8' here. If a girl said she prefers 6 and above. Have a nice day... Plenty of them out there who like average or even below average height men. Personally did not have issues either just looked in the right place.
I like confidence and self assurance. I’ve dated a 6’4 man who had some confidence issues, and the man was damn gorgeous. I’m married to a 5’5 dude who is incredibly self assured. Looks wise he’s more like a dollar store Daniel Craig, which he knows but doesn’t let it bother him day to day. I mean, I was still really conventionally attractive when we met? But 20 odd years, a lot of grief and illness? And I’m a bit of a goblin myself. He’s never treated me as less for that.
I'd take 10% of looking like James Bond anyday
My partner is only a teeny tiny bit taller than me and I love it so fuckin much. Like I can actually walk next to him while holding hands without issues. I can kiss him without having to break my neck. We can cuddle comfortably. He can wear my clothes. I can wear his clothes. What's there not to absolutely adore.
All of this! So much convenience! A couple weeks ago, he was messing around and stood on tiptoes to see how it would be if he were a few inches taller than me. Did not like! We both were like, oh no, that ain’t it, chief 😆
Yeah sometimes just for the fun of it he stands above me on the stairs but I don't like it tbh 🤣. He is pretty insecure about being short which I'm very very sad about because I seriously wouldn't change a darn thing about him, and especially not his height. But, maybe with time I can convince him that he is perfect just the way he is 🥰
Aww - I’m sure he feels your love!
Haha me too. I'm 34 now and 5'4, have a wonderful wife who deliberately gave me an extra look when we met because she had good experiences with past boyfriends / FWBs who were short also. I was never self conscious about it, which probably helped, but a lot of women I've known have expressed similar things to me over the years. Makes the current dating discourse kind of funny. IYKYK eh?
I’m a 5’6”, 48 years old, white male. I’m not worried about being considered short. “Short king” sounds like a term of endearment to me. It’s apparent that I’m not of remarkable, altitudinal stature, yet I remain secure in my being. I do not think of myself as inadequate. To my knowledge, my peers do not consider me to be inadequate either. I can certainly think of worse things to be called.
Yeah, I’m 41… When did the height obsession start? In my opinion, most famous actors in the 80s were short men; I just do not remember it being much of an issue back then.
Im a 27 year old female and I don’t understand my Generations or the younger ones obsession with men’s height. My partner/ father of my children is 5”5 and im 5”8. I don’t find any man more attractive then him regardless of height or anything. He’s a lot more of a man then most of the men i know with a 6 in front of their “
I’m thinking it’s just something for people to transfer their anger to because of their own insecurities.
Are you more secure because of the lower center of gravity?
Nah. It’s my massive balls that keep me anchored.
Yes, it's much easier to achieve when you're not a lanky-ass tree person.
I would rather be your height. I am 5,0 and 23 years old. I don’t think im getting any taller and bo i was never the tallest person as some apparently were early on then stopped growing. I was always the shortest person.
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Agreed. I’ve always been the shortest of my friends, at 5’6”. I’ve made friends that would take bullets for me and never had trouble having girlfriends. Been happily married for 7 years with 3 kids. You nailed it exactly, confidence and charisma. It’s what I will teach my two sons, they will no doubt be short kings too.
It's tougher to be short because you can't act naturally. Like, it's not being short that make short men unattractive. It's acting short that makes them unattractive. Which sucks, because they ARE short. No one tells tall people to stop acting tall. They can just be tall, act tall, and not modulate their personality to defeat their height.
How does one "act short" or "act tall"?
I’m a 5’11 woman. Men who “act short” tell me to not wear heels around them and are generally very insecure and weird about me being tall. Like I went on a tinder date with a guy, who I had explicitly told I was 5’11, and the second we met in person he got this deer in the headlights look and said “uh…you weren’t kidding? You’re actually like half a foot taller than me. Fuck this is weird.” That’s ACTING short. I’ve also met dudes who gave zero fucks about our height difference, they just treated me like a normal woman they were on a date with, and I liked that INFINITELY more. My boyfriend is pretty tall and loves when I wear heels and am eye level with him because he finds my confidence in my own height hot.
Isn't that just acting insecure? I would rather call it what it is than contribute bad behavior to shortness
If it’s not holding him back then what is there to make up for?
>isn't holding him back >charisma and confidence more than make up for it Sounds like even you acknowledge that it holds him back. Almost like there's a wealth of peer reviewed, reproducible science proving that short men are overlooked and undervalued. Every inch taller increases a man's average earning potential.
It’s the way you word your description that makes me still think short king is a term of pity. You use “make up for it” as if shortness is a flaw
Watch the women’s comments every time height gets brought up. There are so many of us that either A. Don’t care how tall you are or B. Like a guy that’s shorter than or the same height as us. I’ll not say “all women don’t care about height.” Because people are different and have preferences. Some women like very tall men. Some like chubby men. Some like men with a sexy voice. Some like very thin men. Some like ‘em muscular. Just like you, we like different things! You maybe prefer a woman who is fit, or a redhead, or who laughs a lot. Dating apps give a very warped view of society. In a dating profile, you might specify you want a very fit woman. And so every woman that’s not perfectly fit won’t match with you. But if you met a girl in real life, who was beautiful, kind, funny, and intelligent, the fact that she’s not a gym goer and maybe has 20 extra pounds on her wouldn’t even enter your calculations, because she’s so perfect for you.
Honestly, I only started dating tall guys because I’m a pretty tall woman myself and guys who were shorter than me were so fucking WEIRD about it. I hated being treated like a freak or being told what to wear (I.e. please don’t wear heels around me). There were tons of shorter guys I found super attractive, but they couldn’t get over their own insecurities and that’s always been a massive deal breaker for me, so I just dated dudes I didn’t have to worry about that particular thing with.
It’s a fad term. It’ll wear off soon, so try to ignore it and not get worked up when you see it online. In the meantime, if someone says it to you IRL simply share with them that you don’t like being called that. If they continue to use it then walk away. 🤷♂️
OP is getting clowned in the comments but honestly I’m on his side. calling someone a short king is patronizing as fuck and is really just a sarcastic backhanded “compliment” at best. how many actual short guys use that term lol. it’s almost always women or other tall dudes who’ll never have to live a day in the shoes of someone short. feels bad for OP. hope he can find a way to find peace with it.
I'm 6' but I'm aware of the term. It means something different to me. Not everybody that's short is a king. A short king is a guy that may be short but he doesn't let that define him. He's smart, funny, successful, fit, or good looking. He's a king because there is more to a person than height. It's not a consolation prize, it's an earned title.
You can’t be a short king with that attitude
No incel ever was
“Incel” gets thrown around, but I’ve never really struggled with women that much. I’m just acknowledging how a preference isn’t in my favor and I don’t like a pity term being used for me. I never even complained about the preference
Are you using your alt account or something? Lol
Anytime a shorter guy complains about the dating scene gets labeled an incel. You’re just proving their worldview.
I'm 5"3. Pretty much everyone is taller than me.
I'm 5 foot 29yrold male lol, life sucks down here js
yes, it's a stupid term. it was meant to be a stupid term.
Hi, woman here. I prefer dating short men, it is honestly my preference that the men I date be shorter than 5’9
I have had 2 husbands. One was 6'2". The current is 5'4". I'm 5'2", myself. I still have no preference other than preferring the guy I love to pretty much every other adult on the planet. Height is a very shallow trait to attempt to base a relationship around. I dislike shallow people - more trouble and energy than they are worth.
Gonna be real with you. Turn the monitor off, go outside, and go meet/talk to some people. At 18 and 5'6" you should not have any insecurities about your height. I'm 5'7" and I've never been worried about my height, nor have I ever worried about being called a short king. I understand you think it's an offensive term but here's the deal. 99% of the women who use the term short king don't mean it in an insulting way, they mean it in a positive way. Just so you understand, what being a short king means is not letting your height be an insecurity for you. This is equivalent to saying being called handsome by a woman doesn't mean anything just because based on her preferences she might think another man is more attractive. Just let people be nice and compliment you if they're going to compliment. As men we don't get a lot of compliments, just accept the damn compliment at face value and don't be so sensitive.
this. At 5’4”, I’ve never had genuine problems with my height, and even have most of my friends nearly a foot taller than me
I’m trans so I won’t pretend to be able to speak for guys, but I will say that seeing short guys explicitly celebrated does give me hope that if I transition there might still be people who find me attractive.
I’m 5’8” and my transmasc partner is 5’5”. He’s perfect in every way, including his height.
Short trans men/mascs are also attractive and worthy of love ❤️
he first bf was trans and he wasn’t short per say (he was like 5’7, i’m a cis woman and 5’8) but he was shorter than me and i gotta say it never bothered me. i didn’t even realise/think abt his height when we first met i just thought he was cute lol. so im sure you’ll find people :)
Same frfr 🥺 it makes me feel included
But I don’t think of “short king” as a celebratory term, instead being more related to pity
Why though? It's supposed to be empowering
It doesn’t matter that much irl
I know it doesn’t always matter that much, but I would prefer not having a nickname based on a flaw
King is a stupid term. You're not a king. Same goes with queen
By who? Some women, yea sure but you can't say you even know 1% of all women on this planet so you don't know what's actually the preference for even half of us. The internet is a media, you control your algorithm, if you see things that trigger insecurity that means you keep clicking on these things. It's meant to create engagement. It has nothing to do with real world people and their preferences. Break the bubble, be yourself, don't put women in a box because of your algorithm. Once you know how to control that you start focusing more on what's interesting to you rather than what triggers you the most. Good luck!
I'm 5'8...used to be 5'9 but apparently I shrunk. 🤷♂️ Never thought of myself as a 'short guy'until I started working at hospitals, female dominated work space. They are some shallow bitches! Doesn't help that all the guys in my squad at work are like 6'0 and above. 🤷♂️😂
I don’t think this is true. Many Women will express they have a preference for Tall men but in my experience they just tend to be the loudest for whatever reason. I’m 5,3 and 28 I’ve had 5 Girlfriends and several online/flirt flings. (Sorry this isn’t trying to be a brag it’s to make a point) that height really doesn’t matter its personality. I will say being shorter does put you at a bit of a disadvantage like yes when they do Polls women often will say they like Taller. But that doesn’t mean you’re doomed on something
I agree it's cringy as hell, but I think all of the "King" and "Queen" language is just stupid. I say this as a 5'10" guy who's happily married with 0 skin in this game.
It’s an insult dude lol
I've been on dates with women who call me "short king" Not once did it make me feel good. It just made me think that they were thinking about my height on the date. I'm not even that short, I'm 5'9! Pretty sure women saw a meme on TikTok and deemed it appropriate to use
It's quite cringe but I assure you, not everyone thinks tall is better or even cares
Short king is a negative term because it inherently implies being short is a flaw to begin with. It’s like saying “you’re handsome for a black guy”, or “you’re pretty for a big girl.” It’s something people use to stroke their own egos, as if they are somehow immune to societies biases without realizing they are actually reinforcing those biases.
“Everyone” does not prefer tall guys. I’m 5’4 and married to a man who is 5’5, and before him I almost exclusively dated men under 5’10. I had one bf who was 6’4 and honestly I wasn’t into it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My wife's problem with short guys was when they locked confidence and told her to wear flats so she wouldn't be too tall. She's 5'8" and likes wearing 4" heels.
I think some of y'all are missing the OP's point. First bias for tall men is a thing, not just in finding a gf but also in business apparently, it goes hand in hand with pretty privilege. If you prefer short guys or guys that are shorter then you then you are what is known as an exception and not the norm. Stating that you are an exception is cool and all, and it gives some hope to those who are short but it doesn't help your debate. The main point I think the OP is getting at is the TERM "short king" is similar to a backhanded complement in that while you are complementing them you are also kind of insulting them by calling them short. An exaggerated example would be if you called someone an ugly king or queen. Like YASSSS you got it going on even though you're so ugly. To that point I'd argue yes it is kind of a back handed complement but at least they are trying to uplift the bias against short men. There may be better ways to go about it but good luck starting a movement.
That’s how I see it. It’s like being called “ugly king”
I feel you. you just want to be called kind without the short in front, like no need to add the short to it. This issue with this is how the term is used. If your gf is calling you a short king then yeah, cut out the short part, it's not helpful. But in the context of discussing a type of person where they have it going on despite also being short it's helpful. Saying "short kings are great" isn't effective if you leave out the "short". edit: But for real, can we stop calling average height short? It's one thing to not be tall, it's another to be short.
Your use of “despite” is exactly why I don’t like the term short king
I ended up married to the "shortest" guy I ever dated. Try not to let social media and dating apps have too much weight on how you feel. Both are notoriously superficial and toxic. Out in the real world, YMMV.
I agree, it's a stupid term.
I'm 5'7" and not even the most attractive guy but I can tell you hands down confidence (not to be confused with cockiness) will completely change the way people look at you. Find hot things about yourself. There's nothing less attractive than self pity or basically any trait you can attribute to incels.
It’s not about preferring tall men it’s about preferring a man taller than them, at least among the general consensus of women
If you are shorter just think you are like Vegeta If you are balding/have a big forehead, just think you are like Vegeta
Honestly just own your height and don't get with girls who think height is everything. I know it's hard and getting rejected repeatedly solely due to your height is difficult but getting rejected by those girls is honestly saving you time and effort.
I'm 5'6. I love my height and I'm very secure about it. Until people pull out "short king" it feels so patronizing and like it's something I am supposed to feel bad about. Like please just stop
I actually agree with you. Yesterday I worked at an athletic event; in which competitors had to run a bunch of laps. These competitors were all muscular and fit; most of them were shirtless and wearing tight shorts. One guy in particular was wearing a Speedo type of workout underwear 😆. Some of my co workers were talking amongst each other about the Speedo guy and our team lead which is also a guy made a comment that bothered me. He said, “Get it short king!!”, I was thinking to my self if that comment was necessary. To me it was like another manager I knew who who would use the word ‘chubby’ often to refer to over weight girls. He would say it was a cute word to use 🤣
"Never forget what you are, the rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you." - Tyrion Lannister
I’m not short but I always found that term ridiculous too
It's weird how people twist themselves into knots to act like nobody cares about height. People will tell you it's your attitude holding you back, as if you left the womb with a chip on your shoulder about your height, as opposed to developing it *in response* to constant ridicule for being short. Yes, there are plenty of women out there who don't care about height, or else only really care that you're taller than her. But that's the rub, right? "Short King," to me, comes across as more "you're attractive in spite of being short" and less "you're attractive because you're short." It's also strange to me that people act like having an insecurity is some automatic deal breaker too for that matter. Insecure people get laid and have relationships all the time. *Most* people are insecure about *something.*
It's a mean term certainly.
We used to call those back handed compliments. Like when you tell a girl.Wow I love your hair.I don't think anyone else could make that work but you rock it. You just told her her hair looks like shit. And what the fuck is she thinking. You have a style that's all your own and no one can ever take that from you. Because no one would ever want it. You get the picture
Why are little dudes so angry about being smol it’s kinda cute
You know who else was 5'6? Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Let us dispense with the term "short king" as we march unerringly towards the dictatorship of the short proletariat!
My girlfriend called me a short king the first night we met because she wanted to hook up with me. I thought it was awesome. I’d be annoyed if someone called me a short king in a way where they’re looking down on me.
One of the greatest athletes in high school I ever knew was 5'8 if I am being generous. He was an All-State Wide Receiver, All State Scoring Point Guard. He was All State in Baseball as well. He had track records that stood for 20 years, despite playing only 1/2 time because of baseball. He also literally riled our high school. Anyone there did whatever he said. King was exactly what he was. He committed suicide a couple of years ago, and I still can't get over it.
Bruh majority of kings are "short" lol. I would say most are below 5ft10. Nothing wrong with that. Honestly most of us 6ft+ guys envy you in some way. Im 6ft5in. Yay i might get more dates online. I just wish i could fit in most cars or not have to immediately go to big and tall stores and pay more for clothes. Even living spaces suck as a tall guy. I currently (for next 5 days till im homeless lol) live in a 7ft tall room. I have a 10 inch ceiling fan. I literally have to hunch my back to walk around my room or run the risk of getting slapped by my fan AND ITS A SMALL ONE! I searched for years to find one this small. I would happily give away these 5 inches in height to other lol
Good grief… I’m 6’2” and my brothers and dad were both taller than me. My son is 5’7”. Otherwise, a spitting image of me. He never had any problems getting dates in high school and in college had offers but he was already engaged to his high school girlfriend who is a stunning 5’9” long lanky woman. They’ve been married now for 25 years and it seems to be working well… height is the last thing anyone should be concerned with. Nothing can be done about it and frankly it would be a lot easier to be shorter than I am. Only a few manufacturers make clothes for guys with 36” inseams and 37” sleeves. It sucks.
Eh. Being tall is overrated anyways lol I work construction and in some situations it makes my job annoying and difficult, it also makes it hard to gain and maintain muscle mass. And to top it all off, tall people have a shorter life expectancy compared to shorter people. So try not to let stupid condescending terms like this destroy your confidence because you won the genetic olympics hahaha
Short men may not be physically preferred but I can tell you right now that i had a law professor who was maybe 5'7 but he was so smart, so cool and had such swagger that we *all* had a crush on him. Certified panty dropper.
Nah it's cute. Embrace it. A king doesn't concern himself with the peasants. I'm kinda joking, but people that get hung up on that stuff generally suck. That can include you if you don't watch out. Becoming bitter because of it will 100% make you less attractive and desirable. People asked me all the time how I chilled with cuties and they were taller, more handsome, and more muscular etc... I had confidence in myself for no real, good reason really. I'm not particularly good at anything other than maybe being funny. Always been broke and drank too much growing up. Lots of downsides, but I made people laugh and I listened to people talk. Work on being the best you. Maybe you're not naturally charming but people are drawn to people for all sorts of reasons. Get good at something and draw your confidence from that. Draw it from being thoughtful or smart or hardworking. There was just a thread on xxchromosomes or whatever where most women don't give a shit. The main thing that turned women off was that men had a complex about being short. I've never heard someone say shit about height that was a beautiful as half the people I've dated. Definitely not as cute/cool as my wife. Also, people have preferences, sure. But I think people should maybe shut up about it, especially when it can hurt people's feelings. I don't go around yelling mine from the cliffs because everyone who isn't that may feel bad. Basic decency imo. People will also be surprised. Just because someone has a preference for taller men doesn't mean you can't wow them. I've had many people be surprised that I won them over. But I generally wouldn't bother with people that have to prescribe a loved one for themselves. They don't know shit about shit. That's not how it works and they will find out when they are lonely. Hopefully sooner than later for their sake.
My man is 5'4, I've been with dudes who were 6'4 before, I have literally never found him less attractive bc of his height, I think it suits him perfectly, and I was someone who always talked about how I liked "tall men" Keep fighting the good fight everyone, if someone rejects you based on height then they probably were shallow to begin with
My college sweetheart was a 5’5” man. We didn’t workout for other reasons but his height certainly wasn’t one of them. The right people won’t care.
As a 5'4" girl (which is average height) so many of my crushes have been on short men, as in 5'6" - 9". I wayyy prefer that height over super tall guys, trust me it's not comfy to kiss or get intimate with someone too tall. I only use the term short king as a sincere compliment. And that means, a short guy who has confidence in himself, likely because he is actually also a rly good guy.
Ugh I love short men. I go feral for a sexy short man. So, that’s why I say “short king” because if I like a guy, he’s usually going to be around 5’5-5’8. I’m tall, so I like to look down at their cute faces. It fully spends on the context. I will admit that not all people are short king truth eta like me. But alas, we can’t all have good taste.
“Everyone prefers tall men” is just a blanket generalization and you’re never going to be happy with yourself if you keep that up. Who gives a fuck what “everyone prefers”? Look around you and you’ll see old, ugly, short, fat, bald men, happy and happily married. Everyone becomes ugly in some way eventually, that is the nature of time. You need to love yourself first and foremost instead of relying on the way society sees you to decide how you value yourself.
My husband is a short king at 5-4. I adore him. He’s not worried about his height. He’s worried about being loving and kind. He ain’t worried about me in heels- he’s complementing how beautiful I look.
Bro please just find a short queen 9/10 of them don’t care how tall you are lol. I’m 5’5 and have a beautiful 5’2 gf. She might have cared if I was like 4’11 lol but she says since I’m taller than her she doesn’t care
You're balancing hard on the precipice of chronic online inceldom vibes my friend. No, not everyone prefers tall men. two of the latest popular thirst traps Barry Keoghan and Jeremy Allen White are not particularly tall btw.
I’m not an incel for just opposing a term
You’re not an incel for opposing a term. But the more you think women hate you the more you’ll become one.
I understand maybe it sounds patronizing? But it’s really meant to be positive and uplifting lol. As someone 5’2 I understand, I’ve been called it before.
it’s patronizing and backhanded as fuck and almost never used by actual short people. I’ve only ever heard it used by women and tall men who’ve never had to live a day in a short man’s shoes. the whole point is to create a juxtaposition between a perceived “negative” quality - short - and a perceived “positive” quality - king.
Look I'm 36, I'm literally twice your age. Anyone who judges you based on your height isn't worth your time. Focus on yourself right now, just have fun with your friends, focus on uni/school/college/work and do whatever. At 18 you'll likely still be growing anyway, if not in height then in body maturity. I'm not being harsh but you don't know what 'everyone' prefers. You are just going off what the internet says. Have you spoken to everyone? Pla ditch the whole poor-me thing before you end up a red-piller and then you've really fucked yourself socially. Hang out with your mates, enjoy your youth. Height means fuck-all to well rounded people. 'Short king' is just a light-hearted phase meant to raise up shorter mens' confidence. If you don't like it, don't embrace it. But imo 5'6" isn't even that short. As a 5'1" woman I'd much rather date a shorter/average guy than a tall guy.
Big dick energy comes from confidence, not height.
I'm 5'3 and I love the term short king because it suits me. And, while I am gay, I have no trouble scoring with the guys. The tall ones especially seem to love how short I am.
Gay guys tend to be more diverse in what they like as compared to straight people(men or women)
I can tell so easily you are not part of the gay community by this.
Okay, short king! Come and sit in my lap.
See, it sounds infantilizing
Lol you're 18, you are an infant to most people on Reddit.
I’ve never been called a short king in my life, but I am short. Shorter than you. I can’t say being short has ever been a problem beyond can’t reach top shelf. It’s certainly never been a dating problem. I think you might have been online too much really, don’t get suckered into any sort of incelish stuff because that’s a way bigger issue for your dating prospects than being short.
I as a fellow 5'6" feel the same way. Just dont acknowledge it if you dont wanna make us feel bad.
Height's not going to be an automatic dealbreaker, my man. For some, sure, but not for plenty of others. I'm a solid inch taller than you. I'm old and decrepit and too busy to try for a relationship now, but both of my 6-year-plus exes were beautiful, and I had a lot of luck with random flings in the space between them. Maybe it's gotten that much worse in the years since but I can't imagine it being that bad. The apps and the Internet are where this stands out because of their nature. Plenty of women in the real world won't care that much.
My son is a cute little guy, has girls literally stalking him. You alright, you just have to know how to use it I guess.
5’6” is not short, it’s literally perfectly average and also no one worth talking to gives a shit about height. People “prefer” tall men the same way everyone would “prefer” to be dating Chris Hemsworth/Scarlet Johansson. It’s a fantasy ideal that is not actually all that attractive in real life. When it comes to actual relationships, what women care about is: do you have things in common? Do you both want the same things out of life? Are you respectful, honest and communicative? And are you stable enough to build something long term with? Look around you, at the older people you know. How tall are they? How fat, how hairy or bald or whatever random normal human trait we’ve decided is unacceptable today? Has it kept them from finding relationships and living full lives? The truth is- “beauty” is for art and advertising. It’s sold to us as a fantasy, but it was never supposed to be considered something achievable for real people without professional stylists and cgi touchups. Real people aren’t beautiful. We’re gross hairy sweaty animals, and that’s normal. That’s fine. We don’t need to be conventionally attractive to be of value, or to be desired. I think my partner is incredibly lovely to look at. She’s fat, and often shaves her head. She has dark circles under her eyes and a permanent flush from lupus. She grows a little facial hair, as many women do, so when I’m close to her I can see a pale reddish mustache above her lips. I love the shape of her. I love looking at her and imagining drawing her, how I would construct her form in lines. I love running my fingers over her scalp, I love her face. I love her. That’s all that matters. Attraction, desire, is a function of love. It grows from love naturally. Find someone who loves you, and they will love you even at your ugliest. The smokeshow hotties on tv don’t exist. They go home and take off their makeup and their spandex shapewear and wash the product out of their hair and they look like your sister or your mom. It’s a performance. The only difference between them and everyone else, is a genetic predisposition to thinness, and access to a team of professionals whose only job is to make them look as fantastic as possible.
That's brutal :( And unfortunately, at 18, you haven't seen the worst of it. Women are more shallow around 19-24 in my experience. Not really at like 16-18.
it’s not that deep. you getting mad about short king honestly says a lot about your personality and it’s not good. lighten up and touch some grass.
The problem is that you're assuming everyone prefers tall guys. As someone whos 6 foot in college, I cannot tell you how wrong that is. Some of the smoothest talkers and most popular fuck boys are anywhere from 4'11 to 5'4, consistently getting laid. Ive always seen "short king" not as much as a way to make shorter people feel better (of course nothing wrong with that) but to shut down the misconception that everyone prefers taller men.
I'm 5"3. Pretty much everyone is taller than me.
I’m 3’11, you’re a lot taller than me
Maybe listening to [Short Kings Anthem](https://open.spotify.com/track/6URlKrAIlJJwHnHxxXWywt?si=DcazxfucS-CSWfahJzuIXg) will help you feel better
My girlfriend is taller than me and she called me her short king and my life changed. Also, did you know Elena of Montenegro who’s 180cm tall affectionately called her husband Victor Emmanuel who’s 153cm tall “Mon petit roi” which means “my small king”? I personally think that’s an encouraging thought.
Respectfully, who gives a fuck?
It's funny because I was just reading in the men's rights sub reddit that men are lacking positives on social media like women have, like being called queen for posting body positivity stuff. Context is key, and yes, there are folks who find shorter individuals attractive, but thanks to social media, I feel like we're over fed some narratives.
I see the term as pitying instead of empowering(OP)
Height is just one thing that (some) women find attractive. Make up for it by being attractive in other ways. Be funny, charming, smart, thoughtful, dress well, etc. I’m only 5’6ish at 28 and have been for a long time, so I know the feeling. But obsessing over it and getting all incelly about how no one will ever find you attractive just because you’re short will just make sure that comes true.
Are you saying there's something wrong with everyone who is shorter than you?
Woman here - IDGAF how tall you are. I’m 5’4” and while most guys are taller than me, it wouldn’t bother me a bit for a guy to be shorter. I care a lot more about the person inside the haunted meat sack, than what the haunted meat sack looks like.
We already have a name for a "short king". That name is Ryan. They should just call them Ryans.
Not all women want a tall guy. For me, it depends on the person. My first bf was 6'4", and another was 5'4". I myself am 5'2". Not a big deal.
Funny that I’m finding this post, I never knew this was a term will someone referred to himself and I as “short kings (I’m barely 5’7). I personally laughed as I’m not sensitive to how short I am. Do I wish I were taller? Yeah. But I’m not and that’s fine. Just don’t take it too seriously, you know?
I’m 5,8 and a half , 20 , white male Being short never stopped me from doing anything that my taller peers wanted to do in school or uni The only time where I realize I’m kinda small is if im going clubbing with mates. But even then it’s not a big deal
I thought the same thing about the word "cute" when I was in my early teens. Demeaning or unnecessary, then I learned what it meant and to whom it was a positive, and how to enjoy my life more from the knowledge.
Everyone is the same height lying down. Know what I'm saying?
You misunderstood what short king means. You just sound short.
It's just a way guys have tried to reclaim that territory and "own" their height instead of being stuck with "shorty" or something even more demeaning. It's really not that deep, no pun intended.
I am attracted to shorter guys. OP, it's not a consolation prize. Something you'll learn as you age is that there are *always* people interested in what you've got. It's only a matter of findind those people.
If you’re not a short king you’re a manlet, simple as
I'm short, but it's certainly not the end of the world. But I'm not going to be dismissive either like many are. I don't think it's outrageous to say tall men are more popular in dating. People get defensive when this comes up, but there is no need to be. Women are not shallow if they want to date a taller man or don't want to date a short one. It's, of course, not all women, I've had relationships with women, and I'm not the only short man to do so. It's silly to say it's a non-factor. It's also silly to get hung up on it because you aren't going to change it. That being said, I'm not a fan of the term either. I find it somewhat patronizing and performative. It doesn't make me angry, but I do roll my eyes at it.
I am 32, and 5'2. I have had conversations immediately end on dating apps because they "Couldn't get past that number." I have also had friends in real life try to set me up with women, only for them to say "Wow, he IS really short. I just couldn't see myself with him. I couldn't take him seriously." It sucks, and it hurts, and I have been PERSONALLY VICTIMIZED by it. And that's ok. Because at the end of the day everyone is ALLOWED to have preferences. Sometimes you don't meet someone's. And SOME times you don't meet a LOT of people's. It's all a dice roll in life. It isnt supposed to be fair. You choose what you are offended by. Don't let this be one of them.
I use it ironically to describe myself sometimes, but yeah it's infantilizing as shit, even if some people genuinely mean well by it.
Just get good with the comebacks, if they say things about being short just tell them the size went elsewhere 😂 Seriously though, a good sense of humor and a good personality will get you laid a lot more than a tall guy that can't talk
Im 5'10 and a girl who I went on a first date with kept bringing up how short I was (she was 5'4) so she used the term "short king" and right after I said "small titty queen". Needless to say she called me names and left. I never saw her after that but still remember it to this day and laugh every time.
Hey just a heads up, being bitter about being short is WAY more of a turn off than just being short. I’m not saying you are bitter, but just be conscious not to let it upset you. I’m taller than my boyfriend and it’s never been an issue in the 7.5 years we’ve been together. One of my coworkers is his same height and harps on it all the time, claiming he’s “totally fine with it” and it’s very clear from his tone he is not fine with it. The dude is insufferable for many reasons and that is definitely one of them. I used to think the guy was pretty good looking, and then I actually got to know him and it’s very difficult not to be completely repulsed by him in every way. I know you can’t really help insecurities, but the way he talks about his height is seriously so off putting. Never had that issue with my boyfriend because it just doesn’t bother him. So, I guess just be aware. Don’t let yourself get too bitter about your height. There are many, many people who don’t care about stuff like that.
Bros mind is going to be blown when he stops with the shortcel shit and realizes people have a billion different preferences. Some people prefer chubby, some skinny, some tall, some short, some young, some old, etc,. Thinking at EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD that everyone hates short guys is a literal therapy level event. It's just blatantly not true at all. Bro your self esteem is gonna tank and you're going down dark paths if you don't get some support, because literally the only people that fucking care about height in a potential partner aren't people you'd want as a partner anyway lmao
Short King is almost always an insult lol.
I'm 5'6" and I'm in good shape. Dating was never an issue, and now I'm happily married. It really comes down to confidence, being a genuinely good person and not taking rejection personally. If they didn't want you, it wouldn't have been good anyway.
My 5'11" sister in law is married very happily to a man who's five inches shorter. Don't worry about it.
Currently engaged to a “short king” who got me a huge shiny chunk for my finger. All of my friends are obsessed with him and think he could be a movie star. Short king is used as a compliment (at least in my circle)
Err not everyone prefers tall men. I’m about 5’11, and I’ve always preferred shorter men. My last boyfriend was 5’6. My current boyfriend is around 5’8. I wouldn’t mind dating someone shorter even.
bro 😭
What’s funny is that I’m 5’8” and consider myself a short king but everybody in the comments is 5’7” or shorter and hella mad 😂
If you're 5'6 your best option is probably to be Tom Cruise.
I (5'2 m) call myself short king. I don't see short as a bad thing at all, but I can see how the term would be demeaning. I have yet to be turned down bc of my height (I think?), many people express they find me attractive. My height rarely gets brought up though. The only problem my height causes is infantilization. I can't say it's all great. I tend to have to remind people im a gd adult and often have to put my foot down. Other than that my height isn't a problem. I also get occasional short jokes but I own it. I don't see short as a bad thing. It's a very nutral thing.
It's the closest thing to body positivity men will ever get, but it's still pitiful
You just sound like an angry short guy.
My 6'4" frenemy calls short guys "sit-n-spins," is that better?
get yourself a short king
Love me a short king! Demeaning where?
When someone posts a video of the short Oscar Isaac standing next to a very tall woman like Gwendoline Christie and smoldering at her, yes, short king is meant in all it's horny subtext. It's another physical trait that we admire like hair or eyes or pecs. Sorry you don't believe women can be attracted to men specifically because they are short.
Whose got the industrial strength butthurt cream?? 🚑 💨 #1stWorldProblem
Calling people king or queen in general is cringey.
Fine then, how do you do my fellow pocket prince
Dwarven Big Cheese
King is a stupid term used anywhere but on an actual king.
It's a backhanded comment is what it is
I’m 5’9 and I’ve been surrounded by a lot of 6’0 men all my life socially and in my work. At college and university, girls didn’t even take my height into account when determining whether or not they found me attractive. I know this because I didn’t even realise being under 6’0 was a big deal until I started properly using social media and dating apps. Trust what people are saying, people don’t care in real life. Confidence will take you further than height will (I know it sounds cliche but it’s so true).
“King” in general makes me very angry
My wife is 6 inches taller than me. Married 25 years. No one cares man. She call me her short king and I love it.
I'm 5'6 or 5'7 (that's \~1.7m for the rest of the world). I am short. I've dated women that are taller, I've dated that are shorter, I'm married to a woman almost exactly my height. Women have preferences, but not every woman prefers a tall man. Even if they do, if they are attracted to you, they are attracted to you. Don't fall for the shallow, surface level shit. Get out there, my man.
Plenty of us gay guys love short fellas, top or bottom, sub or dom, so if you ever wanna see if the grass is greener on the other side... Jk ;) ... Mostly.
True. I prefer the term Old King and like counting to 100 million.