The Dichotomy of Distinctions

I always find it funny the way the human mind deals with the vast variations in form and construction of various other members of our species.

I'm not a tall man (163cm/5'4" on a good day), and not imposing in any manner (I spend more time with books than I ever have with physical activities--although I'm trying to get better at that), and it's interesting the way I usually get treated. Women tend to immediately shove me directly in the friend-zone (not that I mind, of course, as that's where I want to be), and most men take an odd condescending dislike to me. It's a rare thing to be treated as an equal straight off the bat by one of my own sex.

At least, it's rare in person. I have the quirk of having a quite deep and commanding voice if I chose to use it (my normal speaking voice is deep, but I don't generally sound commanding or authoritative). In my work, I regularly phone people and try to get them to do things that give them more work. If I use a standard speaking voice (yes, I've experimented with this; my job is immensely dull, give me a break) I get put roughly on par (in sharp contradistinction to when I'm visible to them), and things go fairly smoothly when I speak to most men. When I put on my I'm-in-control voice, I seem to get placed above to some degree--or at least, shit gets done with less repeating myself.

My boyfriend, at about 2m/6'6" tall, and wider than our refrigerator, gets immediate respect from essentially every person he comes across. He's on a number of occasions tried to convince me that I need to be more assertive when speaking to people (I tend towards a more diplomatic than assertive stance to these things), and many times I've told him that it doesn't work. Because of my stature (which isn't something I'm upset about, I should add--it's just how I am, and those who dismiss me for it can fuck a wrench for all I care) it's always an uphill climb for me to reach a level of respect he begins an interaction with--and I'll still never reach that point for physical prowess, regardless of whether it's salient or even true that I'm at a lower level than the person I'm speaking to.

And so, dear reader, you're probably wondering what the point of this whole rant is, eh? Well, there's not much of a point. I just wanted to share a couple of observations with anyone reading, and who knows, perhaps when you, as a taller person, or as a man speaking to a woman, think about how the interaction is proceeding, you'll remember this post. Just because your biology tells you something, doesn't mean you have to listen to it; try listening to those around you first. You never know what you'll discover.

Comments

Thank you for your personal observations and comments.

I would see a parallel with the way in which some people judge others by dick size, bra cup size or how thin/fat/muscular they are.
 
there are studies and articles about: height descrimination.

A survey of *Fortune 500 CEO's height in 2005*-revealed that they were on average 6 ft 0 in tall, which is approximately 2.5 inches taller than the average American man. 30% were 6 ft 2 in tall or more; in comparison only 3.9% of the overall United States population is of this height. Similar surveys have uncovered that less than 3% of CEOs were below 5 ft 7 in in height. Ninety percent of CEOs are of above average height.

Heightism is prejudice or discrimination based on height.
 
While heightism exists (believe me, I know :tongue:), my main point was to point out that even though people tend to think of themselves as good decent people who don't have prejudices, we all do. We can think twice about some of the instinctual decisions or judgements we make, but we still have those split-second decisions that are along prejudicial lines.

This is, of course, an evolutionary advantage, as it allowed us to make very fast decisions about whether someone would be a good mate genetically speaking for us. The bigger/stronger/&c. a partner was, the more likely you were to have bigger/stronger/&c. children with them. However, this strategy has ceased to be of primary importance in a day and age in which we have long lives in which we can spend more time judging a person about intellect, personality, character, and other such invisible traits.

In any case, it was first-and-foremost a mostly incoherent rant from the top of my head.
 

Blog entry information

Author
Crataegus
Read time
2 min read
Views
227
Comments
3
Last update

More entries in General

More entries from Crataegus

Share this entry