S&M: Short and Male

Is there a correlation between male sex appeal and height? Instructor Howard Goldberg thinks so and has decided to break the myths about male height.

Standing tall at five-foot-three and a half (161cm), Howard sees the world very different than the men who are taller than him.

He, and many other short men, believe they’ll attain less interest from women and are more prone to be overlooked in society.

By going through several height experiments, interviewing women to hear their height preference and meeting fellow short men, Howard Goldberg draws closer to the question of how important height really is for men.

These experiments show women anonymously picking the tallest men from men of different height, ranging from very short to tallest.

Another experiment shows a short man walking through the New York streets while he’s being pushed to the side. Comparable to a taller man who has less issues in a crowd, the short man blames it on his height.

To each short man in the film, the problem lies with their height. It is a problem which complicates their life, a fixation so great they believe all of their problems stem from it.

But is there a heightism in our societies? Or are these crippling thoughts of being short and not good enough just a scapegoat for a long string of other personal problems? Do we all have standards surrounding male height?

To answer all these cultural and psychological questions we’ll dig into how male shortness is viewed in the U.S. and see just how far we can get.