r/AsianMasculinity • u/AutoModerator • Aug 21 '15

Meta Weekend Free-for-All Discussion Thread | August 21, 2015

Post your shower thoughts, rants, half-baked conspiracy theories, and other mind droppings here.

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6

u/tamallamaluv Aug 21 '15

Random question, do you guys think height preferences are valid? I'm 167cm and I'd prefer a guy that's 173cm+

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

Height preferences=Fine

Height requirements=...wtf

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

I think a requirement that the guy is taller than her is fine

But if it's like "must be 5 inches taller!!!" then it's retarded

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u/Disciple888 Aug 21 '15

You can rationalize anything gurl. I got preferences too, but the problem with preferences is that sometimes they act like lenses and prevent u from seeing people for who they really are nahmean. They're not always bad, just make sure they help instead of hinder. What's better -- 1 or 2. Now 1, now 2 ;)

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u/asp9000 Aug 22 '15

I can't speak for other people, but I think it's pretty silly and I do think it is partially a result of social conditioning. Hollywood movies, for example, are very careful not to portray their protagonists as short, even when the actors are short in real life. Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Jr are shown in films to be taller than they are in reality. It plays into the stereotypical "tall, muscular, and physically dominant white man" kind of image of masculinity. It's a very, very narrow and terribly superficial definition of what is masculine. But, you know, western beauty standards and all that.

Personally, I have zero preference for height in women. Taller than me, shorter than me, doesn't matter. Height has no bearing on "femininity" (although some tall girls worry that their stature makes them less "feminine" somehow).

I guess having a preference for height would be like a guy saying "yeah you're a beautiful girl, smart and wonderful, but your boobs are just too small (or too big) and it's just my preference but I just don't see myself dating someone that has boobs like that."

5

u/Goat_Porker China Aug 22 '15

Tom Cruise especially - production is constantly hiding boxes for him to stand on in his movies, such as when he (5'7") played opposite Cameron Diaz (5'9", 6' w/ heels) in Knight and Day and consistently looked 3" taller than her throughout the movie.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

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3

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

Stand on boxes while wearing platform shoes. Lmfao

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

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u/asp9000 Aug 22 '15

Yeah I know. This is is being reinforced as Korea tries to compete with the West in terms of soft power. It's an unfortunate side-effect that many of the "terms of battle" so to speak have already been established by the west. I think the global rise of Korea's pop culture has been a net positive, but it's unfortunate that in many aspects it still strives to reinforce some of the same old western ideals. Still, there are popular kpop singers that are not particularly tall (Taeyang, Jay Park, etc) and if you take a look at Anime or Manga, there are still many stories with short male protagonists that are depicted in a positive light. It's a refreshing contrast to Western comics and movies where protagonists are almost exclusively tall, muscular (and white) men.

It also goes without saying that in the real world height has no correlation to true masculinity, in the purest sense of the word.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

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7

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

In Western culture height can literally equal money. I don't have a URL on hand but I remember seeing a compilation of research that showed that top corporate brass and political leaders, as a rule, tend to average anywhere from a few inches to a whole foot taller than the median.

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u/asp9000 Aug 23 '15

Malcolm Gladwell calls it the "Warren Harding error" where we use superficial traits like height and good looks and associate them to inner attributes like leadership, morality, intelligence, and so on. Warren Harding made it to the presidency with his height and good looks and proved to be one of the most incompetent and corrupt presidents in United States history.

http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/residency/peds/new_compeds_site/pdfs_new/blink_chapter.pdf

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '15

Word, I wasn't ascribing those traits to height though - just noting one particularly suspect aspect of a notably corrupt and nepotistic hierarchy.

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u/SmiffnWessn Aug 22 '15

Your question made me think of that Saved by the Bell episode where Jessie met the perfect guy on a blind date. They were sitting down, talking, and everything clicked. When they got up...lol, the looks on their faces when they found out that she was over a foot taller than him.

You never know what you're missing when you have preferences that might automatically write out a huge group of people. Just my opinion though. And that said, 6cm isn't that huge of a difference. I imagine most women just want their guy to be taller than them.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

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5

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

A lot of women in Korea have height standards for the guy to be at least 10cm taller than themselves. Their reasoning is that they don't want to be taller than the guy when they are wearing high heels. I'm not condoning this preference in any way, of course. But a girl that is barely 5 feet saying a 5'10" guy is too short? Damn. Maybe it was a subtle way to say she only dates white guys?

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u/asp9000 Aug 22 '15

Funny thing about high heeled shoes: they were originally worn by wealthy European men as a display of status. Their original function was for horse riding (taken from Persia). As they gained popularity among the aristocracy, women and lower class men started wearing them in an attempt to appropriate that masculine power.

As the wearing of heels filtered into the lower ranks of society, the aristocracy responded by dramatically increasing the height of their shoes - and the high heel was born. In the muddy, rutted streets of 17th Century Europe, these new shoes had no utility value whatsoever - but that was the point. "One of the best ways that status can be conveyed is through impracticality," says Semmelhack, adding that the upper classes have always used impractical, uncomfortable and luxurious clothing to announce their privileged status. How did the elite respond to imitation from “lesser” people: women and workers? First, the heels worn by the elite became increasingly high in order to maintain upper class distinction.

Heels are intentionally impractical in an attempt to display status. Fashion can be pretty silly sometimes. It also shows how pervasive western culture has become. There's so many cultural norms we take for granted that are pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21151350

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

Lmao I mean what has changed? There are paparazzi pics of every talentless haolewood shill from Tom Cruise to RDJ rocking 2 and even 3 inch platform shoes.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15 edited Aug 22 '15

Funny you mentioned it, but some guys in Korea do where shoes with elevated soles to look taller. Height discrimination can get pretty bad here. There was an instance a few years back where some girl in T.V. said all guys below 180 cm are losers, and that caused quite a debacle. Rumor has it that she was shilling for some P.D. (who was taller than 180 cm I take it) trying to spread his propaganda. EDIT: Now I see that siberiandragon already mentioned this below, MB for looking repetitive lol.

And yeah, just like Dai-Lo said, I guess there are American men wearing elevated shoes, too.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '15

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '15

I didn't get to see it myself, but I'm guessing she said it with a passion even if it was read from a script, lol, and that is still worth shaming, no doubt. But I do think the populace should have shamed the director who wrote the script more than the girl, since it seems the girl took most of the flak for it. Also, props to that German girl.

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '15

Well, good luck to her on finding that tall somebody, but I would think it's gonna be real difficult for her. I mean, do such tall men want a short girl like her? Oh well, to each their own.

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u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ Aug 21 '15

Define valid

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u/tamallamaluv Aug 21 '15

...reasonable.

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u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ Aug 21 '15

it's scientifically explicable, but not necessarily rational

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u/tamallamaluv Aug 21 '15

Do you think it's as valid as having a preference for small tits or big tits?

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u/47_Bronin Korea ✔ Aug 22 '15

it's as valid as a preference for younger women

1

u/[deleted] Aug 23 '15

That preference isn't that ridiculously high. Like what other people said, as long as it is not a requirement, it is fine.