There is no prejudice quite like heightism. It is the quintissential 'ism' buried deep in Jung's 'collective unconscious. Almost everywhere we go in life, bigger seems to be treated as better. Bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger athletes, bigger men, bigger cities, even clothing styles are bigger and baggier. We start out as little babies continuously growing physically until we reach physical maturity usually in our early 20's. The association of short with negatives like; immature, undeveloped, inadequate, incomplete, flawed, incapable, incompetent, lacking in intelligence, etc. is a common phenomenon. The list goes on. Heightism does not have national, ethnic, or even racial boundaries, it is everywhere all the time. Usually the bigger or taller the people the more there is heightism, and the more stigmatized will be the short person. On the surface human height would appear to be a superficial trait, much like eye color or hair color. It is not. It is a trait that can allow society (When the individual is of short-stature) almost free license to abuse. Because of the seeming superficiality of the trait of height, the short person must endure all types of conditions that people in recognized classifications or groups would never tolerate.
A short man may be told to 'Get over it' if he should protest in any way about the treatment he receives from society. The short child begins a long journey early in life learning that he/she can be treated as a second or third class citizen and that he must endure this treatment; he is conditioned from a very early age to acquiece to all types of put-downs, harassment, abuse, and just general prejudice. The negatives associated with being 'short' were recognized way back in 1971 when Time magazine reported that Dr. Saul Feldman of Case Western Reserve University, when addressing the American Sociological Association stated:
No matter what his race, creed or financial
status, the American male under 5 ft. 8 in.—the height of the average American
man—is a victim of discrimination.
Dr. Feldman knew what he was talking about. The Time Magazine article went on to report that:
So pervasive is the American bias against the short man,
Saul Feldman told a recent meeting of the American Sociological Association, that no
one notices it—no one, that is, except the short man himself. . .
The incredible part of the address he gave is that no sociologists as far as we can tell have advanced on Dr. Feldman's work in the interim 35+ years. This is a travesty. The role that height plays in a person's life is a very, very important one. A person's life-especially that of a male-can literally turn on the distance that their head is above the ground. Studies have shown that bullying in school can be based on a child's size-in other words, the smaller the child, the more likely they will be a victim of bullying. Studies have shown that people think less of a short person as opposed to a tall one. Major sports like football and basketball are geared for the tall, not for the short. As a matter of fact the most popular sporting events in the U.S. are probably basketball games, football games, and professional wrestling-the sports* with the largest participants. Short men tend to be spurned by women in favor of tall men. Even short women in many cases prefer a disproportionately taller man. Advancing in the workplace is more difficult for the short person; as a matter of fact one study pointed out that the bias was even greater than the race and gender gaps. Bullying, harassment, prejudice, discrimination, lack of recognition, - all of this must be tolerated with a smile, for if the short person protests, he will have few listeners or sympathisers. If he shows righteous anger, he is labeled as a troublemaker, or he may even be told he has a mental problem.
* The WWE is not currently viewed or promoted as a 'Sport' as such
The lifetime of conditioning that he receives sometimes isn't enough to keep him down and not thinking freely. This website is the result of one free-thinking short man. It wasn't always that way however. The writer has been in a prison much the way most short people are imprisoned by society. He has been in solitary confinement. But now he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. He realizes that he doesn't have to keep his mouth shut any longer. The realization is there that he can communicate all that he has learned throughout the years about the silent killer called heightism.
This website will be an eye-opener for many short people. It's purpose is to express the facts just the way they are. The site will attempt to 'lay the cards on the table' for the short person. Peripheral topics may also be addressed. For example, articles may be quoted about other groups and parallels drawn to treatment of short people. Logic is logic, and the logic that's good for other groups is also good for the short of stature. 'Support for the Short' will also attempt to be an active or interactive website. It will be promoted and word will spread. 'Support for the Short's' beginning will be humble. It will be a simple website, but with high-quality information. It's main pupose is to awaken the short-statured and help to break the lifetime of conditioning they've had by society, a society that keeps them in a place that other recognized groups would never tolerate, and maybe, just maybe, they might one day have the same rights as any other group that's recognized.
