Ladies Who Hunch

This hot guy I met online lied about his height. We got together, and I'm like 3 inches taller than he is. That doesn't bother me, but I'm worried that his height is a source of insecurity for him (since he lied about it on his profile).

--Skyscraper

You can't always find your one and only, but you can sometimes find your three-quarters and only. It isn't a surprise that this guy, in calculating his height, added in the vintage ottoman he was standing on when he took the photo. While there are breast men, leg men, butt men, and even toe men, in female preferences for men's appearance, across cultures, there's one thing that really, really matters, and it's height. (Guilty: I've joked about getting one of those amusement park signs to post over my bed, "Must be this tall to ride this ride.") Research by evolutionary social psychologist Gert Stulp suggests that women, in general, find it "unacceptable" to be taller than the man they're with and prefer to be substantially shorter (ideally a whole 8 inches shorter; so, say, 5'6" to a man's 6'2"). As for why women evolved to prefer taller men, though being tall doesn't always mean being stronger (and thus better able to protect a woman), tallness points to physical health. (If a man's body is riddled with parasites, his metabolic resources get invested in battling the little buggers instead of upward growth.) In modern times, some men try to cheat their way taller, with dating profile fudgery, shoes with built-in "lifts," and strong hair gel (the essential ingredient in a towering pompadour). However, a short man isn't necessarily short on self-worth. According to Stulp and his colleagues, shorter men's dissatisfaction with their height seems linked to the general preference by women for taller men. This makes sense, considering how bad it feels to know your partner doesn't find you all that attractive. But since that isn't a problem here, let him know. And you might also keep in mind that good things do, as they say, "come in small packages": gum, Shetland ponies...and, hey, Ron Jeremy is a short dude. (Uh, not all over.)