Annons
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But that's what the scientists are saying. To see how it all shakes out, I spoke with a number of short men to see if their life experiences squared with the cold numbers.Mark Steffen, a 170 cm man in New York City who has been clinically diagnosed as Bipolar-I, thinks his height plays a role in his being taken seriously in the workplace. "I've noticed that people don't really listen up when I talk in meetings. Then, when I get very stern and 'take no prisoners,' people will agree, then come up to me after and say that they didn't know I could be so forceful. It's nice that I've found a way to be effective, but it sucks that I have to be a dick in order to get people to listen up."That kind of constant trivialization can weigh on someone, and Mark said his height actively contributed to battles with depression he faced over the years. "When you're actively trying to dig yourself out of a hole and do the things you know you should do, you have this extra layer half of the time of self-doubt."In Los Angeles, Ely Henry, a 170 cm (OK, more like 167 cm) guy who has been diagnosed with dysthymia—persistent depression—shared a similar story. "When I was younger, I [felt] insignificant [and] had to compensate. Spoke louder, more frequently; wanted to make my voice heard," he told me. "I felt like being smaller made me need to fight harder to be taken seriously. As I've gotten older I've come to peace with it. Now it's just a bummer getting things from high shelves."Research: A Virtual Reality Train Ride Reveals a Link Between Height and Paranoia
Annons