{"id":40646,"date":"2011-10-24T11:51:35","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T16:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=40646"},"modified":"2011-11-09T14:18:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T19:18:21","slug":"heightism-is-a-social-construct-based-in-gender-norms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2011\/10\/24\/heightism-is-a-social-construct-based-in-gender-norms\/","title":{"rendered":"Heightism Is A Social Construct Based In Gender Norms"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted at The Social Complex<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Take a look at these two images.\u00a0 The\u00a0people in\u00a0Image A\u00a0and\u00a0Image B\u00a0are identical, save for their relative heights and the way that their heads are tilted in order to maintain eye contact.\u00a0 Now how do you think each of these images would be independently perceived by the average person?\u00a0 How do\u00a0you perceive the events depicted in these images?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(see full sized image\u00a0here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Do one of these men seem \u201cassertive\u201d while the other seems \u201csubmissive\u201d or \u201cpushy\u201d?\u00a0 What would you imagine the woman is thinking in each of these images?\u00a0 How would you rate the social esteem of each of these men?\u00a0 Which one seems to have the most business acumen?\u00a0 The most leadership potential?\u00a0 Which man would you rate as more attractive?\u00a0 What do you think these two people are talking about in each image?\u00a0 Does your perception of what is happening in the conversation change from image to image?<\/p>\n

If you are being honest with yourself here, you probably are imagining many differences in the social interactions depicted in these two images that don\u2019t actually exist outside of our cultural framework. From the age that we become aware of our environment we are bombarded with cultural images, traditions, behaviors, and ideals (both expressly and implicitly conveyed) which foster heightist concepts within our psyche.<\/p>\n

These heightist concepts come into play along with our perceptions of gender.\u00a0 Masculinity is culturally tied to \u201cTall\u201d and femininity is culturally tied to \u201cShort.\u201d Therefore, the negative cultural perceptions that apply to \u201cfeminine males\u201d also apply to \u201cshort males\u201d and the positive cultural perceptions that apply to \u201cmasculine males\u201d also apply to \u201ctall males.\u201d \u00a0That is why we perceive\u00a0Image A and\u00a0Image B differently, even though there is no story behind the images beyond what we imagine.<\/p>\n

Perhaps (to some extent) the negative cultural perceptions that apply to \u201cmasculine women\u201d also apply to \u201ctall females\u201d and the positive cultural perceptions that apply to \u201cfeminine females\u201d also apply to \u201cshort females\u201d?\u00a0 I do not know.\u00a0 However, I have my doubts that it works this way for females.<\/p>\n

This is because (in my humble opinion – with no evidence to back this up):<\/p>\n