I Guess Height is Important?

     She knew my stubbled face from current photos, my blue shirt from a text and Yelp contributed the location. Conversations past outlined our mutual appreciation for certain Oscar nods and shock that kale became so popular. We knew details only friends would while some typically obvious remained hidden. I heard the familiar click of heels on concrete before my name as a question and at once I knew she was someone I would look up to. For some height is significant, a preference for many and even a deal breaker at times. With online dating rapidly becoming routine it's not uncommon for a person's measurements to remain a mystery even after something sparks. Whether your opinion is strong or not there is a psychological impact we must consider, especially in the land of platform stilettos.
 
     Apple boxes are tools used around town to bring an actor up to the level of the leading lady. Stemming from the age old fear that a man's strength of character will be found lacking in contrast to his stature, we compensate.  As paramount as these "man-makers" may be the fairer player is unlikely to be extended the same courtesy. Standards in media have been perpetuated from the start, indoctrinating the public to identify a couple by their proportions. Dark and handsome take a back seat to masculinity's defining characteristic but a man's measure pales compared with the specifications assaulting women. At once she must be thinly curved, petite but assertive enough to demand respect and an equal wage in a male dominated society.

     Height as a means to inadequately define an individual may not be the most pressing issue in our time but it's no less relevant. At 174 centimeters I've been called average to short in this town and admittedly taken on the French dictator's complex in times of regrettable inebreation.  When matched against six feet of triangular thespian fresh from Equinox I'm more likely to hire my new trainer than attract the attention of the only girl in the bar. But perhaps Dylan's anthem reigns true? Perhaps she's not counting inches atop her hard earned Louboutin's but grew up in a household with no TV. Perhaps Lloyd Christmas was right afterall? With equality at the forefront of social consciousness an examination of causation should begin our hopeful change.