# If average height for a white woman is 5'5, why are so many taller than me at 5'9?



## curveplane (Nov 26, 2013)

I'm a 5'9, 19-year-old caucasian male. According the mb height charts, average height for a white woman in the U.S. is 5'5, and that only 5% of women are taller than 5'9. I don't believe this. At any given play, at least half of the white women I see are my height or taller. How can the average be 5'5? It has to be 5'9 minimum.


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## Amphoteric (Sep 11, 2011)

If you have some sort of problems with your own height, you are more likely to spend more attention to the women who happen to be taller than you.

Also: high-heels.


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## ItsEasierToRun (Feb 2, 2013)

Thank the lawd for women over 5'9!! ^_^


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## AmandaMarie87 (Apr 24, 2013)

Maybe they are wearing high heels? A 5'5'' woman wearing 4'' heels would look about 5'9''.


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## meepie (Jun 20, 2010)

Maybe the area you live in has tall women. Or it could be that you are looking up instead of down. Or that white women vary either from very tall to very short, therefore the average becomes skewed. Most likely you're only looking up though :3.


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## Mr Bacon (Mar 10, 2012)




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## Just Lurking (Feb 8, 2007)

I've noticed this too, actually. I think. Some of it might be the heel effect, but not sure how much.

I wonder if it's an age thing. Maybe older women (or rather, "older generations") are more likely to be shorter while the younger generation is, on average, taller. Are we just getting taller as a society?

Not that I'm ruling out it only being my imagination... Or maybe my perception of height isn't as good as I think it is. Oh, hell if I know


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

A person's height makes NO determination on his accomplishments.

All four of my grandparents were 5'5" to 5'7". My mother and stepmother are 5'5". My father is 6'3"; my brother and myself are 6'3". My father was the first on his side of the family to get a college degree.
I'm white as in "Pllay that Funky Music, White Boy"


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## tehuti88 (Jun 19, 2005)

curveplane said:


> At any given play, at least half of the white women I see are my height or taller.


If this truly bothers you, pay more attention to the half of the female population who are _shorter_ than you are. :stu


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## Tinydancer20 (Jun 17, 2013)

Maybe you should measure your height again without 
cheating this time..


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## Ape in space (May 31, 2010)

I get this feeling too - I'm 5'10" and quite a few women seem like they're almost my height. But it's probably that I'm just misjudging, because often I've thought that a chick was my height, but then I found out their actual height and it's like 5'7" or something. And sometimes I've been on a train where the chick next to me seems tall, but then when we get up I realize she's tiny. I guess girls sit up straighter than us.


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## tennislover84 (May 14, 2010)

Ape in space said:


> And sometimes I've been on a train where the chick next to me seems tall, but then when we get up I realize she's tiny. I guess girls sit up straighter than us.


Or it could be that she was like the third woman in this wonderful picture that I've just found in Google. :b


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## Zeeshan (Sep 4, 2011)

Just let it go man

You won't feel secure about this no matter what


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## AlchemyFire (Mar 4, 2013)

I agree with others, probably heels, or where you live the girls could generally be taller. But my bet is on the heels.


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## THEuTASTEsOFeINKd (Apr 10, 2010)

I find it strange because a lot of people will say anything over 6ft is attractive in a male but goddamnit, i see so many guys who are way taller than me and i feel like theyre a completely different species...


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## Idontgetit (Nov 1, 2013)

Wow you must be around models daily or something. I'm 5'10 but I doubt most people can tell the difference between that and 6'0.


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## pati (Aug 15, 2012)

Really? I very rarely see women that tall. I'd blame it on high heels. Maybe I should see it as flattering that women are always trying to be taller??



ItsEasierToRun said:


> Thank the lawd for women over 5'9!! ^_^


Awwww. He likes us, he really really likes us!  You da best.


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## monotonous (Feb 1, 2013)

heels


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## fanatic203 (Jun 23, 2010)

The answer is obvious: high heels


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## h00dz (Dec 25, 2012)

For some reason I kinda feel the same. I think I see a lot more women my hight than below even though the average is meant to be lower? :stu


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## arnie (Jan 24, 2012)

curveplane said:


> I'm a 5'9, 19-year-old caucasian male. According the mb height charts, average height for a white woman in the U.S. is 5'5, and that only 5% of women are taller than 5'9. I don't believe this. At *any given play*, at least half of the white women I see are my height or taller. How can the average be 5'5? It has to be 5'9 minimum.


Like a play on a stage? Rugby field?

pls explain


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## Radical But Legal (Aug 11, 2013)

Well, first of all, it depends on the location you live in. US is really big, so people in different parts of the country probably have different average heights. Another thing is that the older generation skews the overall average height. For example, the average man in 1900 was 5'6" tall. And finally, high heels. Also, if you really want to freak out about you being too short, go to Scandinavia. I live there now, I'm 5'11" and nearly everyone is taller than me.


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## MindOverMood (Dec 12, 2009)

My maternal grandmother(b.1920) was 5'10" and I can only imagine how much she'd stick out in a crowd back then.


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## SusanStorm (Oct 27, 2006)

Who cares?As a tall woman,I'm 6'1,nothing is more annoying than guys who are insecure and "OMG,you are taller than me".
Still there lots of women that are shorter than you,so focus on them instead of all the taller women out there.

I can't really imagine that it's so much more different in the U.S,but here I rarely see a woman my height.I also rarely meet men that are taller than me,but I don't really care about that.

A lot of women can be as tall as me if they are wearing Jeffrey campbell shoes.I would probably be very intimidating wearing shoes like that,but I wouldn't want to be one of those old houses with really short doors wearing that lol.


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## SusanStorm (Oct 27, 2006)

Radical But Legal said:


> Well, first of all, it depends on the location you live in. US is really big, so people in different parts of the country probably have different average heights. Another thing is that the older generation skews the overall average height. For example, the average man in 1900 was 5'6" tall. And finally, high heels. Also, if you really want to freak out about you being too short, go to Scandinavia. I live there now, I'm 5'11" and nearly everyone is taller than me.


Ok,I'm from Norway,but I don't think people are that tall here. Very few are at my height,but maybe I live in a area with short people.I don't know


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## TicklemeRingo (Jan 11, 2013)

Anxiety causes you to shrink. 

Fact.


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## scarpia (Nov 23, 2009)

Looks like this guy has been posting this question all over. Here it is in yahoo answers:


> *Average height for a white woman is not 5'5!? *
> 
> 
> Keith asked 5 days ago -
> ...


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131122171812AAWf0uQ


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## ItsEasierToRun (Feb 2, 2013)

missamanda said:


> Awwww. He likes us, he really really likes us!  You da best.


Only you


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## Parsnip (Sep 5, 2013)

Invisible_girl said:


> Ok,I'm from Norway,but I don't think people are that tall here. Very few are at my height,but maybe I live in a area with short people.I don't know


In comparison every Norwegian I've met has seemed very tall when they're standing next to me, and I'm technically above the average height of a British woman .

My old housemate was Norwegian and constantly commented on how short the British were compared to Norwegians, and when I visited her I was shocked at how much taller most of the women were compared to me. She may have lived in an area of tall people though, regional variations are awesome.

I haven't read the original post. I just assume people who have issues with their height see the people that trigger that issue much more frequently because they're aware of their height and how other people compare to them. I know that due to the sole of my old work shoes I came up to 5'8 in height, and I shrank quite noticeably (to my average height male colleagues) when they were taken off, so... beware of shoes which give inaccurate readings of the height of others?


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## komorikun (Jan 11, 2009)

Dutch people look like daddy longlegs.


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## prettyful (Mar 14, 2013)

I'm 5'10.


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## Meli24R (Dec 9, 2008)

I'm nearly 5'4" and most of the women I see day to day are the same height, shorter or slightly taller than me. Maybe there is just an abnormally large number of tall women in your location.


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