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FOR LOVE OR PEANUT BUTTER

Height And Dating: The Case For Short Kings

Are your height preferences holding you back?

Kelly Shanley
Slackjaw
Published in
8 min readSep 25, 2024

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Photo by Chermiti Mohamed on Unsplash FLOPB Art by Kelly Shanley

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Some people have very strong feelings about the height of their future romantic partner. I used to be one of them.

Granted, I’m a straight cis woman who has only ever dated straight men, so this column will naturally speak to that. I’m aware that my experience with height might differ from yours, so feel free to sound off in the comments and share how height has affected your dating life. I’m curious to hear! But for now, here’s my hot take.

In high school, I had crushes on athletic boys who had kind smiles and funny personalities and just so happened to be over six feet tall. I never did date any of these boys though, thanks to my habit of perpetually friend-zoning myself due to my inability to keep my attention on one person for too long.

The boy I dated through college and into my mid twenties was a 6’2” former high school football player. I fell for his personality as our friendship grew over the course of our freshman year, but come sophomore year when we recognized our feelings for each other and physical affection entered the equation, I quickly got used to feeling…

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Kelly Shanley
Kelly Shanley

Written by Kelly Shanley

LA based writer/podcaster/comedian/mountain girl at heart. Outdoor lover, world traveler, loud laugher. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kelly-shanley

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