Fact Or Fiction: Women Are More Attracted To Tall Men

What individual people find attractive is subjective, and thank goodness. For men who feel insecure about a gap tooth or excess amount of chest hair, they should know that it may be precisely what makes their partners swoon. Sure, everyone has their particular visual favorites, and there are some physical traits that are more noticeably on the favorites list. And a "tall drink of water" appears to be one of them. But is it a male's actual height that women are attracted to, or what their height is signaling? Here's how tall men "measure up" in the eyes of women.

Being tall has its practical advantages. You can reach the top shelf, always be able to see the concert, and maybe even dunk. But according to Psychology Today, being tall may also give a man better leadership abilities, higher self-esteem, and make him less likely to be jealous over other men. This makes sense. If a man is used to people literally having to look up at him, then it may lead him to believe he has superior qualities. So if women are attracted to tall men, it could very well be because of the air of confidence they exude from being tall, instead of their actual height.

A woman's preference towards a taller man may also be based on biology. In a study shown via WebMD, R.I.M. Dunbar, Ph.D., from the University of Liverpool, England found that, "taller men are reproductively more successful than shorter men, indicating that there is active selection for stature in male partners by women," he states. The study included a sample group of 4,500 Polish men between the ages of 25 and 60. What Dunbar and his colleagues found was that men who did not have children were an average of 1.2 inches shorter than those with a child.

Of course, a man's fertility level is based on far more factors than his height. So it would be wrong to assume there could be any reproduction problems with a potential handsome mate who is on the shorter side. Biology may play a role in our preferences, but we have to admit the media also has a strong influence in what is considered attractive. Psychology Today shares the belief that shorter men are faced with a discrimination in the media because tall men are most often portrayed as the hero or the leading male.

So are women really more attracted to tall men? It looks that way. But it may surprisingly have a lot more to do with other components other than just being able to grab something off the top shelf.