The most attractive heights for men and women is revealed - but how does yours stack up?

Daily Mail​

6 hours ago

Short single men around the world are devastated by the recent news that Tinder is to introduce an experimental filter within its Premium Discovery setting section, for users to specify their desired minimum and maximum heights.
But is it really over for so-called 'short kings'? Experts revealed the most attractive heights for both men and women and surprising research showed that the most attractive height's quite a bit taller than the average height of the UK population.
At 6ft 1in, Henry Cavill, Bradley Cooper, and David Tennant were right on the mark, while others like Barry Keoghan, Maya Jama, and Anna Taylor-Joy at 5ft 8in were too short - with the women classed as too tall for the taste's of the average man.
Just right: Scientists have revealed that the ideal height for a man is 6ft 1in, much like Superman actor Henry Cavill
WHAT IS THE MOST ATTRACTIVE HEIGHT?
Determining the exact 'most attractive' height is not an easy task because there are lots of factors that affect height preferences.
However, there are a few common factors that allow us to determine the heights that will be most attractive to the average person.
Professor Gert Stulp from the University of Groningen said: 'One's own height has a strong effect on one's preferred height.'
In a study of 5,782 speed-daters, Professor Stulp found that women preferred men who were on average 9.8in taller than themselves.
Men, on the other hand, preferred women who were on average 3.1in shorter than themselves.
While ideal tallness varied from person to person, the average height of the population was used to work out an estimate of the ideal one for dating.
Given the average woman in the UK's 5ft 3in, a man who's 6ft 1in would be the preferred height for the largest number of English women.
Male celebrities at this optimal height include Keanu Reeves and Channing Tatum while Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, and President Donald Trump would all be considered too tall by the average woman.
Likewise, based on an average male height of 5ft 9in, a woman at 5ft 5in would be the most attractive for the average man in the UK.
While Olivia Rodrigo's the optimal height for dating at 5ft 4in, Lily Allen and Kim Kardashian at 5ft 2in would both be too short.
However, it's important to bear in mind that's just a general rule based on the average.
Professor Stulp maintained that there could not be any single perfect height because 'height varies considerably across populations and because there are large individual differences'.
For example, studies have shown that women with higher self-perceived attractiveness tended to prefer men who were significantly taller than themselves.
Similarly, shorter women and taller men both typically prefer a bigger height difference between them and their partners than taller women and shorter men.
DOES HEIGHT MATTER IN DATING?
On the shorter side: Studies show that men prefer women to be shorter than themselves, such as Demi Moore and Emma Watson at 5ft 5in
With the test of the new Tinder optional height filter, within the Premium Discovery section of the app's settings, the tool allowed users to specify the heights of their preferred matches.
While Tinder did not widely announce the new tool, it confirmed that it's currently testing the paid option.
A spokesperson said: 'We're always listening to what matters most to our Tinder users - and testing the paid height preference is a great example of how we're building with urgency, clarity, and focus.'
CELEBRITIES WHO ARE THE PERFECT HEIGHT, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
MEN - 6ft 1in
Henry Cavill
Bradley Cooper
Channing Tatum
WOMEN: 5ft 5in
Demi Moore
Billie Piper
Emma Watson
On social media, the news of the new tool sparked controversy with some claiming it was 'over for short men'.
While many have embraced the option to filter by height, Professor Stulp agrees that this will 'reinforce the idea that height is important in mate choice' and 'affect patterns of matching'.
Professor Stulp says: 'With Tinder, there is an endless pool of candidates, and one has to constrain one's search heuristics.
'Things like height and age are easy things to restrict on because they can be summarized in numbers. It would be hard to set such restrictions regarding, for example, humor.'
CELEBRITIES WHO ARE TOO SHORT, ACCORDING TO SCIENCE
MEN
Ncuti Gatwa
Robert Downey Jr
Barry Keoghan
WOMEN
Lily Allen
Kim Kardashian
Sabrina Carpenter
WHY DO PEOPLE CARE ABOUT HEIGHT?
Some theories suggested that height remained important for women because of evolutionary pressures in our distant past.
Historically, height was associated with favorable traits like status, health, and strength, which would ensure more success for offspring.
While those factors might no longer be important for our survival, the preference for them might still linger in our psychology.
However, Professor Stulp pointed out that some hunter-gatherer or pre-industrial societies had less strong height preferences.
Likewise, it did not explain why men would be more attracted to smaller women.
Professor Stulp says: 'I think the best answer is that males and females from any species prefer traits that are typical of the other sex.
'Because men are on average quite a bit taller than women, taller height is more a "male trait" and shorter height more a "female trait".'