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The mother of invention
A short man walks into a bar. A tall guys sees him, picks him up and wears him like a hat. It's no bad joke, just a pretty normal day in the life of diminutive comedian Dai Henwood.
Being short of stature - 1.66 metres - has its up and downs, he says.
On the one hand it's good for comedy material. On the other, well, he gets picked up and twirled about rather a lot.
"Being short and ginger are the last bastions of what people believe to be acceptable to publicly mock," he says.
"It's true. You wouldn't publicly mock someone in a bar for being fat.
"But saying that, in the comedy industry, I am blessed with this point of difference. That's a good thing in this job. You don't want to be a really good-looking, average-height guy in comedy because you've got nothing to talk about. No-one wants to hear how good-looking you are."
His thick skin and ability to laugh at himself help him through the multitude of "short gags" landed on him. Henwood is a veritable punching bag for the little-man jokes.
It's a constant barrage when he's out at the pub, he says.
"People surround me in a bar and scream and laugh and publicly mock me for being short. When I'm with my wife and family, it's quite disconcerting.
"In Blenheim, a guy picked me up and tried to wear me like a hat in a bar. Last year I was walking across the Octagon in Dunedin and this guy ran out of nowhere, grabbed me and threw me in the air.
"People just yell ‘hobbit, hobbit, hobbit' at me and point. They think they're being hilarious. Because I'm a comedian, I have quite a thick skin . . . but I feel very sorry for introverts or people who don't want attention drawn to themselves."
Henwood says he doesn't think people do these things with deep malice or with the aim to hurt but they don't realise that, when this constantly happens, he feels worn down by it.
He's not convinced of the short-man syndrome. It's more of an overused cliche.
"Everyone gets a bit aggressive at times but, if a short guy gets aggressive, people say ‘Oh, short-man syndrome'," he says.
It was French psychologist Alfred Adler who coined what has become known as the Napoleon complex, which describes cases when people's short stature makes them feel inadequate, instilling an inferiority complex leading to over-aggressive behaviour to compensate for their lack of height.
This, of course, stemmed from Napoleon Bonaparte, whose conquests, both military and amorous, have been attributed to the desire to compensate for his smaller stature.
Size matters a great deal, according to some of the acres of research into short-man complex.
A recent study by Oxford University showed feeling smaller made people paranoid, distrustful and scared of others.
Researches were able to "shrink" men for their experiment, shaving about 25cm off their height. They then subjected them to interaction with other people.
The results showed the lowering of height led to more negative evaluations of the person compared with others and a greater level of paranoia, scientists wrote in the Psychiatry Research Journal.
But, over the decades, research has been conflicting.
Tall people are more successful and earn more than short people, reveals another study.
The height-salary link was found by psychologist Timothy A Judge of the University of Florida, and researcher Daniel M Cable of the University of North Carolina.
The pair analysed data from four American and British longitudinal studies that followed about 8500 participants from adolescence to adulthood and recorded personal characteristics, salaries and occupations.
Tall people may have greater self-esteem and social confidence than shorter people. In turn, others may view tall people as more leader-like and authoritative, Judge told the American Psychological Association.
"The process of literally ‘looking down on others' may cause one to be more confident," Judge says. "Similarly, having others ‘looking up to us' may instil in tall people more self-confidence."
Much like attractiveness, tallness in men is held in high regard by society, says Kapiti Coast-based psychologist Duncan Thomson.
"Research tells us women prefer tall men, that tall men have more attractive partners and even that tall men are more likely to have more senior roles at work.
"One creative study found men get more jealous if their partners are talking to a tall man at a party rather than a short one. More anecdotally, I was discussing height with one of my colleagues whose husband is shorter than average. She told me that people actually pat him on the head like a child then wonder why he gets angry with them."
It's quite possible to be short, confident, attractive to others and successful. It's just that, generally, height helps, Thomson says.
"If someone has an underlying sense of physical vulnerability or feels ashamed of their height, they could definitely overcompensate for how they feel by acting aggressively if they feel patronised or threatened, but it is also important to remember none of this is a given and short people are quite capable of being content and at ease with their appearance."
The relationship between height and confidence in women is less clear.
Research consistently shows that men have a preference for women of average height, Thomson says.
"Conversely, there is also increasing evidence that tall women like being tall, perhaps due to positive role models in sport and the status that can go with above average height. I think the most important thing is to teach our children, through love and nurture, that their appearances do not define them."
In the brutal world of online dating, people often lie about their height to avoid rejection, says dating expert Denise Corlett.
They do not feel they are likely to attract the people they want to if they divulge what their real height is, she says.
"People often have a lifetime of having their difference being noticed by others, particularly in school years where people want to be the same as their peers, and can often feel more sensitive about this."
This can be highlighted in dating when someone may be rejected or perceive they are being rejected or may feel less attractive to a prospective partner/date.
"There could be a fundamental biological reason women look for a taller man - to protect them," she says. And in the same biological way, a man might feel they want a shorter woman they feel they can protect.
"But people can miss the personality, attributes and other endearing factors of others if they remain resolved to not consider someone fitting their impression of an acceptable height for them."
Corlett says women take many issues into account when looking for a partner - image and presentation, career prospects, financial success among them.
Dating was a bit of a challenge, says Henwood. But he wasn't always the short guy. At 14, he was the same height he is now, and playing centre in rugby in Wellington.
"I was a big guy. And then I stayed the same height and a lot of the Polynesian guys playing rugby around me grew to about twice my size. I gave up playing rugby.
"Towards the end of school I realised I was going to stay quite short. But I've always been gifted with the comedy gene and I have been very confident in myself."
Henwood, who is married to Joanna Kelly and dad to 20-month-old Charlie, says that, when he was a young man, it was hard to even get a look in with taller girls.
"When I was younger, I realised that women didn't take a second look at you if you are short. A woman had to be shorter than you.
"You could tell in that first look that taller women would immediately discount you. I just felt a bit bummed out that I was five years too late for the ‘Prince high heel' thing."
Actor and director Oliver Driver is pretty lofty at 2.1m.
Height becomes the memorable thing about you. You're always the "tall guy", he says.
"The usual opening line to me is ‘Gosh, you are tall. How tall are you?' It gets a bit boring. When I was on the telly, people would comment on my height and I'd usually say ‘you need a longer television then' just so we could move on from the height talk.
"People do not think that comments about your height are insulting but you'd never comment on someone's weight. It is still a bit of an abusing stick."
There is a perception, he says, that there's a great advantage to being tall but when you get past a certain height, it veers around and becomes a disadvantage.
"Conversations tend to happen at chest height and you feel you can zone out a bit. Contrary to what people might think, it's not great being tall at concerts because you end up being relegated to the back. You'd feel a bit of a dick if you were at the front because no-one three rows back can see. At the theatre I slouch a lot out of courtesy."
As a teenager, he got used to the comments about his stature and developed a thick skin, like Henwood, turning his height into material for comedy and creativity.
These days he's comfortable in his height.
"I like being tall. It might be tricky buying jeans but it's good for watching fireworks. I'm easy to spot in a crowd. When I'm meeting my friends at a party they all say ‘let's meet at Oliver', like I am some easy-to-see landmark."
Driver's girlfriend Ella Mizrahi, is a great deal shorter than him at 1.6m. He has never been attracted to tall girls. It's the fear that their offspring would be giants, he says.
"Besides, you'd draw even more attention to yourself as a great big giant couple."
When he is acting, his height could be a disadvantage because almost everybody else is shorter than, he says.
"It's hard to fit me in a shot with another person. In Shortland Street I did a lot of leaning and sitting.
"If you are tall or short you often get quirky or wacky roles because height gives you a certain characteristic before you even open your mouth to say anything. I think I got the roles I got in spite of my height, not because of it."
Megan Craig had to leave the country to fully embrace her height. Craig, 21, is more than 2m tall. At the age of 12, she was 1.8m.
She has put that glorious height to good use in sports over the years, playing netball and basketball. It has taken her all the way to the United States where she played college basketball for the University of Albany in New York while she studied communications and business administration. She now plays professional basketball for the Washington Wizards.
Craig, a former junior Tall Fern, grew up in Wellington and Whangarei. "In New Zealand, I was so obviously tall because there are much fewer tall people there. When I came to the States, I found I was surrounded by taller people.
"My coach also taught me to embrace my height because really, there's nothing I can do about it, so I may as well celebrate it."
There are still moments she feels conscious of her height. Some people can't help themselves and just stare at her, mouth gaping, she says.
"Some think I am scary or menacing because of it. But I am a really lovable, social person. I just wish people would not judge a book by its cover. I wish people would not presume anything about me and just treat me as human being."
Growing up she tried to reduce her height by hunching her shoulders, despite the pain it caused her back, shoulders and neck. She preferred that to the constant staring.
These days she gets a lot of compliments about her height, she says.
"Some women come up to me and say it's a beautiful thing to be tall, that I should ‘work it' and have fun with it. And I do. I love being tall. My height has allowed me to excel at sports and have opportunities I would never have had if I wasn't tall."
Craig says men in New Zealand always seemed to want someone shorter than them but her experience is different in the US.
"They like tall girls," she says.
"I don't have a required height for a boyfriend. It's all about personality and respect. That's how I was raised."
AVERAGE HEIGHTS IN NEW ZEALAND
In men aged 15-24: 175.9cm
In men aged 25-34: 176.6cm
In men aged 35-44: 176.1cm
In women aged 15-24: 164.2cm
In women aged 25-34: 163.6cm
In women 35-44: 163.3cm Source:
NZ Health Survey 2012/13
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