How short is too short?
I recently watched a video on CNN called "Small World" about the constant discrimination shorter people feel they receive everyday from members of society. In this video, CNN showcases two people of short stature who live normal lives, but are constantly in fear of being publicly ridiculed or discriminated against because of their height. In America, the average height of a man is 5' 9" (69 inches) and for a woman its 5' 4" (64 inches). As for myself, I am right at the average height for a man, and I believe that everyone should be treated equal regardless of their height, however; after watching this video I was reminded about our discussion of IATs in class a couple weeks ago. Many people, like myself, believe that everyone should be treated equally, but since many of us are around people of average height most of our daily lives, when we do come across shorter than average individuals I wonder how much we may discriminate on a subconscious level? I know IATs are not without their faults, but it would be interesting to see how bias the general public is to people who are short compared to people who are taller. Do you think height should be a protected category under Title VII? Do you think the public is unaware of their biases toward shorter people? With all of the statistical data being collected about height and financial success, do you think short people have a valid claim that they are constantly fighting a glass ceiling in the workplace due to their small stature and supervisors' height biases? Let me know what you think.
Check it out at:
http://www.cnn.com/video/
Search for "Small World" in the video section
Check it out at:
http://www.cnn.com/video/
Search for "Small World" in the video section
posted by Vaughn Ganiyu at
12:25 AM
5 Comments:
This may be a little off the topic, but as a tall person (I'm 5'9", for a woman that's tall) I can tell you that tall people get treated just as differently as short people do, only it's more out in the open. I cannot tell you how many times, upon first meeting someone, that one of the first things to be said by the other person is "you're tall." The things that come to mind are always first of all, I know I'm tall but thanks for pointing it out, and second, no one would say to a short person "you're short" when they first meet them. Maybe it's not discrimination, but people are just as quick to notice a tall person's differences as they are to notice a short person's and any sort of legal protection based on height would have to take that into account.
I also agree with Sara. I'm sure we are all insecure about some aspect of our physical appearance, I know I am. I know that studies have shown the relationship b/t height and income, but I'm sure thats not the case all the time. If we started protecting those insecurities under Title VII, then we would have an extremely long list of characteristics that could probably be applied to anyone who walked into your office for a job. I understand the concept, but I think height doesn't need to be protected.
This is an interesting video, because it raises certain aspects of discrimination that we don't typically think of. Vaughn brought up the question, "should height be a protected class?". While I certainly sympathize with those who receive discrimination of any form, (particularly for qualities that they cannot control), I question whether the addition of traits such as height to the protected class category would be valuable. It seems that such an addition would contribute to the 'slippery slope' effect. Quite often I come into contact with the dumb blonde stereotype. Does that mean that we should add hair color to protected classes? Perhaps that's an extreme example, but it is a question that will arise if we lengthen the list of protected classes. I agree with Kelley on this one in saying that height should not be considered a protected class.
Whether or not height should be a protected class, Michigan has already made a state law that prohibits discrimination in employment due to (among other classifications) height and weight.
Everyone has some characteristic that sets them apart from the mean of the population. I feel like sometimes people are just looking for a handout. I have been made fun of my whole life for having "chicken legs". When I fail, I do not use a lame excuse that I was discriminated against because I am tall and skinny. Sometimes people just need to toughen up. If one can't handle a little scrutiny, how are they going to handle the stress of daily work? There are definitely reasonable discrimination claims, but not height. Furthermore, the protected classes are groups of people that have been discriminated for hundreds of years.
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