Have you recently lowered the height limit on your dating app? It could be the influence of the “short king” obsession in society.
While a tall man was a prerequisite for many women in their search for a potential beau, the popularity of actors like Barry Keoghan and Jeremy Allen White has fueled an interest (and thirst) for men on the short side.
At the recent Golden Globe Awards, short kings swept the categories with high-profile actors like Succession’s Kieran Culkin (6 feet tall), who won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama, and The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White (1. 80 meters long) who came away with his second Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Comedy.
Saltburn’s 6ft Barry Keoghan is one of the world’s newest short kings, with the height difference amplified by the 6ft frame of his co-star Jacob Elordi – while the height difference may have been a point of contention in the past, it is now gone fans wanting more.
Have you recently lowered the height limit on your dating app? It could be the influence of the “short king” obsession in society. Saltburn’s 6ft Barry Keoghan (pictured) is one of the newest short kings on the scene
High-profile actors such as Succession’s Kieran Culkin (left) (6 feet tall) won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama and The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White (right) (6 feet tall) won his second Golden Globe Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama. Television comedy
“Barry Keoghan has a confidence that can only be found in short men,” stated a user on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Barry Keoghan, Jeremy Allen White, Kieran Culkin, Timothee Chalamet… it’s a short king season and I’m here for it,” another fan wrote.
“I’m not PLAYING about my short man agenda Kieran Culkin, Changbin, Barry Keoghan, Oscar Isaac, Kim Hong Joong, Andrew Scott…I’m not PLAYING,” said another.
The newfound appeal of short kings was even the subject of a recent Saturday Night Live skit called “Crown Your Short King.”
The sketch saw three ‘short’ men (played by Bowen Yang, Marcello Hernández and Molly Kearney) compete for Chloe Fineman’s heart in a Bachelor style match – but were defeated by Jacob Elordi.
“I know I’m small,” Marcello Hernández, who is 6 feet tall, said in the Skit from 2023 on SNL.
“Do you know how I know that?” he continued. “Because when I was lying about my height, I saw that I’m six feet tall, which means I’m actually six feet tall, which means I’m about half lying.”
Although the movement has been evolving for a few years, dating experts have noticed a shift in women actively looking for a short man.
The newfound appeal of short men was even the subject of a recent Saturday Night Live skit called ‘Crown Your Short King’
According to matchmaker and dating coach Thalia Ouimet, she noticed a shift when celebrity couple Tom Holland and Zendaya started dating
Some TikTok users – and studies – have even claimed that smaller men make better partners.
“As a matchmaker and dating coach, I noticed a shift when celebrity couple Tom Holland and Zendaya started dating,” Thalia Ouimet, a matchmaker who works with clients in New York City and Miami, told DailyMail.com.
Tom and Zendaya, who are both 27, have a height difference of two inches, with Zendaya standing at 6 feet tall and Tom at 6 feet tall.
According to Thalia, the “Short King Trend” started around the same time they started dating in 2021.
“I think people are finally realizing how arbitrary height can be,” she explained. “In fact, height does not equal compatibility.”
According to 2015-2018 data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average height of men in the US who are 20 years old or older is 6 feet tall – and women are embracing this height.
In published an article in 2014 by Dalton Conley, a sociologist at NYU, and Abigail Weitzman, a Ph.D. As a prospective candidate, men under 6 feet tall are better long-term partners, are less likely to divorce, and are more likely to do their share of housework.
They also found that shorter men did about eight and 28 minutes of housework each week, as opposed to tall men, who did about seven hours and 30 minutes each week.
According to psychotherapist Dr. Jenn Mann, the short kings movement – which she says applies to men under 6 feet tall – has led men to reject society’s idea that they must be 6 feet tall, and that they have become more confident in their height.
“They also reject the outdated concept that women should be shorter than the man they are dating,” she continued.
“The short king spring is the new hot girl summer,” the psychotherapist joked.
“Short Kings embrace their self-worth and see themselves with new eyes,” Jenn explained. “Men are moving away from measuring their worth based on height.”
She added that smaller men can also make me feel more secure because they don’t mind dating someone bigger than themselves.
“Women are also recognizing this untapped market of eligible men,” she added. “This expands the dating playing field in wonderful ways.”
Thalia agreed, saying she has noticed a definite shift in women actively looking for a short man, regardless of their size.
“As a matchmaker I interview women every day and I have noticed that height is becoming less and less important,” she said.
‘I suspect people are now looking for a deeper connection and are less focused on height!’