Are Men Insecure About Their Height?

In mental health by Tree House Recovery

Height is something that either bothers men or it doesn’t. Many men are accepting of their height and the height of their brothers. Some men have beliefs that a certain height range is superior to others and by that logic some men believe that they are either superior or inferior to their brothers. Men can take their sense of height inferiority to an extreme while others may seem not to care, but take out their insecurity by other means.

One man in particular who stands out in history for having an issue with his height is Napoleon Bonaparte, one of the most influential war leaders in the history of the world. However, Napoleon was notoriously angry and aggressive, which history has come to blame on his short height. We get the term “Napoleon complex” from this anecdotal association- that men who have an inferiority complex about their height will compensate through anger, aggression, or other behaviors. Certainly, some men are insecure about their height and some men do turn to extremes to compensate for what they think is missing from their height. According to a new study, one of those extremes is less external and more internal. Shorter men are indirectly aggressive toward their taller counterparts.

A fascinating study put the Napoleon complex to test through economic games. Though the study does not prove causation, meaning it cannot verify that shorter men are aggressive toward taller men because of their shortness, the study did have some interesting findings. Big Think reports on the study published in Psychological Science which found that when shorter men were aware that taller men were unable to retaliate in a game, the shorter men were more likely to be selfish with available resources. According to the article, the study found that any kind of manifestation of a man’s issue with his height is more likely to appear in a situation where such a man feels, or knows for certain, he has all of the power.

Men’s insecurities with their physical appearances aren’t discussed enough, but men suffer trauma through bullying, criticism, and comparison against perceived social ideals all of the time. As men grow in recovery, it is critical that they learn to build a positive self image in total radical acceptance of who they are- every inch of them.