According to a Daily Pennsylvanian article from May, boys in the US and Asia are more likely to face pressure to be "normal" (read: tall) than in other countries. In fact, they're twice as likely as girls to receive growth hormone treatment. In Europe and other countries, there's an even split. I guess it shows where the power is. The big businesses are for the most part, in the United States, and Asia is very much growing in terms of money. CEOs and many politicians tend to be taller (in the United States, the taller presidential candidate is more likely to win than the shorter one. The 2004 election was a fluke with 5'10" (5'11"?) George W. Bush winning over the 6'4" John Kerry) than average. These countries are also more traditional when it comes to gender roles (sure, the United States is light years ahead of many parts of Asia, but Europe, especially the Scandanavian countries, is well ahead of the United States. But that's another story for another blog).
I think it's time that we rethink our attitudes towards shorter guys. I don't think boys should be subjected to hormone growth treatments just because they're short (not that girls should either). I think our society as a whole needs to rethink what power is. Power should be about the brain, not what a person looks like. If we continue to believe that only certain shapes have "more presence" (i.e. tall males), women would find it much harder to get ahead and break the glass ceiling.
