In praise of short men: will the rise of ‘short kings’ spell the fall of toxic masculinity?

Today is short king appreciation day a day to celebrate the short men in our lives. The main message? Having a low center of gravity neednt correlate with having low self-esteem

Last summer, 24-year-old comedian Jaboukie Young-White coined a new nickname for short men. It wasnt a jokey name a put-down poking fun at the little guy but an honorific: Short kings are the enemy of body negativity, he wrote on Twitter, and Ill be forever proud to defend them.

In 2019, taking ownership of ones identity is the ideal mode of being and those who carry their genuine, multi-dimensional selves with pride deserve respect.

That includes short dudes, a segment of society who, while not exactly persecuted, are certainly prone to being overlooked.

Young-Whites paeans to short kings encourage us to confront societys overvaluation of mens height, and recognize the guys under 6ft whose positive attitudes render them nothing short of regal. A short king isnt just any male-presenting person of modest stature its someone who has the strength of character to flourish in the face of conventional male beauty standards.

As such, 5ft 7in, Spiderman actor Tom Holland is a short king, as are Pulitzer-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar (5ft 5in) trans actor Ian Alexander (5ft) and (short) king in the north Kit Harington (5ft 7in), who admits he allowed taller actors on the set of Game of Thrones to ruffle his hair.

Yet celebrity is by no means a requirement to be a short king. Any short man can be a short king (including my own 5ft 7in boyfriend, my match in height and ginger hair). Young-White (himself 5ft 9in) includes all men under 6ft in his movement, though many have pointed out the average American man is 5ft 10in, making that the more accurate cutoff.

Young-White decreed last 21 June as the first short king appreciation day, kicking off what has become a year of public declarations of short king love.