Here is another stereotype to discard: The world's tallest people are not Polynesian or Tutsi or even American. They are Dutch. Those lowlanders claimed the height title in 1999 and have kept it ever since, with the average Dutch male now topping the charts at a head-turning 185.4 cm.
Even Japanese, once the industrialized world's shortest people, are catching up with Americans, who have not grown taller, as a nation, for half a century, according to scientists who measure such trends. That iconic photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur towering over the diminutive Showa Emperor in September 1945 no longer represents a general truth about the relative size of Americans and Japanese.
But does being tall matter? It clearly matters quite a lot to individuals, even though it shouldn't. We tell short children that height is an insignificant consideration, that it's who you are and how you conduct yourself that matters, believing it at least half the time. For girls, the argument is not such a hard sell. Fashion-wise, petite is just as good as tall and willowy, maybe better. There are always heels, too, to raise a short girl's stature and spirits.