RingoThis one is not great both in terms of prose and structure. I left out alot of the counter arguments I meant to address. It’s also probably 100% bullshit but hey at least I god words on paper.
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I have a theory. The theory goes, guys who are blessed with size tend to come with social problems of equal measure. For once I’m not talking about dicks though. I’m talking mainly about height but breadth of chest and shoulders plays into this too. The amount of Mass a man has is directly proportional to the size of the problems in their life and the amount of effort you need to spend working with them, ceteris paribus.
I know some big bois are out there saying hey what the fuck? I don’t have issues. I don’t bring problems to people’s lives. First off gianganto sit your ass back down so you can look me in the eye. That’s better. Now, everyone one got issues and we all make shit other people need to pick up. You ain’t that special.
“Ok, but I don’t do that more than normal.” Says my imaginary character created for me to use to create a point. (Side point, what’s the name for that? Like the people that aren’t Socratese in Plato’s books that he has Socrates beat up on for fun. I feel like there’s a literary term for it but can’t remember)
“Well Made up big guy, that’s possible because a) there are always exceptions to the general rules about societal things. Like for example head size is correlated with greater intelligence, but if you grab any two people and measure their heads you’ll be at 50% chances betting that the one with the larger cranium actually packs more brain power under the skull. b) As I’m about to go into, this doesn’t overcome things like getting therapy, learning communication skills, and other personal growth factors. That’s the whole all other things being equal bit. I’m saying you are worse than someone smaller than you who has that same background. c) Lastly, there is a sub part of this theory where I discount people who hit growth spurts late alot more. So if you were a late bloomer, then you much less likely to have Big Man Problems.“
Now that we’ve put Goliath over there at ease let me go into it. This is essentially a version of the ugly duckling theory. If you’ve never heard that it basically posits that pretty women who are easy to get along with were not that cute growing up and got it late in life. Because girls who are traditionally attractive are treated better they become spoiled and are allowed to get away with more, while those who are more plain have to learn how to actually get along in society. I haven’t been able to find studies to back it and I know of many of counterexamples in my personal live to this theory. It does however match my perception and anecdotal data, but hey confirmation bias is way more of bitch than any woman I’ve met so I’m not gonna stand here and proclaim any truth to this theory.
My theory on the other hand, I do have some evidence for. What I’m claiming is that boys, when they are large as kids, teens, and young men are treated better. They are able to use their size to get away with things(You remember the guy you sent to beer store to buy 6 packs because he was 6’2” with a beard freshman year?), to get better positions(Size gets preferable treatment in basically every major sport, which in turn gets you treated better at school, because ‘Murica loves sportsball), and naturally gets you better social position. This in turn leads to greater confidence which is linked to success later in life, where tall men have more financial success than short men on average. However, here’s the funny thing, if you control for when people hit growth spurts, it’s the men who tall in their teens who perform better and people who hit growth spurts in their early 20’s that advantage falls away. See the science here. https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~apostlew/paper/pdf/short.pdf
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that there are also studies that link height to better nutrition, which in turn links to better financial status as a youngster which is the single most important factor in how well a person will do in life(on average). Also there are studies linking height to intelligence in a linear relationship. So, there may be some more to it than just people treated them better and thus gave them better self esteem.
However, I still think that’s part of it and that the corollary shouldn’t be ignored. Everyone knows that rich and privileged are bigger dicks than regular folks. And if you don’t do some reading. It seems logical that this is because they get away with more. They are less empathic because they don’t have to be. People adjust to them and give them what they want. It’s easy to be self centered when the world really does revolve around you.
And I believe that for Men, height and size are two of the biggest stand outs for what makes you important. So when you hit that spurt early you learn that the world will react to you and give you what you want. You learn to get away with stuff, you learn you don’t need to take care of your own problems because it gets handled for you. And as such when you hit the real world, you are less prepared than those who had not those advantages.
But wait, there’s more. See being big doesn’t only come with advantages. There are also pressures. You’re expected to be strong and tough. You are the default one people look to in times of aggression and as such may either development an over active fight response or become overly passive. Passivity because either you are told so many times you need to respect you size and can’t respond in kind because you will hurt people or because you are simply passive but got challenged alot by bullies and other boys just looking to flex, because beating up the big kid looks good.
I feel like I shouldn’t need to explain how being big can make it so your more likely to jump or take insult, but I’m gonna. In case you’re under the assumption that size doesn’t matter in a fight, let me, as a fairly proficient small fighter, disabuse you of that notion. Size is fucking huge, pun fucking intended. It will not make up for a complete lack of skill but can cover up for a surprising lack and if everyone is at the same level, size wins 99 times out of 100. So growing up when no one knows how to fight, guess what? Big dudes win their fights, leading them to think they are good at them. And when you are good a thing, well you tend to do it alot more. So, yeah, big equals fighty.
We still aren’t done though. Being tall generally comes in two variations, big boned and bean pole. So guess what happens to those large bois in school? Yup, they get teased mercilessly about their body and how their size is freakish in nature. I’m just gonna briefly mention the pressures, to play sports, to be a man earlier(because you look like one), to be the alpha(please don’t message me about how wolf packs don’t have alphas and that study was bullshit. Chimpanzee and bonobos do and they are our closed cousins. Primates are often an alpha pack Order, so yeah, it happens in humans), basically to be above(ugh two puns in one post. Kill me now) the rest. So, yeah, the very thing they are getting praised for is also going to bring a bunch of bullshit negatives.
Add it all all together and you get big man problems …but maybe this is all bullshit and I’m trying to make up negatives to not being short cause I’m ashamed of my height. I’m just saying in my experience, particularly in terms of the sports I’ve played, big boys come with big boy problems. Such is life.