Man who Thinks Short Legs are Hot

I came across your blog, and I found it quite interesting. The subject of women with short legs is not something that gets touched upon much in media at all, so it was interesting to read your take on the matter.

Personally, I have frequently feared that I might be something of a weirdo (and a potential pariah, if I were to be open about my inclinations), as I happen to find short-legged women rather attractive. As far as my past girlfriends in the past have been concerned, I have always found it best to steer clear of the matter (so I might say things like "Oh, you are so hot with your flat stomach and your beautiful face and the way we like the same books and can talk about them," but I have never dared to add that I also found their short legs (in comparison to the torso) attractive, as I was afraid she might think of me as some kind of perverse deviant (or - alternately: feel overly conscious about her own body).

I keep wondering, however, whether this is the right thing to do. I know you have no authority to speak on behalf of short-legged women at large, but as far as you may feel your view is worth: what is your opinion of this dilemma - i.e., if a man actually feels (like I do, and I believe other men do as well), that short legs are a plus in a woman' sexiness department rather than a minus, would it be best for him to say that outright, or would it be better if he simply didn't mention the matter at all (since it could send the wrong signals, as in making the woman think that maybe he is just some pervert who doesn't truly love her but is merely attracted to features that she herself is uncomfortable about)?

I don't know if my letter is too rambling to make proper sense of, but if I were to try to make it less messy, my question is something like this: for those men who find short-legged women attractive, how should we communicate this viewpoint? Should we simply keep it to ourselves? Should we be open about it? Should we be open about it in general, but not mention it to our (short-legged) girlfriends in order to not make them feel uncomfortable about it (after all, one would suspect that few women would enjoy the thought of their boyfriend being attracted to them due to what many may see as some weird fetish or something)? Or the other way around? Or should one behave in some other matter entirely? Or does it all depend on the specific situation?

I don't know if you would find it interesting or worthwhile to address this matter, but *if* you do, I would surely find it interesting if you wrote a blog post about it (as in "Men who think short legs are hot: what you should say, and what you shouldn't" or whatever else may suit best). Though, of course, I would appreciate if you anonymized my own identity by referring to me by some appropriate nickname like "Does not agree with the ideals of the fashion industry" or "Thinks short legs look good" or whatever else would suit).

I realize that this blogpost suggestion may be something of an intrusion, since the website is clearly directed towards women, yet at the same time I think it may be useful to address the fact that - while our culture as large seems to celebrate women with as long legs as possible - not all men are unison in their preference for this, and to discuss the matter of how these men should best relate to the fact that their taste may (or may not) be deviant without hurting the feelings of their paramours. Even if you yourself might not have any specific feedback to make about it, perhaps your readers have relevant experiences.

Either way, I eagerly await your views if you chose to address the matter.

Yours truly
One man (among more than one might have thought) who think the long-torso/short-legs build is not at all a turn-off.


Lady Short Legs: Thank you for sharing your positive opinion. In regards to your question, I think if a woman is unaware of having short legs, then you should keep quiet, and just enjoy her beauty without mentioning the length of the legs. However if she is aware of her shortish legs, and is insecure about them by voicing this opinion to you, then by all means shower her with lower limb adoration.

When did I first Know Reader 1

I guess I had some idea from an early age because, even as a child, my mom used to comment about how difficult I was to size; my pants always needed to be hemmed. 

However, I didn't really have any context for the implications of my proportions until the age of 10.  I was invited to the birthday party of a girl who had recently started at my elementary school.  I was the only new school friend she invited, the other dozen or so party guests were all from her old school and were strangers to me.  We were doing some kind of a game seated in a circle when my "friend" blurted out for the group "Doesn't Marie look like she was cut off at the knees?".  Lovely. 

The comments continued into junior high.  Another friend told me that she had asked her mother why I was built so differently.  Her mother, who was an RN, told her that some kids have chromosomal defects that cause the growth of their legs to stunt in adolescence.  What an ignorant and hurtful remark.  It's clearly genetic; my dad and all his siblings (male and female) have similarly disproportionate bodies. 

In high school the remarks intensified.  I did have a fair amount of friends and was even at times in popular circles.  I also had some boyfriends and was viewed as "cute".  But I was also shy and sensitive and made myself an easy target for all those kids who loved to bully.  I was teased daily about my body and was called "low rider" by the meaner kids. 

I'm happy to say that the public commentary has declined in my adult years but there are still enough comments (from friends and from strangers) that I'm well aware my body hasn't actually changed.  Only the maturity of those around me has changed.  I do control what I can by keeping myself in much better shape than I was ever in as a kid, which helps to make my proportions less obvious.  I even enjoyed a few especially fit years where I was approached often with questions about my workout routine and diet and compliments about my shape.   Sadly, I've let my fitness level slip, I'm still lean but not nearly as fit, and my proportions have become more obvious again. 

To this day I am plagued by the memory of those many comments and I view myself as slightly deformed.  Though it reads as such mine is not a completely unhappy story.   I'm slowly learning to embrace other aspects of my body and to appreciate that I have always enjoyed excellent health and strength from this body.  I'm trying to take the good with the bad.  And, despite the somber tone of this email, I'm a happy (and sometimes funny) woman who is lucky enough to be surrounded by an amazing family and friends. 

I do believe that I would fit in among the more disproportionate of your readers.  I certainly hope that most, if not all, were spared the level of attention that I had to endure.  My hope is that sharing my story, will help your readers (and you) feel a bit better about their own experiences. 

When Did You Know?

When did you come to the realization your proportions were different? Was it a slow development, or a distinct moment when you knew?


When I was about eleven, my legs were somewhat bowed, and since I was skinny, it was even more noticeable. A friend of mine at the time practiced ballet, and I remember how we did a leg test, you were supposed to be able to hold a paper envelope between your knees. With my feet and heels touching, and legs relaxed, there were a number of inches of air between my knees, whereas her straight legs held the paper with ease. I was not eligible for ballet!

Around that same time some, a guy once exclaimed with disgust at my crooked, knocking-knees legs, and thus I mostly wore jeans and trousers from then on, this was my first "legs" insecurity, and I had inward facing knees as well..

When I became a teen I was quite interested in fashion, and remembered reading about Elle Macpherson 44 inch legs, and I also believed I had lengthy legs since I was very tall. There I was lying on the carpet in front of our huge floor length mirror measuring my legs, and I measured them about the same 40 ish inch length. Looking back, I know I had wrongly measured with my feet and toes pointing long and forward (adding 3 or 4 inches), and not from the heel. And so for a number of years I had unknowingly deluded myself at having supreme long legs, however they were still slightly bowed, not as much as before, but I was still slightly unsure of them.

When I reached my late teens I had a very loving and wonderful boyfriend, who happened to adore my legs, he loved that they were crooked, and exclaimed at how boring straight legs were. These were the happiest times for my legs. They were toned, and I liked the length, and shape, and everything about them. (Most tops were shortish on me but I cleared it as just being tall.)

When my teenage years ended, I began to discover that my legs were not long, but slightly short for my height. There was no distinct moment, but a collection of happenings that brought it all about. I don't recall the the chronological order but here goes:

• My beloved brother, not being particularly beloved hinting at my having short legs.
• My hubby, telling me my proportions were slightly different.
• My having a baby, and the OBGYN, telling me I had a "nice long torso" with lots of room for the baby, and that being the reason why my belly never got very big. And how she (the doctor), with her petite frame and small torso had had a massive belly with her baby.
• Being told by a chiropractor I had a long torso, and a flat back. Double bad, and the reason behind my flat ass.
• Being measured by a pattern maker who calculated I had arms and torso longer then normal (I think she said by an inch or so) which explained how most sleeves were too short on me as well.
• Seeing my cousin for the first time in many years, and being shocked at how long her torso was, and coming to the conclusion that this was perhaps genetic. However my mother has long legs, so it all came from my fathers side.

Once I came to the realization I had these particular proportions, I was depressed and became obsessive at trying to hide them. I would stare at my self in the mirror with disgust. When it came to clothes all I cared about was whether I looked long torsoed or not, I did not care for pattern or color, or style. It was at this time I began this blog, because had I ravaged the internet trying to find info about this issue, and found so little that I decided to create my own. And the blog has attracted many more readers then I ever expected, and has been a healing process for me, I am no longer unhappy about my proportions, and I discovered they are not as extreem as I believed.


Would love to hear your stories.

Loony Comments

We get quite a lot of comments on here, and I do read them all with great enjoyment, and I have picked out some of the more unique ones. These are insightful and amusing and some slightly wacky. Is that really the reason Asians have longer torsos? Do our limbs stop growing at the onset of menstruation?


“Bloody hell, I'm looking at this pic of all these top models and thinking I see proportionally leggier girls every day at the train station lol.”

 “Anytime you lose weight, it makes the torso look less big and the legs look longer. You can really see it in extreme cases. For example, the morbidly obese always look like they have very short stubby legs. When they lose weight, it seems like their arms and legs grow longer.”

“Sometimes, I think it's what us, women, prefer or like in ourselves. Like long painted nails, eyebrow shapes/plucking, huge hooped earrings. All very intense intra-gender competition.”

“A guy friend once remarked to me that a short waisted girl often looked under developed to him kind of pre-pubescent girl. And it's true, while the limbs grow prior to puberty, it's during puberty that the torso grows and becomes more womanly.”

“When we grow, our long limbs grow first (our legs and arms) and then our spine last. Actually in women, usually after our first period, the only part of our body that grows vertically is our spine. This is why pre-teens are often quite leggy and gangly looking.”

“The angle of women's legs from the hips can actually make women's legs look longer than they are from the front.”

“Asians usually have a long torso due to their vegetarian style since ancient times. They have long intestines to digest vegetables which makes their torso long.”

“About longer intestines, I've read an article about it on an Asian website, regarding the difference between Agricultural Tribe (East-Asians) and Hunting Tribe (Europeans). It is same as animals, such as Goat and Lion. Goats have long intestines to digest leaves.”

“The Hunting Tribe had to have shorter intestines because meat (food) rots inside the intestines, and would cause them to be sick if they had long intestines. But the Hunting Tribe is muscular which works for athletics/bodybuilding.”


“Do you think the lack of the waistline is because of the shortness of the torso, or because a lack hips and curves?”

office chair issue

A reader writes in with a question:

"Everyone always envy's my body for the tiny waist and womanly curves, but its because I hide my short legs with long boot leg pants and high heels."

However she continues: "My biggest issue is that I have a desk job in which I sit at a computer for 8-10 hours a day.  My head towers over my coworkers if I sit up straight because of my long back. That causes me to slouch down and now I have neck and back issues. I tried to lower my seat all the way down but it doesn't go down far enough. I was wondering what other people that are built like me do when they have desk jobs?"

Having your office chair lowered all the way down is certainly your best step, however slouching is not good for your health, as you said, and sitting up straight is always elegant regardless of how long your back is. If it really bothers you, you could look into office chairs that can go down even lower then your present one, however I am sure your co-workers don't take notice these things, and besides siting up high is nice, sort of regal like.  

What are your thoughts?

Update: A kneeling chair is one of the better options for our body type, as it keeps the spine in proper alignment, and helps you to sit up straight. A good source for such chairs is: ErgoDepot.

poll - least flattering clothing

Here is a poll, we all adore polls. The question is, what type of clothing do you consider to be least flattering for our body type, of long torso with short legs. What makes us look the worst?
You can select more then one answer.

Brave Reader 3

Here is our third photo submitter, she writes: "I'm looking for some advice regarding how I can dress to disguise my odd proportions. I have always had a long, fairly-thin torso and shortish muscular legs...but add a round bum, skinny ankles, and long feet to the mix and it just gets a whole lot weirder."

I do understand the way you describe your body, however it is not as "odd" as you believe it to be. Your legs are shortish and muscular as you say, however you have great ankles, slim ones are always good, (imagine if they were the opposite). Live Tyler was quoted saying this a few years ago "I’ll always have a more round stomach, but thank God I have thin ankles.” Liv does not have a long torso, and that is why she has a fuller stomach area. She means that not being skinny is saved by thin ankles which give a elegant slim look.

Your body is most similar to Kelly Osbourne's, now that she has slimmed down. I don't know if you are of similar height, you appear taller, but Kelly too has short muscular legs with quite pronounced calves, and tiny ankles, and a long torso.

Your calves in comparison are much slimmer then hers, and your ankle to knee length is good, and appears longer then the knee to hips length, which is desired.

Regarding your outfits, the top two are good; the bikini is adorable, and quite on track with our bathing suit advice, very flattering. The blueish dress has a wonderful high waist, fitted top half, and flowy from the waist down with a good length, and matched with the black tights and shoes, it's ideal.

The outfits with the black short shorts, would be better if the shirts were shorter, thus raising your visual waistline.

I general, I think you can follow all the clothing advice on this blog, your proportions are not odd.

Sorry Dear Readers

Yes my dearest readers, I have been a terrible blogger, and have not posted in more then a month. During this time I went on two ski holidays, which was wonderful, then got captured by that plants vs zombies game for two weeks or so, not wonderful, I am not a gamer at all, but it was kind of fun, and certainly too addictive.
I feel terrible, and am so grateful for your loyal following, and will do my best to not leave you hanging for this long again, or at least give you a warning in advance.
So, so sorry once again.

brave reader 2

Here is our brave reader number two, she says: "Many of the women you have posted have very long, lovely legs!  Or perhaps that's just compared to me.  I have very, very short legs.  My inseam is 23 inches, and my full height is five feet and one inch.  I've always heard that dreaded comment from friends: "You have a great torso BUT....your legs are too short."  Oh, I know.  I've forever hoped that I'd have a miraculous growth spurt and catch up with my peers at their 5'8'' or 5'9'' statures.  But no, I've always been the small one.  My short legs make it impossible to "work" an outfit like my long-legged friends.  I've been left in their shadows for far too long (Figuratively and literally)! Of course, I'm the short one in the photos.  I kept some of my friends in for contrast."

Dear reader, by looking at the photos I can see you are indeed short, however, your proportions appear close to balanced, your legs are not "very, very short", only a little bit short, it's your overall height that is petite. In fact your proportions are almost the same as your tallest friend where both of you are on the beach, with her everything is long (torso & legs), with you everything is shortish (torso & legs). Besides you have a nice body, slim yet curvaceous, with a very pretty face (I've seen it), so stop your insecurities.

I think in many cases we see ourselves much more disproportionate then we truly are, that is how it is with me, and the first photo submitter and you too.

brave reader 1

Here is our first brave reader to share images of herself with us. We shall call her "photo submitter 1" and she writes:
"I have forever been self-conscious as the result of a comment my voice teacher made once about my "disproportionately short legs." I'm not sure about the angles at which some of these were taken, though I am on stage in the one with jeans, thus the photograph was taken from the audience at a lower level."

Dear photo submitter 1, you have a great body and that blue dress of yours is gorgeous and entirely ideal for the LSL type of body as it visually raises the level where the legs begin. The tight dresses do flatter your slim and feminine waist, however they do show that your hips are a little bit lower down then average, and I mean only slightly, and only if I am looking at you in a critical manner. Otherwise you appear close to normal. However looking at the photo in which you are wearing jeans you appear very long legged, due to the low flattering angle. Really you have nothing to be insecure about.

measurements & proportions

Quite a number of you have asked me whether you are proportioned or if your legs are short. Here is an optimal at home method for measuring your trunk and leg proportions (Anthropometric).


This method is called The Cormic Index (Sitting Height):
1. Sit on the floor by a wall, with legs straight out and flat.
2. Have your bottom, back, shoulders and head straight and touching the wall, and your eyes gaze forward, and sit as high as you can.
3. With a hard book, or box placed on the top of your head, have someone make a small marking with a pencil underneath the book/box, or just keep holding the book/box. It is best to have someone assist.
4. Measure the distance from the floor (where you were sitting) to the pencil marking on the wall or to where the book/box is still being held. This is your sitting height, in other words the length of your body.
5. You can measure your total height as well if you are not aware of it.

With these measurements you can determine how long your legs are, by subtracting the sitting height from the total height.

My measurements are:
Height: 175cm  (69 inches)
Torso: 90cm      (35.5 inches)
Legs: 85cm        (33.5 inches)

Leg ratio 48%
Sitting height ratio: 51%

Apparently the average woman has legs that are at least 45% of her total height. 48% and up is considered aesthetic and preferred. You can figure this out by dividing your leg length over total height. (You multiply this by 100 to have a whole number if you wish)

To determine your torso proportions do the same as above but with the sitting height

One knowledgeable commenter went into great detail in this post here.
" If your torso ratio is .52 or .53, you are completely within the normal range, and also very average too by the way. You should have a longer torso than your legs by the way, most humans do. If you're below .52, then you have very long legs for your torso. Usually, only some select Africans and Aborigines from Australia have ratios below .52. Africans and aborigines can have averages of .49 to .50 although the range of their ratios will follow other human populations."

I also found this quote in one study: "The mean Cormic Index for European and Indo-Mediterranean populations is about 0.52. Africans have proportionally longer legs, in general, with ratios around 0.51. Asian and Far Eastern populations have proportionally shorter legs and means of 0.53-0.54 (Pheasant, 1986)."

However I do not entirely understand how the sitting height can be used as a torso height, as it includes the neck and head as well? And according to all of this my proportions are in fact normalish. However I am not entirely convinced.
How are you all proportioned?

Lastly, legs which are 1.4 % (Nicole Kidman ) of the total height are regarded as perfect.




More info:
Valdosta University Georgia USA sitting height data
Another measuring method video
Feminine Beauty site

message

Hello Ladies,
Just want to apologize for being away from the blog for quite some time (started a new job), however I have been reading and enjoying all your comments, and there are two great ideas I plan to follow through regarding the sharing personal photos and related experiences. And secondly sorry for changing the background so much, I keep trying to find the Lady Short Legs look, and am not entirely sure I know what it is yet. This one is ok for the time being.
Love ya all.