Tinder’s height filter is a new low for dating apps | Tom Bowden

Let me preface this by saying I’m a happily married man but sometimes you have to call out bulls**t when you see it, writes Tom Bowden.

Okay, so I need to clarify one thing really quickly for those of you who know me and have read the headline so my phone doesn’t blow up all week – I’m happily married.

Have been for almost half my life now. Got three kids too. Sorry ladies. You’re not missing much.

So what I’m writing about doesn’t apply to me specifically, but you know how every now and then you read about something that gets you so miffed you have to call it out as the bullsh-t it is in a column in a national newspaper? That’s pretty much where I’m at.

So I read earlier this week that Tinder has introduced a height filter to some of it’s premium subscribers, allowing them to filter out those hopeful candidates who aren’t tall enough for their liking and clearly aren’t worthy of their love and affection.

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It’s designed to deliver just the ideal matches, based on what your personal preference is, and spare these seemingly unlovable freaks who don’t measure up – if you pardon the pun – from disappointment when they show up to a date at a cafe, a cinema, gun range or local abattoir (I’m not sure where people go on dates these days – as I said I’ve been married for almost half my life and have three kids) only to be greeted with a look of sheer disgust and have to face the crushing reality that their worth as a member of the human race can be determined by a tape measure.

Now before you start firing off in the comments about how I’m probably just an angry, lonely little man with a Napoleon complex, I’m 199cm tall.

In terms of having skin in the game, were I to play it, there’s a good chance I’d have too much if someone’s gone and set a 6'4 height limit.

Dating app Tinder has introduced a new feature that allows users to filter profiles by height. Picture: iStock

And so the question stands: How tall do you have to be to be worthy of love? And if you can rule out those apparent unlovables who are too short or too tall, what’s next? Weight? Boob size? Hairline? Dental history?

Where does it end?

And what does it say about the success in the past of people falling for folk who weren’t their ideal type? The Sharon and Davids who went on to have five kids and be happily married even though “he wasn’t really my type but there was just something about him and we really hit it off.”

What about the short funny guy who wins his date over with his wit, or the tall girl who charms him with her sensitivity? They won’t get the chance now, because they won’t even get a date in the first place.

Maybe that’s a good thing.

Maybe they deserve more than the sort of person who can’t see past something as trivial as how far their hair is from the earth.

So ditch the apps.

Go meet a partner the old-fashioned way, as new research shows a growing number of people are doing. Go to a bar, a club, a sports game. Say hi to someone at a park or the shops. You’re going to continue a relationship in the real world, so why not start one there?

To all the short kings out there reading this, or the towering giants thinking ‘well that’s me cooked then’, take heart.

There are still plenty of people out there who care more about your personality and what you can bring to a relationship than your verticality.

And if you’re the sort of person who refuses to settle for anything less than ‘perfect’ maybe consider lowering your standards.

Sure, margarine’s not butter, but it can still be a good father to your children.

Oh and if you match with me on Tinder, shoot me an email. Someone has obviously stolen my identity. Happily married, remember.

Originally published as Tinder’s height filter is a new low for dating apps | Tom Bowden