“It’s not the height; it’s the lie” is the refrain blowing up the comments section of one Oklahoma woman’s DateTok. And fellas, in case you’re wondering, the internet is not going easy on guys who fib about one specific thing.
The lie that’s got everyone up in arms?
Height.
More specifically, men on dating sites who add a couple of inches for first impressions. According to TikToker Alicia Dawn (@byaliciadawn), it’s gone from being a one-off fib to a trend.
“The last two guys I was talking to were from Hinge, and they both lied about their height on the dating app,” says Dawn in a TikTok that’s been watched 81,300 times. Standing at a height of 5’7″ has given Dawn a sense of how tall someone is.
So now, Dawn is using the dating app’s prompts to help weed out potential fibbers. She says she used the “Recently I Discovered” prompt to say, “Recently I discovered that men are lying about their height on this app.”
The Tall And The Short Of It
She says a guy who “assured” her he is 6’1″ DM’d her. She told him she’d believe it when she sees it. So he asked her out on one of her preferred dates: a coffee meet-up. She says she agreed but that she’s packing a tape measure just in case.
“Wouldn’t it be funny if I pull up to the coffee shop, and, like,” she says as she whips her arm up to mimic the action of measuring someone. “And I tape measure [him] just to make sure.”
She continues talking through a fit of giggles. Then she pauses and says, “But I don’t think he’d actually say anything about the height comment if he wasn’t actually 6’1″.”
It’s Not The Height, It’s The Lie
Multiple folks in the comments correlate a man’s height to a woman’s weight, with MotoMatt (@motomatt_ninja650) even going so far as to ask, “But like, if a guys brings a scale, is that insulting?”
But Dawn clapped back. “Men have preferences too, they want us to be thin obviously from all the weight comments. I wasn’t aware men were allowed to have preferences but women aren’t,” she wrote.
Other men said they can’t get dates when they post their actual height. “5’4″ man here. Always honest on my profile. Hence why I get zero matches. Honesty doesn’t help,” Eric Rubin (@erubin82) wrote.
But others pointed out the red flag here is not the height—it’s the lie.
“They’re literally lying from the get go,” one viewer wrote. “I can only imagine imagine what they’d lie about in the future.”
But perhaps it’s Milhouse74 (@milhouse74) who got the last, most reasonable word in. “Don’t lie about height. Don’t lie about age. Don’t post filtered pics. Both genders. It’s that simple,” he said.
But Was He Really As Tall As He Said?
The comments section on her first video sent people into emotional spirals. So Dawn came back with an update. According to her, the coffee date guy was “pretty tall” and a “very, very kind gentleman.”
But she also wanted to clear the air around comments like, “It’s not about height, it’s about love.”
“Let me clarify something,” she says. “We all have preferences. And that is OK.”
Her preference? Wearing heels. So she says she prefers someone who’s taller than 5’9″.
She ends with an apology of sorts. She says, “I’m sorry if that butt hurts some of you short kings. But sending you love, and prayers, and you will find someone who aligns with your… height.”
Why Do People Lie On Dating Apps?
In a 2018 study, the Stanford Report found that people lie for the least shocking reason ever: to appear more interesting and dateable. But here’s the surprise: The study found that most people are actually pretty honest. “Nearly two-thirds of participants reported not telling any lies. But around 7 percent of messages online daters sent were reported as deceptive,” the study said.
BroBible reached out to Alicia Dawn via her email. We’ll update this if she gets back to us.