Preferred and actual relative height are related to sex, sexual orientation, and dominance: Evidence from Brazil and the Czech Republic

•Body height and dominance influence mate preferences and choices in heterosexuals.•We tested preferred and actual height in Czech and Brazilian non-heterosexuals.•Heterosexuals preferred ‘male-taller pattern’, and non-heterosexuals ‘equal-height pattern’.•Individuals who wanted to be taller than their partners wanted to be more dominant.•Androphilic men and women on average desired taller partners that they actually had.

Height and dominance influence mate preferences and choices. We explored preferred relative height (PRH) among ideal partners and actual relative height (ARH) among long-term partners in heterosexual and non-heterosexual men and women from Brazil and the Czech Republic. Furthermore, we tested whether PRH and ARH are influenced by own height, and submissiveness-dominance in relationship and sexual activities. In a sample of 1709 respondents (379 heterosexual men, 311 non-heterosexual men, 853 heterosexual women, and 166 non-heterosexual women) heterosexual individuals showed the ‘male-taller-pattern’ preferences and choices, while non-heterosexuals preferred and chose partners of a height similar to themselves; an ‘equal-height-pattern’. Regression analyses further showed that own height positively predicted both PRH and ARH in all four groups of participants. Moreover, non-heterosexual men and women who preferred to be dominant in sexual activities and heterosexual men who preferred to be dominant in relationships preferred to be taller than their partner. Thus, in Western populations, preferences for relative height differ between heterosexual and non-heterosexual individuals, but in both cases they relate to dyadic submissiveness-dominance and own height. Preferences for relative height and dominance can work as a guide to actual mate choices enhancing ancestral fitness, although they differ from actual choices in modern humans.