my dad 6 foot, my brother 6 foot, (me 5'5) I honestly think I am short because of a traumatic childhood, my childhood was spent being my brothers personal torture outlet, and I think it stunted my growth in a way, I also used to avoid meals alot pretty much to avoid my family and I wonder if that had any effect, in addition to it I had the pleasure of hearing the verbal abuse from my brother and father about being so small "shrimp, twerp, tiny" things like that I do not think had any effect on my when I was younger, but now that I am older and am aware how much it sucks to be a short male it bothers me

In my immediate family I am the shortest male - 5'4"; my brother is a whopping 5'6" and father was about 5'7" (can't really remember).  My stature is the result of bad genes-- classic Italian short guy syndrome, with my uncles, grandfathers, and all my great uncles being no more than 5'5" either.  But, then there are my male cousins and second cousins: many of them made it up in to normal height range and have had successful lives being blissfully unaware of any height issues.  Many of them are quite self-assured because they have never suffered the emotional distress of being short.  Maybe about five of them are my size, and I love standing around talking to them at a family party: it's SOOOO nice to talk to their faces, not their chests.   Another factor is that my mother was stressed by shock and grief and smoked heavily during her pregnancy with me.  Doctors claim it stunted my growth.  

To ThatFlyShortGuy-- No, not cheated in the same sense that vision88t meant when he started the thread. 

I'm 61, BTW. 

As I mentioned, many of my cousins, and then their sons and grandsons, have enjoyed normal height.  My own two sons do, too.  So, I just wish I could have not gotten the short end of the stick.    By my measurements of one of my grandsons at age 2.1, he may top out at 5'6" or so, with a taller sister who will probably be 5'8" or 9.  So much of his emotional adjustment hinges on his perceived self-worth.  I work hard to make sure it's going to easier for him to deal with this than my adolescence was for me.  Mine was the perfect trainwreck: an uninvolved, aloof father who did not build a sense of male worth into his sons, a silly, childish mother, insults and teasing from siblings and classmates; essentially I was doomed to have a really bad time accepting and dealing with always being the smallest man in a room. 

Nowadays, I am a successful professional, well-respected, talented, with a lot to be thankful for, including a loving, supportive wife who did NOT want to marry a large man. She purposefully chose a man who was short but had a big chest-- her favorite body build.  So overall, yes, I am blessed and happy. But, no, I have never accepted my lack of size as something good to rejoice in.  It is a physical handicap (in my mind) akin to deformity.  I live around it as best I can. I have succeed in spite of it.  But I could never ever honestly declare being the shortest man in the room almost every single time to be 'neutral' or a 'non-issue among mature professional people', or 'something that nobody but me notices anymore'.  That's ludicrous-- it still stinks.  It always will.  I'm just determined not to let it ruin my life.