Black Women Appear To Be Getting Smaller: ABC News

An economist in Germany has noticed a curious trend among Americans: For the past 50 years, black women have been shrinking with each new generation.

Young black women today are nearly an inch shorter than white women their age and about half an inch shorter than black women born in the late 60s, according to an analysis of CDC data by John Komlos, a professor of economics at the University of Munich in Germany.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[DontBeFoolish]

White Folks?

[Alvarask]

I won't comment on the article because it is self-explanatory, but this thread is absolute proof that Americans are getting dumber.

[jdmba]

SMH at the ridiculous race baiting.

[MPeter]

Black women just can't win. When they are curvy and voluptuous, they are derided and called obese and ugly. When they trim down as 'expected by society', the same media that maligned them for being obese takes up their case again!!!! Black women are alright. Take a hike and leave them alone.

[JoeHurley]

I think it's pretty obvious to everyone what's going on here. It's not good enough for the White Man to degrade and diminish Black Folks socially, economically, and legally... now they are literally diminishing black women. This is outrageous.

The fact that George W. Bush has been President for eight years is not a coincidence.

[kimleehan]

Abraham Lincoln said all men are created equal but he never took a shower with a black man, if he did he would have found out, some men are more equal than others.

[sasson]

You know that belief had a lot of its beginning in southern racists fearmongering over the overly sexualized black man. But you already knew that, didn't you.

[jdmba]

Right!! Am I the only one who HATES, absolutely HATES, when that comes up? You'd think I'd be proud of our men and that alleged stereotype, but it angers me, right along there with the "Black woman neck-rolling" stereotype.

[hamchunk]

"An economist in Germany has noticed a curious trend" among African American women. Check it out: Gunter wants ta be gettin' his freak on wit' da sistas!! Because, like they say, once you go German Economist, you are physically unable to go back!

[motoGpifupleez]

This article makes no sense beyond going out of its way to prove it is not at all throughly done. What exactly is the point of a research project where the end result is to say the research is faulty, therefore....nevermind.

And one more thing: How much did they spend to come to this "conclusion"?

[beebst]

strange research. why not do research that really matters?

[ObjectiveRealist]

Not easy enough for some people.

[Bitsko]

This is based on the research findings of one person in Germany. Big deal.

[KillBillV2]

Is this article trying to make black women feel inferior again?

I'm not really saying that short is a bad thing but the perception is that taller is considered to be more s uperior. In my opinion though I think smaller is better on women, but in the real world they always say height matters, and with this article coming from some German man who for some reason wants to study African American women just to point out they are getting supposedly "shorter" seems strange to me.

[BabsfromKansas]

I thought from the headline it would have some weight loss tips!

[brooklyncitizen]

me too : I

[dct1999]

I trust nothing that any US health agency says about black people. I don't trust the CDC data, and I don't trust this european economist who studied the data and came up with the conclusion that black women are growing shorter.

We don't have enough information to make a determination about the accuracy of any of this information.

But we do know the history of physicians and black people in the United States. Read the book medicalapartheid if you don't know the truth.

[gretcheno]

I don't either, every thing bad that happens if affects blacks and black women especially.


And if the trend is true SO WHAT!~!

[jdmba]

Hear, hear!!

[Curdleberg]

This whole article is just strange.

[DebofMD]

It is. I don't understand the point to it.

[LillianB]

Some of you should be reading the whole article before posting your opinions on it... When reading the whole thing you'd see not only that it's based on a huge number of people, but also that:

- It's not about weight, it's about height.
- The shorter trend is only valid for black women. Black men have grown taller in the same period. So has women from other backgrounds.
- Black women/girls from families with a higher income tend to become taller than women/girls from families with a lower/middle income.
- Nutrition can have an effect on how soon a girl enters puberty. As a general rule: The more fat and sugars (or "southern food"), the sooner puberty hits. Shortly after entering puberty, a girl stops growing. Same does not go for a boy.

Again, I'd say, proof that socio-economic status affects your health (through nutrition, and workout regime). And again, an example that one can't generalize come to racial markup, one has to consider the socio-economic or cultural background as well (or, even better, instead). I am pretty sure that if one split the group into "those eating more than one meal a week at McDonalds/Burger King" contra those seldom or never eating such foods, one would find the same things.

[Zhonni]

It is a stupid research and i refuse to read it all. I don't think it would add an ounce of knowledge to me.

[sasson]

How can you know it is stupid if you don't read it. You sound like George Bush.

[azcats11]

This comment is pending approval and won't be displayed until it is approved.

I think white doctors need to focus on cures for AIDS and BREAST CANCER and stop trying to portray black women as FREAKSSSS.

1st it was black women are more likely to get breat cancer, put what they failed to say is that black people are 12 PERCENT of the damn population and they are less likely to get access to decent health care. It has nothing to do with our skin.

alll nonsense