ARTICLE/ DATING: (NY POST) Short men don’t stack up with NYC women By Gary Buiso

It’s a tall order dating women in the Big Apple.

The likelihood that a man under 5-foot-9 is contacted by a Manhattan or Bronx woman online is a scant 1.2 percent, with Brooklyn coming in with a paltry 2.4 percent response rate, according to a study conducted by the dating site AYI.com, which analyzed 50,000 interactions over two months.

Staten Island short stacks had just a 4.1 chance of being chatted up online, and Queens mini-men rounded out the boroughs with 5.4 percent.

“People in bigger cities have more options and tend to be pickier,” explained Josh Fischer, who led the study.

Brooklynite Nick Rizzo knows the sting of big-otry all too well.

“It’s just a fact of life that most women taller than me aren’t willing to date me,” confessed the 5-foot-7 28-year-old, who said he has found that women are often “uncomfortable” when their date doesn’t measure up.

“Maybe they’re worried about how it will look to other people,” he added.

But there’s hope across the Hudson.

Shorties in Jersey City have a 7.6 percent likelihood of being contacted by the fairer sex — that’s a staggering 533 percent more likely than short men in Manhattan/Bronx.

“Jersey City, as opposed to Manhattan, has a bit more of a community vibe. People actually get to know each other here, and are a bit more laid-back,” said Bethany, a 5-foot, 28-year-old Jersey City woman who doesn’t mind dating a short man.

Still, there are some pitfalls when dating the diminutive, she warned. “Short men don’t always have Napoleon complexes, but definitely steer clear of the ones that do.”

Some short men don’t help their cause.

“I met an [online] date at a bar in Manhattan. He was already seated when I walked in,” recalled a 5-foot-6, 42-year-old Chelsea woman. “We had a nice time chatting over a glass of wine. When I got up to leave, I saw that the man who had said he was 5-6 was actually 5-0.

“I must have had a fairly surprised look on my face. To my horror, he said, ‘I can climb you like a tree.’ I made a hasty exit.”

Experts said size matters — because of evolution.

“Cross-culturally, women show a preference for taller mates,” said Dr. Jill Shapiro, a biological anthropologist at Columbia University. “Most people think it’s related to sexual selection. Taller men are perceived to be healthier, be better providers. By being tall, you are signaling that you have good genes.”

So what’s the matter with Jersey City women? Evolutionarily speaking, a lot, said Shapiro.

“It’s going against the normal pattern for most humans,” she said.