Can ‘Heightmaxxing’ Outsmart Your ‘Famine Genes’?
For some South Asian men, getting taller is now the ultimate status symbol — and even a way to correct a historical wrong.
In the 2025 film Materialists, Pedro Pascal’s very rich, very hot character, Harry Castillo, admits to New York City matchmaker Lucy (Dakota Johnson) that he wasn’t always the epitome of male perfection. Once upon a time, he confesses, he was only 5’6” — that is, until he decided to get leg-lengthening surgery with his brother. “It changed our lives with women completely,” Harry shares. Lucy later breaks up with him.
Flash forward to today’s world, and most folks are doing some kind of maxxing. They’re protein-maxxing, fiber-maxxing, or even looksmaxxing — the latter involving everything from “bonesmashing” to injecting themselves with peptides. Now, the next frontier seems to be, well, height.
You’ve probably seen that viral TikTok of a girl who claimed she rejected Zohran Mamdani on Hinge because she thought he was lying about his height: 5’11” or 5’10” had to be 5’9”, she reasoned! And so, South Asian men, who tend to be shorter than the global average, might feel the pressure even more acutely. So just what lengths (no pun intended) are they willing to go to counter this destiny? The Juggernaut dove into multiple global studies, spoke to heightmaxxing influencers, and grilled medical doctors to find out.