Obelix Syndrome: lacking self esteem in the age of online dating

"Me? Fat? No, I'm just tall". This is the famous phrase from the French comic book character Obelix that inspired the name of this little-known syndrome, which is becoming increasingly widespread.

Also associated with Napoleon syndrome (an inferiority complex related to short stature), Obelix syndrome refers to the tendency of individuals to lie about both their height and weight: they usually tend to claim to be slightly taller and weigh less than they actually do.

Obelix syndrome affects both men and women. According to some studies, men tend to alter their height the most, while women alter their weight more commonly than men.

According to a study conducted in France by the Institut de veille sanitaire cited by Le Figaro, almost all of 629 French citizens said they were taller or weighed less than they actually did.

The divergence between the declared data is, on average, 1.05 kg less in weight and 0.79 cm more in height. These differences were more significant among individuals aged between 55 and 74 years compared to other age groups.

According to Le Figaro, the differences could have been even greater if the respondents had not been warned in advance that they would be measured for both weight and height.

There were even bigger differences in another study conducted in the United States by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2007/08.

By analyzing the height of 2672 men and 2671 women, it was concluded that men tend to increase their height by about 1.41 cm on average, while women by about 0.84 cm.

But why lie about our height or weight? Experts say we do it to appear more attractive, while it also denotes a lack of self esteem.

In the age of dating apps, it’s even easier to lie about aspects of our appearance. According to Medicina Online, the dating app OkCupid discovered, following a survey, that its male users were altering their height by about 5 cm.

However, the truth about our appearance will come to light during in-person meetings, and anyways, there’s so much more to attraction than appearance…

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