Uhhh, does "
Tall, dark, and handsome" ring a bell? And how many short leaders or men in power besides Napoleon (who has been historically ridiculed for being short and angry) do you know of? Be real, all other things being equal, a woman would pick a tall dude over a shorty every time
Napoleon was average height for a Frenchman from that time period. Ghengis Khan was short. Julius Ceaser was average height, Hannibal could either be considered average or short. Most of the most famous leaders in history were average height or short. So your point doesn't actually work here. And even if the point you were making were accurate, are you saying there was some specific system that kept taller people in power? Do you have evidence of this?
Or are you trying to say that women's preference for taller men is inherent, by which saying the same, that men's preference for light skin, is something you consider naturally ingrained?
Racial hierarchy, or color-ism?
This two interact with each other. Others have already said it but I guess it bears a need to repeat. There is a reason darker skin Blacks were treated poorly by slave owners (field and house negro?) and even today face harsher sentences than lighter skin ones. It is about being closer to white, the ideal. If you can't even understand that fact this discussion is unlikely to go anywhere.
Funny, because throughout history humans have always gravitated towards men who were tall and women who were fair in skin color. Mentioning history and 'current biases' doesn't help the argument you're attempting to make. At all.
See post above about tallness for men. Also, a historical preference for women fair in color is wholly inaccurate. If you are speaking about reading the word 'fair' as a description in historical European literature, both male and female were 'fair'. It was a sign of being upper class. I am shocked no one tossed this nonsense on its head. What did men in Africa do all those centuries, pray tell? How miserable they must have been, to never have access to the universally preferred fair skinned woman until they were taken in boats in chains or had their land/wealth from their land divvied up by European colonizers.
As for the term "tall dark and handsome" that you mentioned somewhere in your post, that was coined relatively recently (in the early 1910s 20s) by white people and dark was used to describe hair color NOT skin color. And white people of all races display colorism (preference for light or dark) amongst themselves
the least. Why did this universal preference for lighter skin in women skip over them? Could it have something to do with the fact that the racial hierarchy puts them at the top period, making colorism for the folks who aren't typically their color and must classify themselves as closer to it?