Why does this make them shallow? Everyone, and I mean everyone, has physical preferences when they are seeking out a partner.
I think it's more the subset of women who categorically dismiss any man who is shorter than they are that the OP sees as shallow. Sure everyone has physical preferences, but everyone has psychological, emotional, intellectual, etc. preferences as well. Nobody's truly your perfect match, and you have to give-and-take a little bit across your preferences if you don't want to end up alone. And I think it's a little stubborn when people flat-out refuse to give at all over the most rigid variable of them all. Not that unlike a man
only dating DDs or black women or something. Again, not just preferring them, but actually going on the record as "I only date DDs."
To the OP, I'm going to tell you the cold, hard truth: You're 5'8 and you're never going to grow taller than 5'8. The sooner you can accept this, the easier it will be for you to live on with it. But hey, I'm 5'5-5'6 so it could be worse ya know
A lot of people are suggesting that you start eating and lifting weights. This is generally good advice, but not necessarily because it will distract women away from your height. It's still shallow dating a man because of his sexy muscles, but something you'll quickly learn if you start lifting heavy is that it's not easy to transform your body like that. There are some women out there who will look at a man in great shape and be attracted to him not purely because of aesthetics, but because of the effort and commitment he must have put into it in order to look like that. Not
that much different from being attracted to someone who worked really hard in college, works really hard at a job, plays an instrument really well, and so on. Plus, exercise will add structure to your life as well as helping you feel confident in your own skin (and height).
Try to not even make your height an issue with women. Some women who wouldn't find your height unappealing might find "nobody wants to date me because I'm so short, poor me..." a turnoff. And in this case YOU ruined it for yourself.
If everything fails, get some phat raver pants and hide some heels under 'em
