"Manlet" is not a demeaning term but in the manasphere simply describes a short man who builds a muscular body (i.e. "gym maxing") to compensate for his lack of height with the objective of garnering the interest if attractive women. "Jacked & Stacked" (Hardcore self-improvement coach) has a YouTube channel for manlets & normies. He's a manlet himself (5'7" 190lbs) and a MIT grad with a career field in engineer. So, you got a smart guy here:
My self-esteem, personality, charm, etc, is just fine. A single lady (divorced no kids) moved into my neighborhood about year & a half ago. She's a Stacey with beautiful blond hair, stunning blue eyes, 5'7" with a gorgeous body - a definite "9." She's an avid runner and also cross trains, so she joined the gym I'm at. I introduced myself welcoming to the neighborhood & we starting small talking at the common mailbox center down the street as well as at the gym at the times we would see each other there. Knowing that I was no way in her league - I asked her out anyway (one of those "what the heck moments" Lol). She said no of course, but offered a "friendzone" relationship. She told that I was personable, charming, funny & a real "nice" guy. So, for the next year or so, we hung out a couple of times per week in her free time going for drives, dinners or doing some cross training at the gym. We texted each other almost every other day. It was euphoric for a normie like me to be in the accompany of such a beautiful woman. 😍 I thought I died & went to heaven. Lol.
Well...after about year or so, that all came to a screeching halt when she met & fell in love with her "Chad." "Chad here was a 6'2" buffed guy with a six-pack, and an attorney by career - so he was a very high-value man (she also works in the law field but is not an attorney). Furthermore, she's now engage to the guy & we don't hang out anymore (her finance dosen't want her to) & we barely text each other anymore also. 😣
I don't blame her for falling for a "Chad" - genetics have been very good to her. She can get any good looking guy she wants - she's in very high demand from the Chad's. And as a normie, an ultra-short one at that, I simply didn't meet her looks threshold for anything else other than a good friendship (who would have thought. Lol.
It's difficult for most short "normies" to date attractive women. You've got to bring something else to the table in the form of either looks maxing, gym maxing, money maxing or status maxing or a combination of these. Personallty, charm, humor and all stuff sn't going to work by itself. It's not insurmountable but it takes a lot of work and LUCK.