Tom Holland Considers The Gendered Height Double Standard As A “Stupid Assumption”

Tom Holland has had the world falling in love with his top-notch performance as Peter Parker in the MCU's Spider-Man films. In the movie, he has a girlfriend - MJ, played by Zendaya. Aside from the impressive scenes of the two actors, many viewers notice that MJ is blatantly higher than Peter Parker, making the couple a bit unsuitable.

Source: USA Today

During a press interview on SiriusXM last year, host Jessica Shaw referred to the "problematic" stereotype that women should be shorter than their male partners in heterosexual relationships, referring specifically to Holland and Zendaya, who plays MJ. Holland answered by joking that Zendaya is "not that much taller" than him, then went on to explain that the difference in height isn't an issue.
"It's a stupid assumption," he claimed. "It's ridiculous. I remember when we were doing the Spider-Man screen tests, I mean, you'd have to ask [director] Jon Watts this question, but every girl we tested for both roles was taller than me. And I wonder whether that was a decision Jon had made, there was no one who tested that was shorter than I was. To be fair, I am quite short. So maybe that's a decision Jon Watts made, and something he was aware of, and he wanted to break the stereotype."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlGIv1cLOvA&feature=youtu.be
The conservation followed Shaw's mention of their kiss in Far From Home. It was a "sweet moment," according to Zendaya, who also expressed her gratitude that they didn't try to "cheat" by framing the shot so that Holland appeared to be taller than her.
Jacob Batalon, who co-starred with them, encapsulated the conversation even more clearly when he said: "It's not a weird thing for women to be tall."