It has become an expectation...but that doesnt mean the guy "must" be taller. I would treat it as a bonus if a guy I was dating was taller but if not, it doesn't really matter.

Age shouldnt matter but it does - as you said, when you're 16 a year or two is significant...even when you're older gaps can still be a bit of a problem if theyre perhaps thirty years or even more - it's not so much the gap that is the problem though, more the reaction the couple might get from other people...

__________________
"When I was 4 years old, they tried to test my IQ.
They showed me this picture of 3 oranges and a
pear. They asked me which one was different and
did not belong. They taught me different was
wrong."
- Ani DiFranco -