Had Beautifulpeople.com (hereafter known as the Gestapo Dating Service) been upfront with prospective members about their appearance standards -- and turned these "ugly" candidates away at the door -- their policy would have been rude but defensible. The "velvet rope" standard has long been used by clubs (including night clubs, of course) to weed out undesirables and maintain a level of attractiveness among clientele. This is a private establishment's (or company's) prerogative, however questionable their Sophie's Choice standards for membership. But to kick out members after the fact, on the basis of some belated beauty call, is simply cruel and immoral. It is also ABSURD, since one man's rottweiler is another fellow's Mona Lisa (and one woman's schnauzer is another's Brad Pitt). De gustibus non est disputandam, as the Latins knew. It is ludicrous to dispute taste, especially the erotic kind, which thrives not on perfection but on quirky subjectivity.

One wonders, too, about the sexist policy being used to execute this Brigit Jones pogrom. Are men and women being judged by the same desirability standards? Or are women being nixed on a more superficial basis (the presence of blondeness and big boobs, for example), while less attractive male candidates (especially those with big jobs or incomes) are allowed to remain? Anyone who's spent any time on the dating scene knows that it's a man's game out there; for every squinty-eyed, hairy-eared, male troll looking for a good time, there are five attractive females willing to cut him some slack if he's a gentleman, picks up the check, and doesn't carry bedbugs. One look at the pantheon of ugly dudes who consistently attract gorgeous women, Hefner, Sarkozy, Berlusconi, et al., is enough to make the point that -- when it comes to the pretty-ugly divide -- the dating playing field for men and women is anything but level.

Naomi Wolf made this point glaringly clear in The Beauty Myth, her classic 1991 study of how appearance is used as a weapon (a power tool) against women. Wolf posited the idea of an "iron-maiden," an intrinsically unattainable standard of beauty that is then used to punish women physically and psychologically for their failure to achieve and conform to it. She argues that forced adherence to standards of physical beauty has grown stronger for women as they gained power in other societal arenas, that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely socially constructed, and that the patriarchy determines the content of that construction. Though 20 years have passed since The Beauty Myth was published, this "tyrrany of hotness" has only gotten worse, and folks like the brass at Beautifulpeople.com are the reason why.

As for your suggestion about defending the rights of "the ugly," or forcing the less-than-gorgeous to get a makeover, God forbid! A compassionate society does not dignify the shallow, short-sighted demands of the horny men in charge. It warns them to get off their high horse and take a good hard look in the mirror. They might be appalled at what they see.

Don't change a thing,

Mark 

If you have an ethical qualm, concern, quandary, or query, please write to me here.  I will do my best to answer within the week.