I know it's a meme that women usually complain about unrealistic beauty standards, and i get that, both women and men are expected to look a certain way. But dating is way harsher for men who don't fulfil those standards. Dating in general is harder for men for the following reasons:

1.The average woman has options. The average man doesn't.

  1. Women date who they want. Men date who they can.

This already puts men at a disadvantage. Now, let's compare female and male beauty standards.

  1. Women are usually expected to be thin, with big butt and boobs, pretty face, neat eyebrows, long hair, tanned skin. Most of these are things you can control. If you are fat, eat less and lose weight. If you have a small butt, go to the gym and work it out. Shape up your eyebrows, grow out your hair, get a tan. Women also have make up. With makeup, you can enhance how your face looks. I've seen women with and without makeup and it's like a different person. Makeup also increases SMV and shifts the dating market in favor of women, thus increasing their standards. Most importantly, women are forgiven if they don't live up to these beauty standards. For example, there are men who like overweight women, there are men who like small butts, small boobs etc...

  2. Men are usually expected to be handsome, tall, with a full head of hair and a big penis. You also have to be confident and experienced. Most of these are things you can't control. If you have an ugly face, you can't put on makeup to enhance it (i know women usually say something like this when someone brings it up, that men can also wear makeup. No woman would ever date a man with makeup on). If you are short, you can just grow up. If your hair starts falling out, you can get a transplant but it's going to cost thousands of dollars. If your penis is small, you can't do anything about it. If you aren't confident, it means you haven't been given validation. You can't make people validate you. If you have no experience, you can't just gain it if nobody is willing to date you. And most importantly, men aren't forgiven if they don't live up to these standards. No woman wants to date someone shorter than her. Most women wouldn't date someone who is balding/bald. No woman would ever want to be with someone who has a small penis.

So in summary, the majority of women's standards are things that you can change about yourself, and even if you don't, men will forgive you about it. The majority of men's standards are things that you can't change about yourself, and women won't forgive you about it.