Men rate women's attractiveness in a normal bell curve distribution pattern, most women are in the middle, and less and less are at either extremes. Whereas women when rating men, show a positively skewed distribution where the majority of men are rated on the lower end. So why do women rate men this way? No, its not because the majority of men really are unattractive.

The reality is that to women, a mans attractiveness is linked to social proof. This is why a woman might have a crush on a guy in her uni class who's really a 6/10, whereas if she didn't know him he would be invisible to her when out walking in the streets. Because in order to be in that class, they need to meet some requirement of social status. Out in the streets a random guy could be a bum, a violent person, a total loser, brokie, in her class people are more likely to come from a middle upper class family and socioeconomic status, meet a certain educational requirement, and have future prospects in gaining wealth.

Social proof can come in a variety of ways:

• obviously being in the same social circle and being known to the women in the circle is social proof, you don't even need to personally be known to them, e.g. if they're a friend of a friend or a family friend and they are aware of you.
• The way you dress can also denote social proof if you use it to stand out in a good way, the standard example being a suit, wearing a suit in certain scenarios where most people dress casually makes you look more important and of higher status.
• Social proof can also be shown through your relationship status, its a common phenomenon where married men are seen as more attractive than when they were single, since it indicates that he's enough of a catch that a woman locked him down, often called the "wedding ring effect".
• And of course being a celebrity is enough social proof.

This also applies to online dating, men will be rated harshly based on their physical appearance, unless they present themselves in ways that show social proof, like pictures that show them as the centre of attention with many of their friends, especially with other women, pictures which show social proof in their hobbies and lifestyle e.g. doing martial arts, them in front of expensive cars, in exotic locations, even simply professional portrait photos convey that you are important enough that you were able to have a professional photographer take a photo of you instead of another bathroom mirror selfie. And the real show stopper is if you can link your profile to your social media that has a large following.