I literally cannot stress this enough! It's the fault of Hollywood movies, TV shows, books, magazines, etc., since the 1960s, that have sociologically engineered people in America and the West, and in turn, fundamentally transformed dating culture into the nightmare it is now!

Pop Culture is what literally gave rise to the "Sexual Aristocracy", e.g., Leagues based on facial attractiveness! How so? Here are a few examples!

  • Media's matching game: Hollywood movies often pair up characters who are on an equal level of attractiveness, reinforcing the idea that people belong in certain "leagues." When a less conventionally attractive character is paired with a conventionally beautiful one, it's often a central plot point (e.g., the "makeover" plot).
  • Reinforcing the matching hypothesis: Online Podcasters and dating coaches frequently discuss the "matching hypothesis," a psychological concept that states that people are drawn to partners who have a similar "mate value" to their own. Pop culture portrays this phenomenon consistently, causing people to believe in a rigid hierarchy based on looks. Yet, far too many of these morons deny the Pop Culture factor and just resort to "the science" instead. Because by ignoring Cultural Anthropology, it absolves people of the need to actually address the REAL root of the problem and actually CHANGE the culture for the better. It's so easy to just point the finger and say, "It's always been this way!" when it hasn't!
  • Amplification by dating apps: I can go on for hours about how online dating amplifies these looks-based judgments, but I'll cut to the chase. On Badoo, Bumble, Tinder, and recently, Instagram, people can swipe endlessly on conventionally attractive photos, giving the illusion of limitless options and making them less likely to settle for someone perceived to be in a lower "league". Now, I am ALL for dating and marrying whoever you want, regardless of what "league" you're in, because I am against the very concept of "leagues". We don't live in an Aristocracy anymore, and average people aren't peasants/commoners that need to be grouped in with each other, attractive people aren't nobles that need to be grouped in with each other, and ugly people aren't serfs that need to be excluded, either! That said, the EGO levels of young people have gone SKY HIGH because of dating apps, and Instagram, now being used as a dating app, has exacerbated this! They work hand in hand with Hollywood!

These three points birthed the OBSESSION with looksmatching! It's bad enough that the Anglosphere has an OBSESSION with categorizing everything at large, and people are now categorized on a scale of fucking 1-10 based on how visually appealing their face is. Pop Culture reinforces this heavily, so any man who's a perceived "5 or 6" now has NO shot of getting a woman who's a perceived "7, 8, or 9". Pop Culture created a dating culture that, for the most part, only allows men to either date and marry someone as attractive or less attractive than them, whereas women are allowed to date and marry men as attractive or more attractive than them. Before this cultural shift driven by Hollywood and Mass Media, it was VERY common for men to be married to women more attractive than they, and way more attractive than them at that!

Unrealistic standards of beauty

  • A-list casting: Hollywood almost exclusively casts young, conventionally attractive, and thin actors as romantic leads. This overrepresentation creates a skewed perception of who is considered desirable, making it seem as if only a certain type of person can find love. I get we like seeing attractive people, but this undoubtedly has an effect in real-life, too!
  • Glamorized appearances: Movies and music videos feature perfectly styled and lit actors who always look their best, even during dramatic scenes. This creates a contrast with the reality of dating, where people are not always perfectly put together.
  • Highlighting physical attraction: While physical attraction is a natural part of romance, pop culture can make it seem like the only factor that matters. This can overshadow the importance of emotional and intellectual connection in real-life relationships. 

This is the stuff that's also made dating in real life terrible! In fact, it's dating apps and social media that have been exacerbating the looks-based superficiality for the past 14 years! These platforms turn dating into a game of swiping on filtered and airbrushed images, promoting insecurities and making beauty standards the highest they've ever been! It's made facial attractiveness the primary factor in choosing a partner, whereas back 70-100 years ago, it wasn't, and this is certainly true, a whopping 200 years ago as well! You can talk about women's dependency on men being a factor back in your grandma's era ALL you want, but in truth, it all comes down to dating culture and whether or not they know their value, not options or lack thereof!

Oh, and I should mention how we literally replicate the behavior and fashion of actors and actresses in Hollywood on a daily basis. Because High Culture has been on life support since World War I, Pop Culture has emerged as the dominant force in mass society, and with mass consumption, has caused young people to mimic, adopt, and embrace traits of their favorite characters or movie and TV stars! This is why High School and early College culture are the way they are. This has bled into dating for decades as the culture has been influenced by Mass Media!

Hence, American Pop Culture RUINED dating, and like a cancer, it has spread to other cultures around the world and has made their dating cultures into a mirror reflection of itself!