Beauty

Here's a good article about beauty standards

Never in the history of the world have women had so many amazing opportunities, and it makes not a whit of sense to squander them obsessing over our looks.

Capitalism always trumps beauty—because it trumps everything. As we continue to grow in power as workers, spenders, heads of households, and legislators, our economic power will force a change in this so-called beauty bias. But we have to be brave and continue to reject the conclusion that turning ourselves into Scarlett Johansson is the only way to get ahead.

I would like to make one observation.  Yes, we as a society need to abandon the idea that everyone needs to try to conform to a standard of beauty.  But it is also true that there will always be a minority of the population who have a comparative advantage in being beautiful: their looks will be their best asset, because they were not born with the ability to compete on the basis of intelligence or strength or discipline.  There will always be a place for such people in any free society and economy, and they should not be condemned for who they are.  Of course, it makes even less sense to try to copy them, but we run the risk of going too far in the opposite direction.