While working on my essay for my Communication Studies Theory class a few days ago I had to research news topics. Wanting to find a topic that would interest me, I stumbled upon an article about a dating website created in Denmark that has stirred up A LOT of controversy. This site, created by Greg Hodge has its members rate new applicants in order to gain entry. Back in January of 2011, the BeautifulPeople.com caused some anger when they made already existing members re-apply after they posted pictures of themselves looking heavier than usual thanks to the holiday season. Another jab by the site was toward an entire group as men from Ireland were rated as the ugliest on Earth by the site's members. The latest controversy that took place just a month ago was when a disgruntled former employ caused the "Shrek virus" to run throughout the site's software and accept thousands of applicants. After some review and rating, 30,000 people were dropped from BeautifulPeople.com as they were deemed "too ugly." Founder and creator, Greg Hodge went on to say, "We have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people -- that's what our members have paid for; We can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."
Now I don't know about anyone else, but something such as this seems absolutely ridiculous! Not only is it sad that a dating website exists such as this, but how narcissistic can people be? To actually put yourself on a site such as BeautifulPeople.com seems entirely vain and although it stinks that 30,000 people got accepted and later rejected, what did they except when apply to a website that basis everything solely on appearance. In an age when men and women are told to love themselves and their uniques qualities, it is definetly a step backwards when there are thousands upon thousands of people who are willing to let themselves be judged along with judging others instead of actually getting to know someone. I don't know exactly how effective online dating is, but I'm positive my soulmate would not be one who only chose me based on my picture.
In the field of cultural studies, Pierre Bourdieu's notion of DISTINCTION is a key word... The idea is that folks gain cultural capital by distinguishing themselves vis-a-vis others around them in any number of different ways. Notions of TASTE are closely related.... So, sad as it is to say, it seems to me that this site just HAD to appear, sooner or later. Yeesh.
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