A recent phenomenon sweeping the world is one you might not expect — beautiful women dating less-than-average-looking men. Conventionally attractive women are not only interested in but are actively pursuing conventionally unattractive men. From Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker to Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson, we’ve seen quite a switch-up in stereotypical couples in the last few years and it’s trickled down from celebs to real-life couples. We see it in celebrity couples like Megan Fox and Machine Gun Kelly, in our closest friends and in ourselves. Why is that?
How?
How often have you looked at the guy that one of your friends is in love with and thought to yourself, “why?” How is it that some of the most beautiful women in the world are head over heels for men who physically do not even hold a candle to them?
Sure, nobody’s perfect, but how can it be that strikingly beautiful women are almost exclusively dating men way below their league? It seems almost unfair and is only natural to wonder if women are beginning to settle. But, what if women are actually attracted to these guys? What if ugly guys are the new hot guys?
Hear us out — women might actually be the perpetrators here. Most women look for a partner who has a good sense of humor, a great personality and unique interests — and sometimes, conventionally good-looking men simply don’t bring those things to the table. If a man grew up believing he was unattractive, he probably had to find other ways to stand out or make girls notice him, so he developed a sense of humor and charisma. If a man has been able to get by in this world on his good looks, it’s possible he never felt like he needed either of those things to land women.
Think about the internet’s recent obsession with stars like Seth Rogen — not your typical 10 out of 10, right? But there’s something about him that has the world in an absolute chokehold — is it his sense of humor? His personality? His movies?
Scale of 1-10
This tragic trend may have something to do with the recent discourse about the term “medium-ugly” and the “hot-ugly scale.”
The conversation about being a “medium-ugly” person started, as most things do, as a meme about not being good-looking enough to date conventionally good-looking people, but not being ugly enough to only date ugly people. A man might not be the worst-looking person on the planet, but standing next to a Victoria’s Secret Angel, he’s probably not going to match up.
The “hot-ugly scale” has similar roots to the “medium-ugly” concept. What started as a TikTok turned into a full-blown explanation as to why certain men are just unappealing, no matter how good-looking they are. There are certain men — Channing Tatum is a prime example here — whose good looks are so overpowering that they make him almost ugly. These men are considered “hot ugly,” as they fit the standard for men’s looks a little too well.
Ugly-hot men are on the opposite side of this aisle — their looks might not exactly be the beauty standard for men, but that makes them almost even more attractive. Think of celebs like Pete Davidson, Matthew Gray Gubler or Adam Driver — these men are by no means the conventionally good-looking men, but all of them are inexplicably good-looking.
Have a theory as to why all your girls are down bad for ugly dudes? Tweet us, @VALLEYmag, and bestow your wisdom!
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