ugly people aren't being bred out. heck, we have more obese people now than ever before.
what has happened however is that people are taking care of their looks more.
a variety of factors are at play:
- people have much better teeth today because of the dentist. plus, they've been drinking water that has stuff in it to keep your teeth healthy (forget the name of what its called - arg, its a simple term that we all know)
- clothing is cheaper and better than before. you can buy twice as many clothes today as you could 15 years ago for roughly the same % of your take home pay (thanks all you kids in taiwan, appreciate it). also there is much more variety in clothing. so basically the traditional jeans and t-shirt look is out and women are buying clothes that fit their body better.
- lots of clothing is designed to make chics look better - pushup bras are a big one.
- make up has advanced - except for that chic on the drew carey show - man she was fugly
- women are dropping serious coin on their hair, make up, skin cleansers, manicures, electrolysis etc... did they do that in the past? sure. but now instead of 10% of the women obsessing on their looks nad spending lots of dough doing so, 70% of women are doing so.
- things like boob jobs aren't a common thing where i live. but who knows, maybe in Cali they up the amount of hot women.
- as much as we have more fat people, we also have more fit people. diet and exercise are a part of a lot of people's lifestyles now. in the past women hardly ever worked out. now they all take yoga.
I know with myself i'm much more attractive than id otherwise be without modern asthetic trends. I can tell you that I:
- use those white strips on my teeth (I smoke, but still have pearly whites)
- work out regularly
- consciously eat good foods
- use a facial masque once a week
- use a pour cleanser once a day
- pay a bit more to get my hair cut at a good place
- wear nice clothes
- wear contacts (which were a serious pain 10 years ago, but now i dont even know they are there)
- have a good razor that doesn't cut up my face! (gillette you rock for making a vibrating razor)
so, remove all of the above (which would be commonly not be a part of 80% of people's lifestyles 15 years ago) and I wouldn't look half as good as i do.