Over the past few decades, social media, the meritocracy and celebrity culture have fused to form a modern culture that... places tremendous emphasis on competitive display, personal achievement and the idea that physical beauty is an external sign of moral beauty and overall worth.

My God, you're almost there. Just say that capitalism wants to trash those who don't have immediate material value.

    • ButtBidet [he/him]
      cake
      hexagon
      ·
      3 years ago

      On the top of my head, I'd say that socialist countries would attach less economic value to beauty, and beautiful people wouldn't need to use their beauty to get ahead as much. I have no evidence for this, though.

    • SoyViking [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Every society has beauty standards, including socialist ones. However under capitalism a multi-billion dollar advertising industry exists that racks up these beauty standards to impossible levels for economic gain.

      Socialist countries had less straining and more lightly enforced beauty standards than capitalist ones. This is one of the reason why sex was better under socialism, since there were noone who earned their living telling women they were too fat or their noses too big or whatever, women felt better about themselves and as a consequence had better sex.