It is such a drag for someone who is drop-dead gorgeous to be surrounded by ugly people. Well, if you are in that situation, there is hope for you. My eye was caught by this item about a dating site that caters only to beautiful people. The website is refreshingly frank about their mission, which is to enable members to “Meet REAL beautiful people who actually look in real life as they do online” and “Browse beautiful profiles of men and women without sifting through all the riff raff”. One can become a member only if the existing members think you meet the high standard of beauty

Wondering how one becomes a member?

Entry to BeautifulPeople lies with the members through the unique rating module. Members of the opposite sex vote for new applicants. The majority vote is the deciding factor in being accepted into the community. While applicants are awaiting the rating verdict, they may browse existing members’ profiles and connect with them through the various communication tools on the site. These include Email, Instant Messaging, Video/Voice Chat, Board Comments and Group Discussions.

If an applicant does not get voted in, he/she may resubmit with a better profile picture and more interesting profile text.

The fact that one is voted in by members of the opposite sex suggests that they are only seeking people with straight sexual orientation. But what I still don’t understand is how any purely online operation can guarantee the looks of applicants who send in their own profiles, a well known problem of the internet.

But now they plan to open a club in West Hollywood in 2017 that will solve that problem because people will be able to meet in real life. If one is a member of the site then one can get in to the club relatively freely but your guests will be checked at the door to see if they meet the standard.

While members of the site are automatically given the pass, guests will have to be judged on their appearances – literally. Managing director Greg Hodge says a model, a celebrity fitness trainer, ‘Hollywood insiders’ and a Beautiful People executive are part of the panel who will determine who’s hot enough for the club.
…

Hodge said they decided to open the club – complete with Swarovski crystal chandeliers, professional hair and makeup artists for those needing touch-ups, and even a nearby helipad – because their members were tired of going to places with other, everyday folk.

“We listen to our members and they are fed up of going out to expensive bars, hoping to meet similarly beautiful people, only to spend the night wishing that the lighting was lower,” Hodge said to the UK Sun. The club is set to open in 2017.

But there is a loophole. If you are sufficiently rich, you may be given a pass on your looks, with Hodge saying “Rare exceptions will be made on the grounds of wealth.”

When one reads this, the first thing that comes to mind is that this must be some kind of spoof. But as far as I can tell, the website is real and has been around for some time and this club venture is also real. And when one thinks about this, it seems to be natural extension of the way US society is moving. We already have the rich separating themselves from the rest of us by living in gated communities. So why not gated communities where one is only with beautiful people? Or, the ultimate Utopia, only rich and young and beautiful people?