January 28, 2022 - 5:28pm
Does the Internet have an unhealthy obsession with young girls? There are easily hundreds of digitally grown aesthetic movements, subcultures, fashion styles, micro-celebrities, and archetypes that hinge on the deification of neotenous features. To name a few: e-girls, Instagram face, Cracky-chan, Valerie Lukyanova, Venus Angelic, Belle Delphine, Bella Poarch, Neekolul, j-fashion, k-fashion, living dolls, anime waifus, Zoomer ethnic ambiguity, coquettes, nymphettes.
What do any of these words and phrases mean? Who are these people? About the only thing that ties them all together is their youthful appearance: big eyes, small noses, and tiny lips on women and girls, both real and imagined.
The obvious explanation is that these people, groups, and trends are different expressions of the same thing: our long-standing obsession with female youth, now accelerated by the attention economy. The financial reward here is clear: Diana Deets/Coconut Kitty and Maria Tretjakova/Olivia Casta are just two examples of women using filters to give themselves more neotenous features and making thousands of dollars from OnlyFans.
As OKCupid founder Christian Rudder once famously said, “From the time you’re twenty-two, you’ll be less hot than a twenty-year old, based on [OKCupid’s] data. So that’s just a thing.” It was a shocking assertion — that there could be such a big gap in attractiveness between the ages of 22 and 20 — but the data backs his claim. Older faces are consistently rated as less attractive than younger faces. Women with baby-like features (that is, large, widely spaced eyes, and small noses and chins) are judged to be the most attractive in cross-cultural studies. And a quick look at PornHub data from the past five years reveals that the most popular porn actresses, in both the amateur and professional categories, tend to be those with neotenous features, too. The same is true of OnlyFans too.
But something else might be at play too. Take the porn star Belle Delphine, who’s regularly accused of making herself look younger. Yet the strange thing is, it’s not that she’s necessarily making herself look more child-like — pubescent, or even prepubescent girls don’t even look like her — but more cartoonish, like an anime character.
On the face of it, this may seem odd, but looking at the PornHub data again, surveys reveal a desire for something less-than-human; hentai was, for example, the number one porn category for 2021. So perhaps the end goal isn’t so much approximating youth but rather trying to give the impression of something not fully human that happens to share some qualities of youth.
That’s what comes to mind when I think of girls like Venus Angelic, Beckii Cruel, and Bebe, of the mother/daughter duo, “BebopandBebe,” all famous for sporting this anime-inspired, neotenous look on social media. The former two, who were 13 and 16 at the heights of their fame, respectively. Bebe might be as young as 7 and is certainly under 10. All three of these girls go to great pains to achieve the anime-esque, neotenous look through make-up, lighting, angles, and filters. They didn’t and don’t naturally look like that — not even Bebe, who’s a child.
This is unquestionably a disturbing trend, and one that has been turbocharged by social media. Juvenilising adults is yet another peculiar symptom of our hypermodern age and the scary part is, we don’t even know how much further down this rabbit hole we’ll go.
Katherine Dee is a writer. To read more of her work, visit defaultfriend.substack.com.
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SubscribeBecause men like young looking women.
Next article: what *are* those bears doing in the forest.
And also because young women are competing with other young women. For money, for clicks, for status, for ‘access’ to the most desirable men.
Newsflash: women like young looking men as well – especially those men who are least likely to need pharmaceuticals to perform sexually.
The myth of the attractive older man is just that: a myth.
If a woman had to choose between a poor young man and a poor old man, the old man won’t even be considered.
But there is something very attractive about an old man rich enough to afford a sexy pool boy and a team of handsome landscapers.
Newsflash: I’ve also heard–reliable sources, but can’t confirm so far–that individual women and girls have also attempted to change their weight–or at least how they appear (Photoshop?)–to make them appear to weigh less than they actually are.
I read that once upon a time magazines did this as well. And some girls/women don’t put their correct weight on Tinder. Cheeky! Who knew?
Perhaps UnHerd can do a long form story on this bizarre trend, if it is still a trend…..
It’s not a trend. It’s a thing.
The amount of times I’ve heard women say “Ew” to the thought of a 5-10 years younger boyfriend/lover simply surpass by far the amount of times I’ve heard men say “Ew” for an equally younger woman.
For sure a young healthy yet still mature is preferable to an old, decrepit man. But to say that female preference for mature men and male preference for young women is a myth is simply wishful thinking. All young men, snubbed by both older women and women their own age because they prefer more mature men, can tell you that.
“If a woman had to choose between a poor young man and a poor old man, the old man won’t even be considered.”
Exactly. It would be nice to think that this is so obvious that it doesn’t need stating, but in this context it appears that it does actually need to be pointed out.
How very odd, who would have thought that?
I think the issue is that these women are trying to look underage. I’m a red-blooded straight man and while I certainly like the female physical attibutes that tend to go with youth – slender fit body, clear eyes, supple skin etc – I want them on an actual woman, not a child or a teenager.
These days I find that fitness/slenderness is more likely to be found on older women anyway: is it just me, or are the teenagers generally fat nowadays?
Correct, empirical evidence would suggest that most are giant blobs of quivering lard.
Obesity is the curse of the modern world.
…and wearing spandex!
It’s not a symptom of a hypermodern age. It’s a modern expression of something very ancient in fact even older than us as human. Youth is a sign of fertility.
The sooner we move beyond the absurd, arrogant views of ourselves as blank slates the sooner we can address this grotesque spectacle.
Women are more fertile at age 24 than they are at 20, so there goes that hypothesis.
Among chimps (who are supposed to be our closest primate “relatives”) older female chimps with higher status attract much more sexual interest from males than adolescent females, who often have to beg males for sexual attention.
We are social creatures, and among social creatures it’s status that is most attractive when it comes to mating and the guaranteed survival of offspring.
Teenage girls are forbidden, while women in their early 20’s are not. It’s the social taboo that ignites interest in younger women, not their fertility.
And because we are humans, not chimps, we are free to break many of the cold biological rules that chimps are forced to live by: we are not blank slates, but more than any other animal, we are cultural creatures. Our attractions are often irrational and completely divorced from the means of reproduction (young gay men are desired far more than older gay men, yet fertility is a non-issue).
Also, what we fantasize about is often very different from what we actually desire.
If you say so.
I read somewhere that female chimps are fertile to the bitter end. That fact, coupled with years of experience of raising offspring makes them highly desirable mates I would imagine.
Human girls missed a trick there.
Trust me, guys dont give a lobster about the status of a woman. Indeed, the reverse is almost certainly true.
I’m not sure where you got the idea that women are more fertile at 22 than 20 but I’m sceptical. I can’t imagine it makes much difference. What I do know is that back in the day, like way back in the day women started being ruled by the moon younger than today and also didn’t live that long.
The opposite is true, women menstrate earlier and earlier through time.
Also women are not instantly fertile from the start of menstration. Very early pregnancies are risky.
The lady upthread is correct, early to mid twenties is the optimum time biologically speaking.
So it is. Learn something every day.
Then it is high time for chimps to break away from the cold biological rules that force them to live that way! Free the chimps!
Well, you know how much trouble Steven Pinker got into for pushing back on the blank slate conjecture. I agree with you though, it is nonsense.
Why do women of ONLYFANS pretend to be girls?
Because the modern secular-humanist, Postmodernist, Liberal/neo-Marxist Universities, Schools, Social Media, MSM, and Entertainment industry are out to destroy the West by destroying the family, community, marriage, Nation, Culture, History, Morals, ethics, religion…. and so on.
They do it by promoting all which is degenerate and repressing all which is decent. How could everyone not know that answer?
But if they are succeeding this suggests that majority opinion either agrees or is indifferent.
They succeed because sin is pleasurable for a time.
But then comes the price – the concequences to you, your family, your work, your community, your country and the world.
… and then we go back for more.
That’s the history of the world in a nutshell.
Thank you Dave. Do you think that people recognise causality in their actions? Even in retrospect this can require more courage than many people are willing to bring to the situation.
If the popular culture teaches decadence and pleasure seeking and anything goes without judgement – then it is more likely to have adherents than the Judeo-Christian teachings of Hard work, morality, thrift, constancy in marriage, duty, and morality.
Very true. I was interested in Dave’s use of the phrase ‘ . . . for a time.’ I am not sure if people recognise when that time is up!
I do not exclude myself from the failure to do as I know I should. So I can talk from experience, as I am sure we all can if we are honest with ourselves.
Whether it be eating what I should not (silent reflux means that coffee, chocolate, and cheese cause throat damage – but I drink and eat them quite often still) or taking a second look at something I know can be what Jesus says is an adultery of the heart.
Yes, we know when the pleasure ‘time is up’. This is when we kick ourselves for giving in to the temptation yet again. Or better still we ask for forgiveness, repent, and look for ways to avoid the place of temptation. (e.g. do not bring things into the house,replace with alternatives, put on a family filter, or whatever is necessary).
Doing the right thing brings incredible and long lasting rewards. If we ensure we take time to appreciate the blessings then it can give us strength to overcome the temptations.
Bit of a stretch, that. OnlyFans and the people on it are there to make money. They’re not in the service of a poltical agenda.
This article seems to be all observation and no analysis, which is disappointing because the phenomenon described here is quite interesting.
The gist of the article seems to be that adult women are changing their online appearance to look cartoonish. They emphasize big eyes, small nose and small (apparently pouty) mouth which are ‘neotenous’ (thank goodness I once took an embryology class) features more characteristic of children. But the women end up looking more like anime characters than human beings.
So what?
The author asserts this is “unquestionably a disturbing trend”. Why?
I’m guessing we’re invited to conclude that men are more attracted to pubescent, potentially even pre-pubescent, females than to mature females, but is that really what the data show? The photograph accompanying this article (which an Unherd editor, rather than the author, probably chose) shows an attractive woman on the left and her younger iteration on the right. The image on the right seems sexually playful: there are cat ears drawn on and a gold chain that might suggest bondage games. Her appearance could be interpreted as a bit of fun rather than something darker–perhaps the author could explore that possibility.
If I was allowed to choose the image that accompanied this article I’d draw the eyes, nose and mouth on a black background: exaggerated female features in a vacuum. Is that what men are looking for? A certain type of sexual characteristic separate from all the baggage that comes with interacting with an adult woman?
Lots of potential in this article. Maybe the author will explore the reasons behind this ‘neotenous’ phenomenon rather than offer the unsupported conclusion that it’s a disturbing trend.
Neotenous… That is my new word for the day (spellchecker doesn’t know it either 😉 )
Yes, its repeated use (also a new word to me) seemed to be a distraction from what is otherwise a mundane article reminding us that the internet is utterly saturated with pr0n and all the wackiness that goes with it. Well, knock me down with a feather!
I was listening to an interesting piece on the radio the other day. It seems there is “beauty ratio” of shoulders to hips in men, and waist to hips in women. These ratios have steadily increased in cartoon depictions of super hero type people to the extent if you saw them on a real human it would be weird. Nevertheless they are preferred by people choosing pictorial representations of beauty.
You’re right, there is a more interesting article here about the psychological sources of these preferences.
That aside, I find reading some of these articles disturbing in that they describe a world I just know nothing about, and am slightly repelled by, but seems to be where everybody else lives.
With respect, you are wildly wrong on the “beauty ratio” in men. Throughout history the beauty ratio in men has been measured in a slightly different way–not shoulders and hips but net worth. Money and power. You didn’t know? It was in all the papers?
ALL of these strippers, OnlyFans girls and other sex workers are excellent psychologists when it comes to separating men from their (hopefully excess) cash. Remember Freddie’s talk with sex worker Aella, where she specifically talked about certain words that caused men to give bigger tips–words like “rescue,” “hero” and similar.
Finally, excellent point in your last paragraph. I don’t know this world, don’t really want to, and am surprised at how mainstream this seems to be.
You might enjoy googling “golden ratio” which seems to universally underpin human perceptions of attractiveness.
1.62 is the answer ….
That’s it! I couldn’t remember the basic premise of the radio piece but it was around the golden ratio.
@james you’re quite right of course. The golden ratio can be a quite different measure of attractiveness and probably a more reliable predictor of sexual interest.
Is it, though? Most women have zero trouble attracting sexual interest because men tend to have an extremely low bar when it comes to their desires.
I’m 60 years old and I still have young men -often in their 20’s -come on to me in extremely inappropriate ways. It’s gross.
My husband is 62 and extremely handome, yet he never has young women come on to him – ever.
Perhaps that’s what the fantasy of the young woman is about – young women are not only forbidden, they are often quite choosy about who they sleep with – which would make the fantasy of being desired by a younger woman fairly addictive.
Perhaps men not only desire these young women, but fantasize about they young women desiring them.
You are obviously a right cracker, Penny.
$1.62 billion? Or is that €?
James, stop blaming your lack of wealth on your inability to attract women.
Cheers, Penny: Cheeky! Such insight, such knowledge. Based on…..?
Was I really doing that–“blaming my lack of wealth for my inability to attract women?” Tell you what–send me your contact details and I’ll send you my financial statements–audited financial statements.
And I’m doing fine with women, thank you.
The answer to everything is 42.
Sorry, James, but you’re talking about the kind of men women most want to exploit, not the kind of men women most desire sexually.
One of the sexiest things about a rich old man is his ability to afford a hot young pool boy.
With respect, I disagree. The sexiest thing about old men–or so I’ve been told–is the complex formula with actuarial tables and net worth.
Not to belabor the obvious, but the more €€€ the old guy has the longer the length of time a young/ish girl will wait. If he only has half a pile, he should be half dead.
That’s what I’ve been told by heretofore reliable sources…..
I sympathise. What the hell is ‘hentai’?
I think it’s a gross form of Japanese kiddie porn anime – but I could be wrong.
I noticed this too and not only in this article, which is only eight paragraphs. It seems that UnHerd has at least two different kinds of articles: longer form, with deep analysis that take some time to read and digest, and much shorter articles like this, which are really just throwing up a topic and asking for readers to comment.
This article could be “Women on the internet keep pretending to be younger and younger.” Please discuss.
I read many of these articles wanting more. I get more in the comments, which often add much to the debate–the “article” (8 paragraphs–is that even an article?), which are often extremely thoughtful and insightful, truly added value.
OnlyFans is just medium for caterpillar-browed trout-pouters to wear orangeface while walletraping their simps.
vocabulary lesson please! It’s colourful, but I don’t quite get it. A glossary would be helpful.
“Caterpillar-browed” refers to the trend among some young woman to paint huge thick eyebrows onto the front of the face.
A “trout-pout” is the facial expression of a woman, typically captured in a selfie, and signifying the administration of Botox to the lips.
“Orangeface” refers to white people of either gender who have spent too much time on the sunbed.
“Walletraping” refers to the financially rapacious behaviour of demimondaines.
“Simps” are men who are exploited by the women they want to sleep with.
Thanks. Important to know!
That pretty much sums it up. I do admire your choice of language though.
Je vous remercie profondement.
Neoteny in sexual attraction has been the norm for thousands of years, it is not a new thing. In fact most modern human women retain at least some neotenous features all their lives and have done for millennia. This is, admittedly, simply because humans evolved to be like this: previously, adult women had the same developed jaws, wider noses and prominent brows that men had, and therefore looked a lot more male than modern adult women do.
Our biggest problem these days is cultural neoteny: the maintenance of child-like attitudes into adulthood. It’s wreaking havoc, frankly.
I do not understand the current fad of some women to have their lips grossly inflated with some form of filler. I am reminded of fish from the family Cyprinidae – carp, goldfish etc. I find it repulsive.
I suspect the take that this phenomenon represents an attempt to embody aesthetics from anime and manga (which, if pornographic are called hentai) is correct.
Humans are the neotenous ape.
Probably naturally inclined to select for neotenous features. & the internet exaggerates/ turbo-charges this inclination in some ways
True! Our faces look like baby apes!
Good grief! The level of ignorance!
And those below talking about older women and younger men!
Men’s amygdala’s and hypothalamus are 3x bigger than women’s, wired straight to the optic nerve: when we see a woman our sexual response (via these ancient brain centres) gives us a bump of testosterone and dopamine.
Women don’t get this because they are built to be chased/desired.
Men’s sexual response happens at 1/5 speed of conscience thought.
FFS get this in sex education in schools – we’ve known for decades….
… and other bumps we could do without.
If you think women dont lust after seeing a sexy bloke you dont know any honest women.
Many online actual sexual images are often with little pubic hair and this is also true in society more now (naked dating-CH 4). I think male porn images follow a similar development as described in the article.
It’s a race to the bottom… women competing with other women for money.
Female SMV is heavily dependent on age. That’s not a secret.
Clicked on the article to see if it could possibly be as silly as the headline. Yup, it could and it was.
Boxxy should be in that list, in my humble opinion.
From and evolutionary perspective, looking at the characteristics that result in more healthy babies (for the tribe to flourish), we would expect:
That people are surprised at modern manifestations of this is itself surprising.
By the same analysis we should expect: