Beauty is no more perverted now than it was 1,000 years ago. The reality is that beauty is a part of life and you can't escape it. What is constitutes as beautiful by society's standards will constantly change, but beauty will always matter to an extent. You have 3 seconds to make a first impression. It ***** to hear that, but it is true. People will complain that they don't want to be judged for their appearance (tattoos, piercings, being overweight, having bad teeth, whatever) but that is what people initially judge you on. Just like with animals - they will not mate with another animal if they feel they are weak or will not effectively continue to advance the particular specie.
I can't really say how dating has changed since the internet, since I am 34 and the internet has been around my entire dating existence, but I do think that things like online dating tend to lean towards the superficial. It's like shopping online for clothes and then you get the item and put it on and it doesn't look anything like you expected it would when you saw on it on the 5'10 size 2 model. Clearly it does work since people get married from it, but apps like Tinder and Grinder where you are basically swiping left or right from a 3 second look at someone's photo just exacerbates the superficiality of modern dating.
And yes, it is true that looks only get you so far, but statistically tall good looking men are paid more than short fat men and will more than likely be in higher positions of power. I know it doesn't sound fair, because it's not and guess what - life is not fair!
Also, as a side note, eating disorders are not new either. I think we have more education around eating disorders now than there are 50 years ago when people would legitimately die from the disease because no one even recognised them as such.