We like to believe that teasing about appearance goes away after we graduate from K-12 schools, but that’s not always the case. If you’ve ever seen a post about Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, you know that people can get ruthless about couples that they earnestly believe aren’t «looks matches» for each other. People talk about someone being «out of your league,» or «punching above your weight class,» so much so that they have become completely socially acceptable to call somebody ugly. It’s not inherently nefarious to call someone good-looking, but to insinuate that they have more value and cannot be with somebody who isn’t up to their level is unkind at best. 

Although the dating world is rife with people analyzing others’ appearances, there are still places in society where that is totally unacceptable. A professor cannot call a student «ugly» in front of the whole class without incurring severe social consequences. A hiring manager cannot say that they want one candidate over another because she’s prettier. The latter certainly does happen, but any competent professional wouldn’t say the quiet part out loud.