Visual Deception

I've recently been made aware of one of the [many] perils of online dating. Or should I say, one of the perils of making contact with someone via an online dating website.

You see, I entered the online dating stadium with an open mind, and portrayed myself very honestly so as to make sure I attracted people who are fully aware of my 'quirks'. What I didn't know was that the majority of men don't read a woman's profile at all. They just look at the picture. I can only assume that this is because the majority of men on this website can't read, and therefore rely on pictures to judge whether or not they will get on with the woman in question.

So, they make contact and move on to the next level of communication; emails. This is where both parties can assess their suitability to the other by asking questions and having pleasant conversations about the weather and such like, until they feel they're comfortable enough to make a decision on their compatibility. (Obviously, the men will have someone reading the emails for them, and most probably writing their replies for them too.) Once mutual appreciation of some degree is decided upon, a meeting, or date, is set up.

Up until this point, both parties would have exchanged pictures in order to make sure that there is some attraction there. Unfortunately for me, my chosen correspondee "only had one picture" and this picture was of him wearing a hat and sunglasses. I was a little dubious, but thought that he still looked attractive and had a good looking body. I showed the photo to others and they agreed that it was safe to say that he was an attractive man.

The date was arranged, and I turned up looking my casual best and waited for his arrival. In walked a man. My stomach dropped to the seat of my pants as I realised that this was him, and I cursed the inventor of hats and sunglasses. Additionally, I cursed him - he had deceived me on such a level that I felt positively cheated. Like I'd been told to expect Freddy Ljunberg and I was presented with Peewee Herman. It turns out that the sunglasses were in fact hiding a pair of eyes that I never did determine the colour of, as they were so small and squished it was impossible to ascertain. The cause of this squishing can safely be attributed to his oversized and deformed head, which was previously hidden by the hat. This head was large beyond reason and coupled with a furrowed, Neanderthal forehead and brow (cause of the squishing) was positively unsightly.

There was no going back, so I sat and talked to him (about anything but his elephant-man like appearance, though this was all I could think about) for 3 hours. Now I am faced with the question: Do I just ignore his 'follow-up' emails, or do I tell him that he's a bad person for hiding his visual appearance and he should really think about being up front about his ugliness in order to be matched with a suitable elephant-woman?