fishes around in pockets and puts 2 cents on the table
So, my take on it, for what ever it's worth, it that there are a lot of various factors involved in this. I don't see that much of this, but I usually connect on Superhero games and Places We Don't Mention (in polite company); both styles where Pretty is the norm. For both women and men.
Saying that I have noticed this on certain games. Some Slice of Life games, some Supernatural games. And when the 'pretty-shaming' happens there, that's where the multiple factors come in
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Distrust of Player/Motives. Having played several female PC's over the years, I understand the GIRL effect; Guy In Real Life. Making a pretty female character can be (although not always) a sign that the player is a male, leading to all sorts of mental disconnects with other players, especially for male players looking for TS. The other half of this coin is the automatic assumption is that a pretty female character is just there for TS-bait. This assumption grows with the amount of 'purple prose' in the character's description (i.e. Her cupid's bow lips are plump and moist with a natural red color like freshly picked strawberries...).
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RL Issues. Let's face it; this is not a hobby with an overlarge percentage of mentally stable participants. I'm included in that with my depression, commitment issues, and ADHD. But, we do have a somewhat-deserved reputation for attracting the socially maladjusted. It's not a large percentage, but it's noticeable. And it's amplified because these kinds of players tend to be on all the time and have a greater amount of participation. We're going to have the incel crowd with an amplified voice/presence, is what I'm saying. So, pretty female characters are going to set these folks off by reminding them of the 'bitch cheerleader that wouldn't go out with me in high school just because I liked comics/anime/RPGs/other. Definitely not because I never used deodorant and was always staring at her boobs...' This can even pass over with a general social anxiety; 'Everyone says she's a great RPer, but the character is just too good looking and social. She's never going to want to RP with a character like mine.' So, that gets twisted into hostility; preemptively rejecting the character before she 'gets a chance of rejecting me'.
So, what's the solution? Unfortunately, this is something that the 'pretty hater' players need to work on themselves. As a community, all we can do (and usually do here) is stick up for the players that get caught up in the issues of the player's putting out hate because of their own issues. I'm not saying that playing a misogynous or misandrous (male hater) character is wrong or even invalid, but that's a thin line that's only slightly easier to walk than playing a racist/predjudiced character.
