Women tend to care less about "looks" -- or, at least, care differently. I have seen studies that indicate that women are typically looking for "looks" that suggest career success more than hot bod.
From http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-looks-and-online-dati...:
> As you can see from the gray line, women rate an incredible 80% of guys as worse-looking than medium. Very harsh.
> Paradoxically, it seems it’s women, not men, who have unrealistic standards for the “average” member of the opposite sex.
But there's also this:
> On the other hand, when it comes to actual messaging, women shift their expectations only just slightly ahead of the curve, which is a healthier pattern than guys’ pursuing the all-but-unattainable. But with the basic ratings so out-of-whack, the two curves together suggest some strange possibilities for the female thought process, the most salient of which is that the average-looking woman has convinced herself that the vast majority of males aren’t good enough for her, but she then goes right out and messages them anyway.
Perhaps this speaks to your "differently" point, but it's still amusing (or disturbing depending on one's relationship status) that online daters appear to generally be so disconnected from reality.
This really isn't shocking though. The biggest problem with online dating is that it gives people the false impression they have unlimited options. The perfect person (handsome/gorgeous, educated, fun, wealthy, emotionally available, etc.) who will put your past dates to shame could always join tomorrow. This dynamic leads to people becoming incredibly picky[1], so the bar for what constitutes "attractive", "educated", "wealthy", etc. is for many always rising beyond what will ever realistically be available to them.
[1] http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/PSPI-online_dating-p...
From my real life experiences, which mostly included asking female friends and colleagues, those studies have always sounded absurd, pretentious, and stupid. Looks matter a lot. Really a lot; for either sex. That is almost ubiquitously true especially for these dating sites.
This guy put it really good there:
> “It’s the visual. I don’t think anybody reads these things,” says Mr. Simkhai. “If you’re hot and attractive to the other person, you’ll meet them. Grammar? Are you kidding?”
That's exactly how it works, aberrations or exceptions aside.