Why is superficial such a bad thing anyway? People often claim, "I can't control my looks, judge me for my intelligence," or something of that ilk.
Going to look at a few factors, am interested in hearing good arguments, because I'm sure there are many.
Can you control how much money you have? To an extent. You can study hard, work hard, and take risks. Does not always work, but generally, it does. Obviously, it helps to be naturally book-smart.
Can you control your looks? To an extent. You can exercise, eat well, practice hygiene, take care of your face (facial products, shaving for men, etc), and dress well. Again, it helps to be naturally good-looking.
Can you control your intelligence/personality? Not quite so much. By intelligence, I mean along the lines of common sense and not necessarily book-smart (people don't care as much about that unless they want you to make lots of money, though some people tend to assume this goes hand-in-hand with common sense). How about how good of a conversationalist you are? There's no easy way to change this: it would help to join common-interest groups, but that wouldn't guarantee improvement. And if you are shy? You could be screwed in this category. And finally, your overall personality? You naturally have desires to be a certain way: generous, kind, evil, selfish, etc. that are mostly determined by your environment growing up. For all you nice people, do you think you could bring yourself to be mean for a full day? Lie, cheat, and steal? Threaten people? Hurt people? I don't think so. People can change over time, but I don't see it any easier to control than your money or looks.
All of these categories have both intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and I don't see any reason to say one is easier to control than another or that it is wrong for a person to value any one category more than the rest.
Superficial just is an insult that ugly and poor people use to make themselves feel better. Sorry to come out so blunt.
Flame away.
P.S. I voted for men.