By gawd, it's an ugly airplane. From every angle, those F-35s look like they've been broken somewhere behind the cockpit.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Speaking of which, what happened to the concept of all round visibility? Seems to have been sacrificed for stealth/aerodynamics/something.
True, it's not like an F-16, which allows airplane driver a good view of the vertical stabilizer without leaving his seat.
F-35's have rear and side looking video cameras. The pilot can view the rear on one of his multifunction displays. Many cars nowadays, such as the top of the line Honda minivan, have rear facing video cams.
You're right, canopies protrude rather high above the fuselage and allow radar reflections from object inside the cockpit. Such objects include the pilot.