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here’s a new name in the headlines, a new trainwreck we can’t look away from. This time it’s 20-year-old Clavicular (or “Clav”). He’s a “looksmaxxing” influencer who spends most of his time livestreaming his Miami party lifestyle and advocating for extreme body transformation. That’s not why the media’s all over him, though. Clav’s piled up an impressively awful reputation over his year-ish of fame, and seemingly for good reason. Allegedly he had non-consensual sex with a minor, injected her with non-FDA approved pharmaceuticals, started a physical altercation on stream, and shot at an alligator among other things. That’s not to mention all the neonazi incel stuff.
Personally, I have no doubt that Clav causes serious harm and I wish the best to everyone he’s hurt. This article isn’t going to be about that, though. I don’t feel like writing slam pieces about 20-year-olds no matter how shitty their behavior. I’m also not interested in stirring up a moral panic about ‘kids these days’ smashing their bones with hammers (yes, Clavicular “bonesmashes,” but it’s more of an eye-catching meme than a core part of looksmaxxing). Instead, I’d like to talk about what looksmaxxers get right, why we’re so scared to admit it, and how we can move towards a better future without all this BS. Oh, and the meaning of life. I’m going to talk about the meaning of life. Strap in.
Looksmaxxing 101
Before we get to the interesting bit, here’s some basics for the uninitiated. Looksmaxxing is an internet trend focused on improving (“maximizing”) one’s looks. Popularized on TikTok during the early 2020s, looksmaxxing content purports to teach viewers how to become more physically attractive. There are looksmaxxer guides to achieving sharper jawlines, ‘hunter eyes,’ toned bodies, and more. Less invasive “Softmaxxing” methods exist (and some, like mewing, are absurd enough to get their own media attention). Predictably, the internet’s even more interested in gawking at extreme “Hardmaxxing” methods like unauthorized substance use and plastic surgery–methods Clav’s become the face of.
Young men and teenage boys make up the bulk of the subculture. Anyone who heard the term “looksmaxxing” before 2020 can guess why. It’s no secret: looksmaxxing is an incel thing. “Maxxing” and “Mogging” are broad internet slang now, but even Clav will tell you looksmaxxing originates from “PSL” forums, the original stomping grounds of incels. I wish it was just a linguistic holdover, but it’s more than terminology. Clavicular doesn’t endorse suicide and claims his woldview isn’t “anti-women”...but he openly advocates for restoring “male dominated societies.” Unsurprisingly, incel ideology underpins the looksmaxxing subculture.
Incels came up with looksmaxxing, after all. Some in this suicidally nihilistic misogynist community started it as a strategy for overcoming their “involuntary celibacy” in the 2010s. If you believe all women are superficial, hypergamous bitches who’re only interested in “Alpha Males” it makes sense you’d try to become one (an Alpha Male, not a hypergamous bitch), although that’s another incel strategy I simply don’t have the time to get into today. Credit where credit’s due: looksmaxxing is a better plan than some other incel strategies…I mean it’s not the best idea but it’s better than hitting women with vans, right?
Looksmaxxing =/= Healthmaxxing
Looksmaxxing isn’t the worst plan incels have come up with, but the bar’s on the floor. As plenty of other articles have covered already, tons of looksmaxxing routines are just horribly dangerous. I mean, Clavicular’s admitted to “methmaxxing” in the past. Uh, do I need to say it’s a bad idea to do meth? Steroids are also a major part of looksmaxxing. I think adults should have the freedom to take steroids if they want, but marketing them to a teen-heavy audience is a recipe for disaster. Oh, and banging hammers against your cheekbones until you swell up also isn’t the safest thing in the world.
Admitting to “bonesmashing” and “methmaxxing” is a great way to get clicks, but one danger of looksmaxxing isn't so eyecatching. As Clav said during one interview,“If you asked me seriously ‘what’s the best way to looksmaxx’ I’d tell you about leanness, I wouldn’t tell you about bonesmashing.” Losing body fat and gaining muscle are often the primary goals, something obvious from Clav’s before-and-after. It’s an element of looksmaxxing that has experts worried not just about physical wellbeing but mental health, too. Isn’t this all just body image issues, muscle dysmorphia and eating disorders rolled up into the manosphere? What’s all this doing for looksmaxxers’ self esteem?
Ideology Of The Looksmaxxer
Healthy diet and exercise can be part of a happy life, but the looksmaxxing community in particular is a terrible place for your mental health. No matter how traditionally attractive you are, you’ll be torn apart. Insults, unfavorable comparisons and self harm encouragement is present in not most but every looksmaxxing thread analysed in a recent study.
They won’t just call you ugly, they’ll act like it’s a scientific fact. The scientific and pseudoscientific jargon is inescapable in looksmaxxing spaces–incel jargon even more so. They live and die by the ‘PSL Scale’ where everyone falls somewhere between ‘Tera Chad’ and ‘Subhuman.’ It’s unforgiving: Ryan Gosling’s ranked as a 5/10 “True Normie.” 10/10s look a very particular way, insofar as they exist at all (Clav says there’s no such thing as a 10/10 and who am I to disagree with Clav about the PSL scale).
The scale is entirely objective…at least that’s what the cult-like dogma insists. It doesn’t matter what women say they’re attracted to. It doesn’t matter what you’d actually be happy to see in the mirror. Looksmaxxing is all about, as SNL joked, getting into a shape: square. If you don’t have very particular measurements and ratios (coincidentally the ones that make you look like if Henry Cavill was an eboy) your life is a waste. Period.
The Prettyboy Incel Freakshow
The mainstream reaction to Clavicular and his whole gang of cheekbone boys has been pretty brutal. When they’re not handwringing about his effect on young men, they’re condescending to him: asking if they’re “mogging” him while barely containing their smirks. I get it. I don’t think I could talk to this guy without rolling my eyes. I mean, you can only go around banging hammers on your face for so long before you start getting laughed at and the tsunami of goofy incel slang’s a cherry on top. As podcaster Matt Bernstein put it, he’s practically “begging to be gawked at.”
It doesn’t help that Clav’s autistic. “A huge part of his content–an unspoken part of it–is the spectacle of watching a neurodivergent person handle social interactions” says sociological commentator F.D. Signifier. As a neurodivergent person myself with many autistic friends and loved ones, his traits stand out as a neutral-to-positive part of his personality. Unfortunately, for the world more broadly, it’s a different story. His intense special interest, black-and-white thinking, and atypical social affect put a target on his back. To many, he comes off weird and cringe in a way that’s easy to ridicule.
Still, neurodiversity isn’t a free pass to be an asshole and all the condescension and eye rolling can feel pretty morally justified. Clav’s spreading some horrible ideas to a young audience. His string of allegations just keeps getting longer. Plus, you know, looksmaxxing is an incel thing and incels hate women so much they semi-regularly kill them about it. If we’re going to have any lolcows I’d rather it be Clav than the usual picks of random angry women, trans folks and fat people. Still, I think there’s more to unpack about the way Clavicular’s been made into a laughing stock.
What Looksmaxxers Get Right
According to most mainstream media coverage, Clavicular’s worldview is not just unhealthy but kind of unhinged. It’s crazy to care so much about your appearance, especially if you’re a man. It’s crazy to act like beauty is necessary for success. You should be focused on other qualities in yourself…but is that really so crazy? The folks on this episode of A Bit Fruity don’t think so and I agree.
Lookism exists. Fatphobia and colorism exist. There’s plenty of research on it: your appearance absolutely impacts your life and not just through your self-esteem. Although it’s not as clean-cut as looksmaxxers present it, they’re correct that perceived attractiveness can help you find partners, help you get jobs. It makes it more likely you’ll be perceived as morally good and pure. It can open the door to certain careers, modeling being an obvious example. As Clav bluntly puts it “You can only achieve certain things if you’re good looking to begin with.” Why’s it so strange to acknowledge that?
The spectacle of looksmaxxing lies not so much in the quest for attractiveness but in the openly sociological reasoning behind it. We’re used to being marketed intense beauty regimines, but we’re just not used to hearing the quiet part out loud.. You’re supposed to want to be ‘healthy’ and strong. It’s normal to want to be attractive…so you can attract partners, so you can ‘feel like yourself.’ It’s supposed to be about self esteem and wellbeing. When Clavicular pitches looksmaxxing as a way to boost your place in the social hierarchy it strikes a nerve. You’re not really supposed to acknowledge the social hierarchy.
Clavicular, What’s The Meaning Of Life?
Clav talks about life as a set of metrics you maximize as much as possible to achieve…what? A higher place in the social hierarchy…so you can achieve what? In his own words “It’s not about feeling good, it’s about real results.” But what’s the actual result, Clav?
When Andrew Callahan asked Clavicular what all this maximizing is for, his answer hurt my heart a little. With an uncomfortable earnestness, he said: “I don’t know. You’re you. I’m me. We get to this point of being maxed out with as many metrics as possible and then we take it from there.” After all this talk about the importance of whatever-maxxing and every activity having a good return on investment, it’s just not clear what return he’s looking for. Money, sure, but to do what with? Party with his friends? He doesn’t seem to want friends: “most people are extremely jester.”
And no, he doesn’t really want girls either: “You could become the most successful slayer and have the best game ever, sleep with a different girl every night, but your life will really not change and in a lot of regards it’ll really get worse. And that’s something I sort of experience. It’s a mega waste of time.”
Before he started obsessing over his body measurements he spent all his time “LDARing” on the computer. Then, he discovered looksmaxxing and it felt like a way to cheat the video game of life. Now, he spends his time taking drugs he doesn’t seem to enjoy so he can more easily talk to girls he doesn’t like so he can make money streaming it so he can spend it on cosmetic enhancements so he can have an easier time talking to the girls to put it on the stream to make the money. Line goes up. Infinite growth. What’s the fucking point? Is it all just a ‘mega waste of time’?
Jude D. Grey, What’s The Meaning Of Life?
Obviously, it’s not like I have all the answers either. I lived my early life strictly adhering to a bunch of random rules an in-group came up with in order to do their own version of ascension. Then, I left that ideology and had to find a new purpose. I started playing life for points. My points were more pick up artist than looksmaxxer– I wanted to rack up exciting sexual experiences. I also wanted to learn–maximize my intelligence in a way that was super totally objective and just about learning The Facts.
After some psychedelic experiences, a good dose of transgenderism, and half an undergrad Philosophy degree, I came up with this: I want to build up a collection of experiences and relationships that feel meaningful. I can’t prove meaning exists. I don’t really care if it’s “objective.” I’m done playing for points. My life isn’t an idle game. By some strange miracle I’m here in a near-infinite world full of items to collect, dialogue trees to unlock, deep sensations to immerse myself in. It isn’t always fun, but I don’t need to hold my breath until I’m maximized in order to value it.
I can’t blame Clavicular or any looksmaxxer for wanting to find and fit some sort of objective beauty standard. The bitterness about social hierarchy is understandable. Honestly, in another timeline I could see myself getting sucked into looksmaxxing or worse. I, too, foster an obsession with social hierarchy, gender, and sexuality. My neurodivergence is mirrored in many manosphere folks and we know autistic traits make people more vulnerable to high control groups and radicalization.
I’m lucky to have escaped the rigidly imposed standards and guidelines of others. I’m lucky to have found a community where my difference is welcomed and celebrated–where I don’t need to force myself into a box for approval. I hope the young men and boys on these forums can find somewhere like that, too.
In the US, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline connects you to trained crisis counselors 24/7. They can help anyone thinking about suicide, struggling with substance use, experiencing a mental health crisis, or any other kind of emotional distress. You can also call, text or chat 988 if you are worried about someone you care about who may need crisis support.
Makeup photo by Taryn Segal courtesy of GQ
Thumbnail photo courtesy of Cassidy Araiza for the New York Times
Gym pose photo from Clav's Instagram
PSL Scale infographic from Anda Iulia Solea
Photo grid courtesy of Channel 5
