“Looksmaxxing” – young men who sometimes take drastic measures to “maximize their appearance” and seem more attractive – has gone from niche culture to mainstream social media phenomena.
The term used by the “flourishing digital community” originated in “Manosphere“And online allowance boards of involuntary celibates (fancySA 2014, SA New York Times. The suffix comes from role play: to “Max” means “completely developing a single character trait, as strength”.
But practice has recently “exploded” in ordinary social media, said The custodian – Especially on Tiktok. “Looksmaxxing Influencers have been given huge follows, while algorithms market videos watching millions.” The phenomenon has “led to confusion among parents and teachers and concerns that young people find even more reasons to Feel bad about themselves“.
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SOFTMAXXING, HARDMAXXING AND BONE-SMASING
Looksmaxxing “starts with ‘softmaxxing’,” says Jamilla Rosdahl, senior lecturer at Australian College of Applied Psychology. This includes “basic hygiene” such as hair removal, teeth brushing, skin care, fashion and exercise routines, she wrote on The conversation.
This is “not groundbreaking suggestions,” the New York Times said “at least not for someone who has ever consulted a women’s magazine”.
But a trend is more unusual: “Mjaking“, or Tongue Exercises That Supposedly Tone Facial Muscles and Define the Jawline. Mewing is based on the discredited theories of two British Orthodontists, John Mew and his son Mike, Who Claimed That Tongue Exercise Could Change Facial Aesthetics Face Hack, Mewing has gone mainstream, “said Guardian. It is the topic of the Netflix documentary” Open Wide “.
Other practice includes “electrical facials” to help men achieve a so -called “jaw” and facial fitness chewing gum. On tiktok, “often advocates it difficult to chew rubber as an alternative to more extreme measures such as jaw surgery”, said The cut.
Many look maxxers also believe “Hunter Eyes” – angled downwards to the nose – creates a “dominant stirred women cannot possibly resist,” says Rosdahl. This is where “Softmaxxing” progresses to “hard maxxing”: improve your appearance “in some way required”. It may include plastic surgery, steroids, “Starwemaxxing” (extreme diets), penis-strung pumps and “ben-smashing”-break faces so that they heal to see more defined or “masculine”).
Ben-Smashing started trenda last fall, which caused a doctor to emphasize that it is “both wildly uncertain and obviously ineffective”, said Police stone. The idea is based on the false belief that when the legs heal, they become stronger: a misunderstanding of Wolff’s law, named after a German surgeon from the 19th century that noted that legs adapt to stress. Measures back to “At least 2018” in “Toxic subculture” by Incels, ben-Smashing seems to have started as “a troll proposal”: somewhere between “a mockery and a wave”. After all, some Incel’s open suicide encourages their rankings “. The latest wave of videos probably comes from” a mix of trolls and true believers “.
There has been “a lot of hand turning in the media” about Ben-Sasing, said Guardian, but “some proof that someone actually does”. But what happens, according to cosmetic surgeons, is an increase in investigations from young men on facial operations such as chin implants.
The manosphere and Patrick Bateman
Looksmaxxing -content reaches a ”broader demographics of teenage boys algorithmically disposed of “manosphere” subculture “, said BBC. This online network is “propagating masculinity and misogyny”.
One of the most famous names in Tiktok Looksmaxxing is Kareem Shami, a 22-year-old Syrian student in California with more than 1.5 million followers. His username “Syrianpsycho” refers to the novel “American Psycho”, and his profile picture is by Incel Pin-Up Patrick Bateman (the serial killer played by Christian Bale in the film pass).
“Looksmaxxing may seem harmless,” Rosdahl said. But “in its core” it has a band for violence and suicide. Looksmaxxing videos “pull young boys and men to a dark subculture of incels”, where “within minutes” they can be “bombarded with videos that promote suicide and sex -hating speech”.
Looksmaxxing forums are filled with “brutal assessment” and offers users a “compelling new withdrawal” for uncertainty, says Guardian. Men publish images of themselves asking for feedback, and those who receive a low rating on their perceived “sexual market value” are “harassed and” told to take their own lives, “Rosdahl wrote.
Young people grow up in “an increasingly uncertain world,” she said. “This is composed with neoliberal hyperindiviism, hypersexuality and consumer capitalism”.
“Where young people feel that they cannot control their environment, they can turn to trends such as LooksMaxing as something they can control.”
“As a young person in Syria, I lost control,” Shami told the BBC. “I live my life with the idea that I strive for stability.”
