Social (Cult)ure: Looksmaxxed to death

The online culture pushing young men toward extreme ‘self-improvement’

OpinionsSydney Nethersole — Published March 31, 2026 0 minutes

In male-dominated corners of the internet, this mindset has taken a more extreme form: looksmaxxing, where extremely dangerous behaviours and practices are not only accepted, but encouraged and celebrated. 

Looksmaxxing spaces are presented as an encouraging and empowering corner of the internet to young, impressionable users who feel a lack of control over themselves or their lives, often struggling with mental health issues. 

Looksmaxxing influencers claim that through more feasible, accessible at-home exercises and techniques, they can enact meaningful change in their own lives. However, these spaces harm far more than they help, further exacerbating mental health struggles while spreading misogynistic and racist ideology. 

In these spaces, people constantly trade tips on “improving” themselves through extreme dieting, cosmetic procedures and steroid use.

Looksmaxxing has its foundation in incel (short for "involuntary celibate") forums. But such spaces now exist on a variety of social media sites, with influencers such as Clavicular, Androgenic and Hexumlite creating content on Instagram, TikTok, X and streaming sites such as Kick. 

In these spaces, influencers discuss using steroids, following strict diets and using methamphetamines to suppress appetite, with all of these techniques being encouraged as ways to create a lean physique. 

Other topics within looksmaxxing spaces focus on developing a more attractive, harmonious face. 

Hoping to achieve the “ideal” facial structure, men in the looksmaxxing sphere discuss everything from mewing, jaw exercises (such as chewing a specific type of gum, for a specific amount of time, in a specific way), facial surgery and dangerous at-home practices, such as bonesmashing. 

Bonesmashing involves using a hammer to create micro-fractures along the jaw, with the incorrect justification being that the shape of the face will change, becoming more refined as it heals.

Looksmaxxing spaces promote the idea that ascending to the highest possible level of attractiveness is one of the best ways to produce and enact change in one’s life. 

Young boys and men post on looksmaxxing forums asking what they can do “to ascend.” This ascension is believed to result in increased wealth, social power and influence, which is often presented as something achieved through men exerting power over women. 

In these spaces, women are not viewed as equal human beings that one can potentially have healthy, caring romantic and sexual relationships with, but rather as objects to be attained once one has self-improved enough.

In online forums and social media spaces centred on appearance and self-optimization, often in unhealthy and dangerous ways, young men express hateful views about gender, race and equality. Women are reduced to terms like “foids,” while Anglo-Saxon features are treated as the standard for “ascension.”

This is what makes looksmaxxing more than just another online trend. It reflects a broader moment where economic insecurity and limited opportunities make appearance feel like one of the few things people can control. When success feels out of reach, the body becomes the project, something to optimize when everything else feels unstable.

With an incessant focus on ascending to a higher level and achieving success, money and fame, looksmaxxing influencers tell impressionable youth that these ideals are easily achievable through unhealthy, dangerous self-cultivation of the physical body. 
These spaces present themselves as a solution to young men’s problems—but they leave men more isolated, and chasing something they’ll never actually reach.