08 May 2026

By Silvia Gerlsbeck Premet

Among the many rabbit holes of contemporary internet culture, few have made the jump from obscure online subculture to mainstream visibility as quickly as ‘looksmaxxing’. What began in niche incel and ‘manosphere’ forums in the early 2010s has, within little more than a decade, turned into a fully mainstream social media phenomenon, with the term now appearing everywhere: from TikTok explainers and health journalism to beauty marketing and even political commentary. The phenomenon exploded on TikTok in the early 2020s through male influencers, most notoriously Braden Peters (‘Clavicular’), one of the first recognisable stars of the looksmaxxing world. By 2024, major outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times had begun reporting on the trend, which signals its transition from internet niche to broader cultural phenomenon.

The basic idea behind looksmaxxing seems straightforward enough: maximise one’s physical attractiveness through constant self-optimisation. At its softer end (‘softmaxxing’), this means skincare routines, gym culture or dieting. At its more extreme end (‘hardmaxxing’), it involves peptide injections, cosmetic surgery, or even jawline modification through so-called ‘bone smashing’ techniques, which are meant to reshape facial structure for a more masculine look. The desired aesthetic is centred around a chiselled profile, sharp jawline and narrow, ‘wolf-like’ eyes. But looksmaxxing is not simply about appearance; it carries with it an entire, oftentimes more sinister worldview. Unlike older beauty cultures often associated with women, looksmaxxing is much more explicit when it comes to market logic and socio-political ideologies. Attractiveness is openly discussed as ‘sexual market value’ (SMV), where social relations are reduced to systems of ranking and competition, and men aim to assert dominance over other men – the so-called ‘mogging’. In this logic, women are frequently framed less as individual agents but are reduced to measuring sticks and proof of male status (illustrated by the looksmaxxing-slang ‘foids’ – female humanoids – in its extreme form). 

Perhaps most striking, however, is the language that has emerged around looksmaxxing. Terms such as ‘maxxing’ (with various prefixes), ‘mogging’, ‘mewing’, ‘hunter eyes’, or ‘peaking’ increasingly circulate far beyond their original (incel) contexts. Many users employ this vocabulary casually or ironically, often detached from its misogynistic origins. This linguistic seepage reveals how digital subcultures migrate into mainstream culture: from slang to meme to ordinary speech.

From a Cultural Studies perspective, looksmaxxing reflects a broader neoliberal logic in which the body becomes a permanent project of improvement, something to optimise, monitor and continuously work on. Michel Foucault’s concepts of governmentality and biopolitics are useful here: individuals increasingly regulate themselves through self-surveillance, discipline and optimisation like ‘mini-enterprises’. Technology intensifies this even further: face-analysis apps assess facial symmetry and suggest which features require ‘improvement’. Male beauty here is no longer simply about attractiveness or desirability; it becomes tied to personal success, confidence and ultimately social worth. Looksmaxxing is thus more than a passing TikTok fad – it is an intensification of the pressures of working on oneself and of hammering the body into a more ‘optimised’ form.

Sources:

Inside the world of looksmaxxing: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx28z4zypkno

Looksmaxxing Slang: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/mar/01/incel-slang-mainstream-government-media

Looksmaxxing and the beauty industry: https://observer.co.uk/news/columnists/article/the-truth-about-looksmaxxing

Biopolitics and Governmentality explained: Lemke, Thomas. ‘The Birth of Bio-Politics: Michel Foucault’s Lecture at the Collège de France on Neo-Liberal Governmentality.’ Economy and Society, vol. 30, no. 2, 2001, pp. 190–207.