If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably come across a video of a young, square-jawed influencer calling himself Clavicular. He has become the face of an internet subculture called looksmaxxing, in which men do almost anything — like taking steroids and hormones or bashing their jaws with a hammer — to try to become more handsome.
In this episode, Natalie Kitroeff talks with reporter Joseph Bernstein about the world of looksmaxxing and how what might seem like a fringe phenomenon is actually the culmination of a digital culture that rewards physical perfection with status and algorithmic power.
On Today’s Episode
Joseph Bernstein covers digital subcultures for the Styles desk at The New York Times.
Background Reading
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/style/clavicular-looksmaxxing-braden-peters.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Handsome at Any Cost</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/style/looksmaxxing-tik-tok-dillon-latham.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Young Men Seek Answers to an Age-Old Question: How to Be Hot</a>
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/magazine/on-language-maxxing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Suffix That Tells Us to Ruthlessly Optimize Everything</a>
 Photo Credit: Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times
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