Inside ‘looksmaxxing’, the online fashion that propagates dangerous views on male beauty

Inside ‘looksmaxxing’, the online fashion that propagates dangerous views on male beauty

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Online communities that present a dangerous view of male beauty are growing in popularity. When does the quest for self-improvement become something darker? ‘Looksmaxxing’ can perpetuate unrealistic physical expectations Getty Images “I believe in taking care of myself, with a balanced diet and a rigorous exercise routine”, says the character Patrick Bateman in the film “American Psycho” (2000). The film is an adaptation of the novel by American writer Bret Easton Ellis, published in 1991. Played by actor Christian Bale, Bateman is an investment banker who is also a serial killer. “American Psycho” is a satire of the yuppie lifestyle in New York, in the United States, in the 1980s. It portrays a society dominated by hedonism, materialism and narcissism, according to the novel’s author. “It’s strange that the character was co-opted by culture in a totally different way in 1991,” Ellis told Publishers Weekly on the occasion of the novel’s 20th anniversary. “Patrick Bateman seems to embody something about masculinity that was blossoming sometime between the late 1980s and early 1990s.” The film presents the detailed morning routine of its main character. Taken out of its general satirical context, it became a beauty tutorial for young people. The scene features the dubious narrator putting an ice-cold mask on his face and doing a thousand sit-ups. It has already had 17 million views on YouTube and has been copied in several short videos with the hashtag #GetReadyWithMe (“get ready with me”, in Portuguese). The film has already sparked countless debates online. The audience is divided between young men who appreciate the parody and others who firmly believe it is serious. In this last group resides the online community called looksmaxxing. The community originated on incel (involuntarily celibate) forums and advocates “maximizing” people’s appearance. The objective of looksmaxxing is to become the most attractive person possible, according to a set of established criteria. Particularly important are the jaw, eyes and physique (such as the “hunting” eyes, angled slightly upwards towards the temples – with a positive canthal inclination). This trend has been around for at least a decade, but it has recently become popular and has been redefined on TikTok. It is on the video platform that looksmaxxing reaches a growing demographic of teenage boys predisposed by the algorithm to the “machosphere” subculture. Created in opposition to feminism, the machosphere is defined as a network of websites and online communities that promote masculinity and misogyny. looksmaxxing assigns “notes” to aspects of men’s appearance, concentrated mainly on the jaw, muscles and skin. Its practitioners – the looksmaxxers – try to increase their grades with light practices known as softmaxxing (using, for example, the traditional Chinese gua sha method, burning more calories than they consume or with hydration) and other stronger ones, which form hardmaxxing (such as the use of steroids, hair transplants or cosmetic surgeries). “It’s really impressive,” says Stuart Murray, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of Southern California, in the United States. “The content available on TikTok is not evidence-based but is reported as science.” Total reconstruction ‘looksmaxxing’ is evaluated following strict predefined criteria Getty Images Kareem Shami is, at the same time, victim and leader of the looksmaxxing trend. At 25 years old, Shami has 1.5 million followers on TikTok. He watched the movie “American Psycho” at age 18, just before his “transformation” — a key part of looksmaxxing on TikTok. “There was something there that I didn’t have, which was self-care,” Shami told the BBC. “I liked the film, not because I could identify with a psychopath,” he clarifies. “I didn’t like the things he did.” In 2012, Shami and his family fled the civil war in Syria. He says that, at his new school in Lebanon, he used to be bullied by his classmates because of his appearance. At 18, Shami underwent a complete transformation, with exercise, acne treatment, a new haircut and, of course, mewing – a technique that involves touching the person’s tongue to the roof of the mouth, in the hope of aligning the jaw. The name of the technique comes from controversial British orthodontist John Mew. He developed a practice called “orthotropy” and is profiled in the Netflix documentary “Open Wide.” The American Association of Orthodontists declared in January that “the scientific evidence supporting claims of jaw shaping by mewing is as thin as dental floss.” Shami moved to the United States to attend the University of California in San Diego. He then began posting content about looksmaxxing on TikTok, in the video category called “glow up.” On social media, “glow up” is a reference to conventional makeovers, which typically include significant reconstruction of appearance. There are online communities that offer spaces to share people’s “progress,” whether it’s fighting acne, losing weight, building muscle, or simply going through puberty. “When I was young in Syria, I lost control,” says Shami. “I live life with the idea that I strive for stability.” The vast majority of his followers on TikTok are men, aged between 17 and 23, according to him. Shami runs an online course that offers lessons on how to “master the art of facial aesthetics.” In this course and in looksmaxxing in general, there is an emphasis on numbers. On certain forums, users upload selfies and receive ratings from people, who rate their appearance based on a certain scale. Murray says rigid numbers are often a feature of eating disorder communities. He specializes in researching the particularities of male eating disorders. Murray explains that muscle dysmorphia is an eating disorder that is often overlooked and dismissed by medical professionals. Eating disorders in men, aimed at building muscle, have existed for decades. They originated in the Arnold Schwarzenegger era, in the 1980s, and were driven by the media, which presented muscle formation as something desirable, which could be achieved with dietary restrictions and the use of steroids. But the constant fluctuation of body composition can be harmful, whether during the cutting or bulking phase (terms originally applied to bodybuilding, which mean, respectively, the diet and muscle mass gain phases). Vulnerable young people who grow up with social media are especially susceptible to self-objectification and obsession with appearance. This way of thinking, in itself, is harmful. It encourages the internalization of unattainable beauty ideals, which can generate dissatisfaction with body weight and shape. Bodybuilder and YouTuber Aziz Sergeyevich Shavershian (“Zyzz”) is a common reference in the looksmaxxing community. He advocated muscle growth and his followers were called “the aesthetics team.” Shavershian died of a heart attack at the age of 22 in 2011. A post-mortem examination revealed an undiagnosed heart condition, which triggered the cardiac arrest, according to his mother. Visual inspirations for the looksmaxxers include male models such as Jordan Barrett, Sean O’Pry and Francisco Lachowsky. Content creators repeat their poses or make caricatures of the models (and Patrick Bateman), smiling with their eyes and pouting like Ben Stiller in the film “Zoolander” (2001). It’s called the “sigma face”, a part of the “sigma men” trend. But Shami was never well received in the original looksmaxxing community. Close to early adulthood, his popularity “exploded” on social media. This happened when users posted their before and after transformation photos on what he calls the “toxic, black pill” looksmaxxing forum. The “pill” is an online reference to the red pill from the film “The Matrix” (1999). In it, the character Neo is given a choice: observe the world as it “really” is, taking the red pill, or remain ignorant, taking the blue pill. The red pill represents awakening, which often guides online users toward conspiracy theories or extremist political identities. The black pill represents a defeatist belief that the system has gone too far and cannot be changed. “I didn’t know the term looksmaxxing until I was posted on their forums, with users hurling hate at me and asking if I had undergone surgery for my transformation,” says Shami. “Some people hated me because I was spreading the word about how people can improve themselves.” To critics who accuse looksmaxxing of perpetuating unrealistic physical expectations by encouraging eating disorders among teenage boys, Shami defends himself. He argues that if adults were truly concerned about unrealistic expectations online, they should include the cosmetics industry, which has been targeting women and girls on social media for years. But of course, criticizing looksmaxxing is not the same as ignoring issues in the cosmetics industry. Online “improvement guides” can be helpful (like basic hygiene tips) or harmful (by spreading racism, sexism, and body dysmorphia). To navigate this continuum, Murray recommends that parents review content with their children. But he highlights that the self-objectification promoted by looksmaxxing is inherently dangerous, as it encourages young people to evaluate themselves based on weight or perceived attractiveness. And muscle building and excess exercise can hide eating disorders in young men. Treatment for eating disorders includes therapy, medical supervision, and medications. For both men and women, treatment of patients suffering from eating disorders should focus on “generating weight restoration,” according to Murray. “For men and boys, there are additional difficulties in treatment, with the construction of masculinity”, according to him. Murray warns that behind this apparent self-enhancement of looksmaxxing, there is a central message that can cause psychological harm. “If we fall into the trap of dissatisfaction and low self-esteem and it boils down to a number, a skin tone or the angle of your face, it reduces your value as a person. We want men to focus on more sustainable ways to generate self-esteem and identity.”

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