About this episode
<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p><strong>On Today’s Episode</strong></p> <p><strong>Joseph Bernstein</strong> covers digital subcultures for the Styles desk at The New York Times.</p> <p><strong>Background Reading</strong></p> <p><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></p> <p><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></p> <p><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><br><br> Photo Credit: Cassidy Araiza for The New York Times</p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>