By:Philip Berkwit and Herman Syse Ulfness
Throughout the ages men have proven their ambition. In the sixties men dreamed of going to the moon. In the nineties men dreamed of what the internet would form into. Now, men dream of mogging their fellow man by smashing their facial bones with a hammer. Looks-maxing has become an electrifying trend for Gen Z. The point of the movement is simple; make yourself looks as good as you possibly can. The community of “Looks-maxers” has gained an incredible influence to the point that it is hard to find a teenager who isn’t aware of the group’s vocabulary; with words like “mogging,” (looking superior to somebody else) jester-maxing (trying to act funny to gain attention), and even the PSL scale (Percentile Scale of Looks.)
The PSL scale is a 1-8 ranking of one’s attractiveness which uses slang from “subhuman” (0.25 to 1.5) to Tera-Chad or Tera-Stacy (7.75 to 8)
The point of looks-maxing is similar to that of working out. It is meant to be a form of self-improvement. The movement officially formed in the mid-2010s but has gained major traction in recent times. One of the movements most famous participants; Braden Peters (Clavicular) is a 20-year-old man who has gained millions of views for his extreme commitment to looks-maxing. Clavicular claims to hit his face with a hammer to make his bone structure better, has been taking steroids since he was 14, and has made various controversial claims. In 2025 when he claimed that Charlie Kirk would not have been assassinated if Kirk was hotter because attractive people cannot be disliked to that extent.
Clavicular has made looks-maxing vastly more popular and controversial. However, the movement goes beyond just his involvement. In 2018 “mewing” became a huge meme. Mewing is a tongue exercise meant to possibly reshape one’s jawline. It became incredibly popular with teens who found the practice funny. Memes and jokes have propelled looks-maxing but it’s serious community has been rapidly growing. Some look-maxing tactics are as simple as basic hygiene and dieting, resulting in a person gaining more confidence and structure in their life. However, the more extreme tactics have been linked to intense cases of body dysmorphia and harm. According to perfect Aesthetic Medicine, “The true bone smashing results are not the sculpted features seen in filtered social media posts. The reality involves a long list of permanent medical issues. Instead of a chiseled looksmaxing jawline, you are far more likely to experience nerve damage, facial asymmetry, and chronic pain.” The mental health risks are arguably even worse. In an interview with Healthline, Jason Fierstein, MA, LPC, founder of Phoenix Men’s Counseling, stated “Young men fall into this false sense of acceptance, and what they believe women want from them,” he told Healthline. “They can get caught up in potentially lifelong struggles with feeling inadequate and handling that inadequacy.”
Clavicular constantly refers to the “Halo Effect.” This is a real cognitive bias that is studied in psychology. According to Very Well Mind, “The Halo Effect is a type of cognitive bias in which the overall impression of a person influences how others feel and think about a person’s specific traits.” looks-maxers believe that the first impression somebody will get from their peers is their looks, meaning how one looks defines everything else.
Clavicular’ controversies range from a variety of actions. On Christmas Eve 2025, he seemingly ran over a person who was on the hood of his Tesla Cybertruck but some believe this action was self-defense. He also collaborated with a variety of controversial “red pilled” influencers despite claiming not to be political. Clavicular has also told many strange stories including the “Piss mog incident:” “I went to the bathroom to pee before lunch. I didn’t really have to go. I just wanted to do it proactively so I wouldn’t have to go later at a less optimal time. I’m extremely piss shy. I hate the idea of peeing next to someone at a urinal. It feels so embarrassing, and the pee never comes out. Anyone else have this? So I always go to the stall to pee. This time it’s me and this “BBC.” He walks into the stall next to me. I start my pee stream and it’s kind of quiet and weak. I can tell the “BBC” is laughing at my subhuman stream, he whips it out and produces the most girthful and powerful stream I’ve ever experienced. Mogs me to gandy with his beautiful Lucious stream. I truly want to end it.”
Clavicular has self-described himself as neuro-divergent and recently dealt with legal troubles due to being arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for an Osceola County active warrant for misdemeanor battery . He is also being investigated for a prior incident involving shooting an alligator.
Clavicular’s effect on young men could be detrimental. His actions have inspired many teenagers to put an extreme influence on their looks to the point that they are willing to destroy their health just to “mog.” Clavicular’ belief system has also been identified as “black pilled” which is associated with nihilistic and incel (involuntary celibate) behavior. The Clavicular brand of looks-maxing believes that the only way for a man to attain attraction from woman and be seen as worthwhile is to embrace the most extreme measures. Clavicular has been denounced by many big names like Steven Meiner (the mayor of Miami Beach), Ben Shapiro (Founder of the Daily-Wire), and most of the fitness community.
However, he has also been supported by major names. James Fishback who is running for Governor of Florida publicly defended him following the incident relating to running somebody over with his cybertruck. Fitness influencer Togi has also shown support for him. On The Iced Coffee Hour podcast: Togi made the claim: “a lot of people don’t really understand what it’s like to be a loser. Like I used to be a scrub in high school. I would smoke weed every single day, you know I would watch a ton of porn, couldn’t talk to girls, no ambition. It was more or less over for me… For 99% of young men, it is over for them… sometimes it takes extreme measures to make something of yourself and sometimes you’ve already paid the consequences by growing up in this generation, you know with Tik Tok, weed, and porn being popular, your dopamine is getting fried, you’re losing confidence rapidly. You paid the price of this existence likely by just being born. So now what Clav did, he’s a giga autistic insecure kid. He goes, “if I just look better than everybody, maybe I’ll be more confident.” He was so insecure that he needed to take extreme measures because he was so far gone. No amount of healthy remedies would fix him. It took doing tren and smashing his face with a hammer and doing all these absurd things to become a confident young male. And unfortunately, that’s the message that a lot of young men need to hear. That you need to take very unhealthy extreme measures to become the man that you need to be. Fix yourself and the health issues later…If you live your whole life and never fix yourself as a young man, you’re going to be working a job that you hate for somebody. The top 10 percent of men get 80 percent of woman. The average age of being a virgin is like 30 years or something. Now a lot of men will go their whole life, and they die alone…You don’t want to die alone. It’s like the worst thing for your spirit and overall happiness…it’s more worth it to sacrifice a large percent of your health and then attempt to fix it after to become the man that you need to be rather than just dragging it on and living your entire life as a giga autistic loser.”
This is the mindset that Clavicular and many Looks-maxers have. Many critics see people like Clavicular and Togi as a disease to the younger generations. However, their influence is undeniable. In 2 days, a Clavicular Interview on Channel 5 with Andrw Callaghan received 1.6 million views on YouTube. Looks-maxing has proven itself to be fascinating to the masses, with the movement propelling discussions about social media, masculinity, dating, and society. However, Clavicular has described his world view as is; “if you aren’t looks-maxing, you aren’t life-maxing, and if you’re not life-maxing, your nothing.”
Graphic by: Philip Berkwit
