Why ‘Looksmaxxing’ Is Placing Teen Boys at Danger

Prior to now, adolescent boys used to get a break from unhealthy messages in regards to the male physique. Whereas males of a sure musculature have at all times been the chosen hero of films and TV exhibits, not less than when the film ended, boys returned to a actuality stuffed with regular trying our bodies. 

Now that greater than a 3rd of American youngsters report utilizing social media “nearly consistently,” boys don’t get a break anymore. Social media content material about hyper-masculine male our bodies has develop into such an incessant barrage in boys’ lives that it has been given a reputation: “looksmaxxing.” Beneath this strict ideology, little boys are not allowed to seem like little boys, they’re anticipated to be fifteen-year-olds with Cillian Murphy’s jawline, Vin Diesel’s biceps, Channing Tatum’s torso, and Jason Momoa’s top.

“There’s a actual lack of wholesome narratives round masculinity, particularly for younger males,” Krista Fisher, a analysis fellow on the Movember Institute of Males’s Well being, tells Dad and mom.

These biologically inconceivable male magnificence requirements for adolescent boys have far reaching impacts on their psychological and bodily wellbeing. Here is what dad and mom have to learn about looksmaxxing, and the way finest to assist their sons as they navigate the strain to look excellent.

What Precisely Is ‘Looksmaxxing?’

“Looksmaxxing” facilities round a perception that actual males will need to have a particular set of bodily traits: a sq. jaw, deep set almond formed eyes also called “hunter eyes,” a tall stature ideally between 6’1” to six’ 4”, a muscular physique, a Hollywood-level hair model, and clear, acne-free pores and skin. Quite a lot of “looksmaxxing” content material emphasizes the significance of “optimizing” puberty, claiming that boys have essentially the most affect over their look throughout this time of organic development. Making progress in direction of these idealized traits (often called “ascension”) helps to extend boys’ “sexual market worth” or SMV, which refers back to the probability that girls will discover them enticing.

There are additionally extra particular sub-niches nested inside “looksmaxxing.” These embody “auramaxxing” (methods to enhance social standing), “smellmaxxing” (utilizing cologne to draw girls), “moneymaxxing” (methods to earn cash to draw girls), “dickmaxxing” (methods to boost the size or girth of the penis), and “starvemaxxing” (proscribing food plan to drop a few pounds).

The origin of the time period “looksmaxxing” got here from on-line incel (involuntarily celibate) or “redpill” communities and their skewed view of contemporary gender dynamics. Incels self-identify as unattractive and unsuccessful in romantic relationships. In addition they imagine that girls romantically manipulate males for monetary and social achieve, and are solely serious about relationship a small subset of males who’re abnormally enticing.

However right this moment’s slim gender norms round masculinity require boys to have a James Bond-esque intercourse enchantment, that means that males want girls to search out them enticing as a way to be thought-about an actual man. In consequence, incels direct blame and hatred in direction of girls for emasculating them by not discovering them enticing. Looksmaxxing was born out of the concept that younger males want to extend or “maximize” their bodily look to be enticing to girls and revered as a person by their friends.

However now that the time period has gone viral on mainstream social media platforms, many boys could also be unaware of the misogynistic origins of the time period. Fisher factors out that younger boys appear to gravitate in direction of this content material as a result of it faucets into an unmet want for boys. They’ve questions on their our bodies, romantic relationships, and how you can function on the planet as younger males. Within the absence of anyplace else to go, particularly offline, masculinity influencers on social media and looksmaxxing boards have given boys the anonymity to ask arduous or embarrassing questions, a sense of neighborhood with likeminded friends, and a relentless stream of recommendation from assured older boys who declare to have efficiently modified their look.

Boys are Studying to Modify Their Our bodies

How boys go about manipulating their look can differ from easy measures—often called “softmaxxing” to extra excessive methods, or “hardmaxxing.”

“Softmaxxing” contains non-surgical approaches like consuming a excessive protein food plan and eliminating junk meals, exercising, showering repeatedly, each day skincare, staying attentive to hydration, training good posture, updating wardrobes, getting common haircuts, participating in common hair styling methods, enamel whitening, shaving off their eyelashes, taping their mouth shut at night time, utilizing Volufiline and different merchandise that promote short-term lip plumping, and sleeping on their again to advertise “face symmetry”.

Some of the well-known “softmaxxing” methods is a tongue train referred to as “mewing” that’s promoted on social media by UK-based orthodontist Mike Mew. He claims this tongue train can create “facial enhancements” together with aligning the enamel, accentuating cheekbones, sharpening jawlines, straightening the nostril naturally, diminishing wrinkles, and bettering airways.

One other “softmaxxing” method rising in recognition is the usage of health chewing gum, which is engineered to be additional arduous to chew as a solution to train the jaw and create a extra distinguished jawline.

Conversely, “hardmaxxing” contains excessive methods like utilizing human development hormones, steroids, cosmetic surgery, or “brotox” (botox for males). “Looksmaxxing” content material on TikTok, YouTube, and on-line boards throw round a head spinning quantity of cosmetic surgery suggestions—particularly for boys and males, together with jaw surgical procedure, chin extensions, fats grafting, buccal fats removing, nostril jobs, ear jobs, liposuction, lip lifts, shoulder and limb lengthening surgical procedures, and surgical procedures that reshape the outer corners of the eyes and bones across the eye sockets.

Furthermore, an idea referred to as “bonesmashing” encourages boys to break their very own jaw and facial bones with a hammer or different arduous object, on account of a perception that the bones will develop again stronger and extra outlined. This time period was initially coined as a joke in incel boards, however as “looksmaxxing” has develop into extra mainstream it appears that evidently that nuance might have been misplaced. In on-line boards devoted to “looksmaxxing,” boys as younger as 13 are claiming to make use of the method.

The Bodily Toll of Unimaginable Male Magnificence Requirements

To a point it’s comprehensible why impressionable boys are so fast to leap on the “looksmaxxing” bandwagon. Masculinity influencers throw round medical terminology and cite scientific research with the arrogance and authority of a licensed physician. Actual medical professionals, nonetheless, appear to be usually unanimous within the ineffective and harmful nature of a few of these practices. 

Each the British Orthodontic Society and the American Affiliation of Orthodontists state that there is no such thing as a scientific proof to assist mewing, and the latter additionally claimed the apply might result in tooth alignment disruption, chunk issues, and speech points. Additionally it is value noting that the Normal Dental Council suspended Mike Mew’s license final 12 months for malpractice.

The American Dental Affiliation, in the meantime, introduced that health chewing gum can result in irritation and jaw ache, and that a few of these gums comprise caffeine and vitamin B5, which may act as a laxative in excessive doses. Dentists have additionally warned that utilizing this gum might result in temporomandibular joint (TMJ) problems.

And whereas suggestions to take development hormone could also be rampant on “looksmaxxing” boards Jason Nagata, an affiliate professor of pediatrics on the College of California San Francisco, urges warning. He says that development hormone is supposed for use to handle particular medical situations like genetic problems or a medically verified development hormone deficiency, and may solely ever be used underneath the supervision of a medical skilled. “Misusing development hormone can result in severe uncomfortable side effects, together with joint ache, complications, and insulin resistance, so shut medical monitoring is crucial,” he says.

Even a few of the over-the-counter dietary supplements and protein powders which might be broadly really helpful by masculinity influencers and “looksmaxxers” can have damaging well being results. Katie Hurley, a toddler and adolescent psychotherapist and senior director of scientific advising and neighborhood applications on the Jed Basis, encourages dad and mom to learn the labels of any dietary supplements or protein powders their sons are at present utilizing or serious about making an attempt. She warns that a few of these merchandise have been discovered to have an effect on moods.

How ‘Looksmaxxing’ Is Fueling a Psychological Well being Disaster

The impression on bodily well being is simply the tip of the iceberg. The impact of “looksmaxxing” on boys’ psychological well being and nicely being might be much more harmful.

A standard apply in “looksmaxxing” boards, like looksmax.org and r/Mewing, is for younger teenagers and tweens to put up detailed measurements of their our bodies and fix a number of images of each angle of their face and our bodies to encourage others to fee their sexual market worth and supply suggestions on how you can improve their look.

The ranking scale on these boards has develop into pretty standardized. One person defined the size as 1-3 being “subhuman,” 4 is a “low tier normie”, 5 is a “mid tier normie”, 6 is a “excessive tier normie,” 7 is a “Chad-lite,” 8 is a “Chad,” and 9 is an “Adam” or “Slayer.” In incel tradition, a “Chad” is a stereotypically good-looking man and an ‘Adam’ is the height of very best male attractiveness.

Scores and suggestions come from utterly nameless customers and vary from mild and inspiring to merciless and harmful. In excessive circumstances, suggestions embody references to “ropemaxxing” which implies that a boy is so hopelessly unattractive that he might as nicely take his personal life as a result of he won’t ever be capable of obtain an appropriate stage of masculinity.

For boys who might discover this stage of vulnerability intimidating there are actually apps like Umax and LooksmaxxingGPT the place teenagers can add pictures of themselves and obtain AI-generated scores and suggestions. A few of these apps present scores not simply on general appears to be like or potential for enchancment however go as far as to supply a “masculinity” rating based mostly on uploaded pictures.

It is apparent how these scores and suggestions techniques can negatively impression a boy’s psychological well being. However even when they don’t seem to be participating with the content material to this stage, analysis is discovering this hypermasculine physique content material and related social media content material can nonetheless negatively have an effect on teen psychological well being.

In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon Normal mentioned the danger of tension and despair doubles in adolescents who spend greater than three hours a day on social media. And in the identical assertion, nearly half of adolescents said that social media makes them really feel worse about their our bodies. On the time, the common for this age group was at 4.8 hours a day—solely on social media platforms. More moderen research present that display utilization has solely grown. One 2025 survey revealed that the common American stares at a display for nearly 7 hours per day.

Nagata additionally pointed to research that discovered that the extra time boys spend on Instagram, the extra probably they’re to interact in disordered consuming, be dissatisfied with their very own look (and their muscle tissue, specifically), and the extra probably they’re to take efficiency enhancing medicine like anabolic steroids. “Since 2002, there’s been over a 400% improve in hospitalizations for consuming problems in boys,” he says. Nagata clarifies that whereas consuming problems in boys can typically seem like anorexia, it has develop into extra widespread for boys to develop bigorexia, or muscle dysmorphia, an obsession with creating larger muscle tissue.

That is all supported by the brand new analysis examine that discovered that younger males who interact with masculinity influencers reported excessive ranges of psychological misery, together with excessive charges of worthlessness, nervousness, and disappointment in comparison with boys not participating with the content material.

What Dad and mom Can Do to Assist

Social media has seeped into a lot of the childhood expertise and the way youngsters relate to one another that it may be arduous to establish when a toddler’s conduct or mindset has crossed into unhealthy territory. Hurley says one of the best ways for folks to watch social media’s impression on their baby’s life is to maintain a month-to-month log of their exercise stage, routines, habits, and behaviors, which she explains will assist dad and mom establish if and when indicators of damaging patterns start to type.

Having conversations with boys about “looksmaxxing” content material and the way they understand their very own our bodies in relation to others can be useful. However Hurley is conscious that some boys might discover it troublesome to open up about these subjects. In these circumstances, she’s supplied some concepts to assist dad and mom handle these tough discussions:

• Care for your self first. It’s necessary to strategy these conversations calmly. Discover a solution to handle your self earlier than taking over the dialog to make sure you’ll be able to create an area the place your son feels in a position to share his experiences. 
• Mix these conversations with actions. Attempt kicking off a dialog whereas taking a stroll, enjoying a board sport, or doing home chores collectively. The act of being in movement acts as a “rigidity launch” which may make it simpler for boys to speak about arduous issues.
• Ask open ended questions. Approaching your son with curiosity and open ended questions will help him really feel extra inspired to opening up. As an illustration, you may ask: “What’s it prefer to be a teenage boy in right this moment’s world?” or “I observed you appear to love to eat the identical issues each day. Are you able to inform me extra about that?” or “What’s new on TikTok that you simply’re serious about? Are you able to share with me a few of your favourite TikTokers? I am curious to see what you want.”
• Create a strengths board. Sit along with your son and create an inventory of issues he is good at. Write it down on a big board and put it in a spot that’s seen to him each day. As he learns new issues, you may replace the board collectively. A strengths board can function a wholesome counterbalance for teenagers on social media platforms which might be designed to feed off teen insecurities.
• Validate their expertise. If they’re apprehensive about being brief, for instance, ask them to let you know extra about what it feels prefer to be brief amongst tall boys. After listening, validate their expertise by saying one thing like, “That does sound arduous.”
• Incorporate male voices. Ask fathers, grandfathers, uncles, older brothers, or shut grownup male mates to share their experiences and mindsets about their rising our bodies throughout adolescence. 
• Reality test collectively. Equip your son with information to assist him really feel safer when confronted with “looksmaxxing” content material. When did the boys in your loved ones hit their development spurts? At what age did his favourite athletes start getting taller? What athletes or different impactful males will not be tall however are nonetheless revered for his or her contributions? Present him that not all necessary male figures match standard magnificence requirements.

When you’re questioning when to achieve out for assist, Hurley says it by no means hurts to test in along with your baby’s pediatrician or therapist. “It is at all times a great time to ask someone in case you really feel such as you’re out of your depth and you do not know how you can assess the state of affairs,” she says.

Kids are rising up in an evolving digital world that may be overwhelming for folks and kids alike. However whereas it might look completely different right this moment, industries profiting of teen’s physique insecurities is nothing new. Once we perceive what’s taking place behind phenomena like “looksmaxxing,” and perceive that boys want secure offline areas to speak about their our bodies and their place on this world, we may even have the instruments to start out advocating for and supporting boys in ways in which assist them develop into wholesome adults.

Whereas dad and mom might by no means be capable of solely free their sons from the grip that social media has on their childhoods, we are able to discover methods—nonetheless small—to present them a break from the social media deluge and simply allow them to be boys once more.