Journalist Matt Shea has made documentaries and written extensively about the dangers of toxic masculinity. He says misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate (who he has interviewed), Clavicular, and many other male influencers share the same ideology – and use it to make money.
“They tell young men how worthless they are,” Shea says, “then offer themselves up as the solution.
“They sell courses on how to increase your sexual market value (SMV) – basically a measurement of how attractive you are according to their scale.”
The higher your SMV, he explains, the more likely you are to have sex with a woman. Looksmaxxing, to a certain degree, becomes a way to climb the attractiveness ladder. If a woman doesn’t want you after all that then either you haven’t done enough self-improvement or it’s their fault, as the logic goes.
“That,” Shea adds, “is when it becomes dangerous.”
Scrolling online, it’s clear not every looksmaxxer buys into this ideology. There are many who say they do not identify with such misogynistic messages.
Leander would only speak to me after making clear he did not want to be associated with incel culture. Like Marvin, he considers himself a softmaxxer, and says he’s improving his looks to feel good about himself.
In 2023 following a break up, he began to research looksmaxxing on his socials and developed a routine. In addition to going to the gym five times a week, he also has regular ice-cold face baths to “reduce puffiness”, tries to sleep on his back, and, while he says masturbation is OK, he’s cut out all pornography.
“Pornography has become so normalised for many men that it completely destroys their image and attraction of women,” he explains.
