The internet is home to numerous online communities where people share their deepest (and oftentimes fakest) versions of themselves, all under the guise of a public-facing avatar. Most of the time, these communities are healthy and outright accepting of these people who come to them (even when said people start to arguably overshare too much about themselves on the internet). Clearly, though, the internet is not a place where everything is sunshine and rainbows; online communities that do more harm than good have been a thing since the birth of the technology.
Not so long ago, after Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were put in place and people’s only form of interaction were their families that they were quarantined with, a group of internet users known as Incels, or involuntary celibates, exploded in notoriety and became much more notable in popular online spaces. “incels” are self-identifying men who hate women for their own sexual and social shortcomings, and while they started as just discussions on message boards in dark corners of the web where they shared their views with each other, it quickly turned into a dangerous, misogynistic ideology that spread all across the internet.
Incels believe in a toxic philosophy called the “black pill”, which is much similar to “red pill” ideology where they believe that society is “gynocentric,” which means women are more favored than men, where “taking the red pill” means to be “awakened” by this revelation and to push back against the concept of feminism and particularly anything that leans to the political left. There is also the thought that women exclusively pick their partners based on genetics and physical appearance or aesthetics. The Black Pill ideology puts a more extreme bent on the red pill doctrine, with the idea of someone getting into a romantic relationship with a woman impossible without them fitting the “ideal” version of masculinity as a whole.
How do these people fit into this distorted ideal version of masculinity? They do it through the process of improving their looks to the point where they would be considered the “ideal”, ranging from just doing normal self care everyday to taking substances, getting surgeries or harming themselves to “improve” their looks. This is called “looksmaxxing”, where incels take part in trying their hardest to look the best to receive validation from women and peers. This can make people who already do not feel like they are valid in society put even more unrealistic standards on how they look than many people already struggle with, and subsequently make them feel like they will never look good by pitting themselves against people that they feel are the picture perfect of masculinity.
This dangerous trend has gotten to a point where incels have created tiers to rank how a certain person looks, ranging from “Sub,” meaning subhuman, “Normie,” or normal/average-looking and “Chad,” which is the ultimate ideal of masculinity with a chiseled jaw and toned muscles. They call the progression of looksmaxxing “Ascendancy,” and most of the time, the people who are “Ascended,” or Chads, take part in the most extreme ways to “improve” the way they look: steroids, illegal drugs and even “bonesmashing,” where they take a hammer and hit it against their face in the false belief that it’ll define their jawline, are all normalized by incel influencers who have sizable followings.
“Taking part in looksmaxxing can lead to many issues later on in life”, Asim Mohamed (9) said in regard to the practices that these individuals take part in. “I feel as though many of the people participating in [looksmaxxing] have dealt with insecurity and past experiences of bullying.”
People who start “looksmaxxing” usually do not know about the long term effects of trying their hardest to not seem “subhuman.” However, with the increased use of steroids specifically, it can cause serious health complications. The body’s hormonal balance being interrupted can cause issues with reproductive ability as well as both cardiovascular and liver damage. And that does not include the potential effects to their mental health, as users can develop an eating disorder based on how much they aspire to keep their looks a certain way. There is also the chance that they will never be satisfied with how they look as a person, leading to a decreased sense of their own masculinity.
There are tens, if not hundreds, of these black pill content creators around the internet, but the most infamous and prominent one has to be Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters. The 20-year-old streamer gets his name from the clavicle, the bone that connects your arms to your body, and while the usual length of the clavicle is 15 centimeters long, or 6 inches, Clavicular’s clavicle is 19.5 centimeters long, or 7.6 inches, which is why he derives his name from the bone.
Clavicular amasses hundreds of thousands of people watching his next move on each stream of his on Kick, the streaming service that he prefers (though he also streams on the more popular TikTok and Instagram). He streams for upwards of eight hours per day, where he is out and about in public, and where many of his actions are clipped and spread out around the internet for millions to see. All of this fame gets him roughly $100,000 per month, funding his lavish lifestyle. In some of his streams, he ranks people based on their looks, offering not to sugarcoat and giving them harsh reviews on their general appearance most times. His word is law to many of these people as they continue on their journey to “ascend.”
The influencer grew up in Hoboken, N.J. born to parents Kenneth and Lauren Peters. He struggled with going to high school, outright stating that he did not like it in one of his old posts online, often having problems socializing. The biggest problem, he thought, was the way that he looked, so before turning fifteen, he ordered his first supplement online—testosterone. When his parents found his stash of supplements, they threw it away, which only stopped Clavicular for a little while until he started ordering his supplements to be delivered in numerous other places, which sadly but eventually led to his parents giving up.
Clavicular went on to become a frequent user on the forum Looksmax.org, where numerous other boys and young men would come together to discuss their looks and rate how they look, again with commonly harsh responses from users. Clavicular would document his “ascension” in long walls of texts and numerous posts on the forum, often adjusting his appearance in Photoshop to see what he would look like once all his desired body modifications were complete.
After enrolling in a university in Fairfield, Connecticut called Sacred Heart University in 2024, internet trolls on the forum alerted campus police to search his room for his stash of steroids, leading to his expulsion. During the period between his expulsion and his now fame, he made TikTok videos that would eventually blow up and officially launched him to stardom. Currently, he has roughly over one million followers spread out across his entire social media presence, having the most on TikTok where he first started.
“Clavicular’s overdose was the impact of him taking injections just to make him look better.” Keithan Phoumivong (9) said about Clavicular’s viral overdose. “It was going to happen because too much of injecting yourself with substances will cause you to overdose”.
Clavicular has been very open about his usage of substances, and while most are questionable, some are straight up illegal to even have in possession. He’s been taking 220 mg of testosterone, 25 mg of Accutane (to treat acne), 12 mg of Retatrutide (to regulate appetite), and 10 mg of Nebivolol (to treat high blood pressure), all of which alters body development in order to look how they desire. He has also stated that he has taken methamphetamine to hollow out his cheeks and as an additional appetite suppressant.
On April 14, Clavicular was taken to an emergency room from a bar in Miami after a suspected overdose while on stream with fellow streamer Androgenic. During the stream, Clavicular appeared to slump over and become unresponsive while Androgenic was heard offering him an Adderall. When the situation was realized, the stream was abruptly shut off and Clavicular rushed to the emergency room.
Looksmaxxing as a whole is a rabbit hole that lots of young men are falling into and never crawl out of, just for supposed validity of becoming the “best version” of themselves, not knowing that people will accept them for who they are as a person on the inside—something that even grade schoolers can understand.
