The Looksmaxxing Communities: Another Drift of Social Media?
Young boys would fall into the myth of Narcissus, influenced by online communities close to masculinists.
Second edition of Alive in Social Media for 2024! Welcome to new subscribers. It's snowing in Paris, yet bodies seem perpetually exposed on social networks.
The hashtag #looksmaxxing already gathers 5.2 billion views on TikTok in January 2024. These videos aim to provide numerous tips for a better physical appearance. The etymology comes from role-playing games, where "maxing" a character means enhancing their skills (strength, defense, intelligence...) to the maximum of their potential.
The logic behind it? Romantic relationships, for some communities, are seen as a story of subterfuge and persuasion. With tips and a certain dose of "hacks," young men – as it is mostly men creating these videos – would achieve their goals (understand: hooking up). Everything. Is. Fine.
As Exploding Topics explains:
“Looksmaxxing refers to the practice prevalent in certain male subcultures, particularly incel, of enhancing one's physical appearance through various methods. These methods can range from simple changes like improving personal style or fitness, to extreme measures like using steroids or undergoing plastic surgery, with the aim of gaining social or romantic advantages.”
This trend is far from anecdotal: the interest of young men in #looksmaxxing has exploded over the past 12 months at a dizzying speed in the United States. While the feeling of loneliness increases, especially among boys, finding ready-made solutions to be beautiful/rich/successful is gaining popularity. Despite a glaring lack of scientific evidence for a significant part of the advice given, increasingly large audiences seem to believe and share these videos. An entire economy is emerging: coaches with guru-like appearances, tutorials, packs (paid) of downloadable advice. Welcome to a world of transactional relationships.
Among other viral content at the moment, the "mewing challenge", which, according to Typology’s (a famous French skincare brand) website, involves "closing the mouth and placing the teeth of the upper and lower jaw on top of each other. At the same time, the tongue should be kept against the palate" with the aim of reshaping the jaw and avoiding a double chin... While the brand acknowledges at the end of its article that "it should be specified that to date, all this is only observation, and no scientific study attests to an attenuation of wrinkles and/or a double chin with this technique," the harm is somewhat done: it embraces a questionable trend, provides its promoters with a mini-tribune, and, in a way, endorses them, especially given the seriousness of Typology.
Critical thinking to the rescue?
In a related universe, that of "fitspiration" content (understand: posts promoting physical activity to improve health), the shift has largely taken place.
A study relayed by Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior Faculty Editor at Harvard Health Publishing, questions the sincerity of these content creators. Based on recently published content from the 100 most popular fitspiration accounts, scientists found that 26% featured highly sexualized images, 22% played with nudity (and used clothing clearly unsuitable for exercise...), 15% highlighted extreme body shapes, and 41% of them had published fewer than 3 fitness-related posts in their last 15 posts.
The author's conclusion: we should all develop critical thinking, especially when this content also promotes products or services. This doesn't mean everything is to be discarded, but the filtering work is immense to avoid putting oneself in danger.
Well-known and dangerous mechanisms of vivance
Liveness – the quality or state of being alive, the heart of my essay on social networks – has long been mastered by manipulators (sects, extremist groups, promoters of risky behaviors, etc.). In 2017, with my team, I analyzed the "recruitment" methods of the pro-ana ("pro-anorexia") community. In the pre-TikTok era, members detected certain behaviors of ordinary users (often very young girls) around hashtags like #perfectbody #skinny or #diet to encourage them in their efforts to lose weight. Through repetition of messages, comments, a relationship was established, leading the target to be invited to join more private groups, where a real race for thinness was organized. From an initially innocuous signal, the victim was brought into a logic of socialization, which gradually comes to life – or liveness – through social networks. A logic that validates deviations and gradually replaces other solidarities, proposes a new frame of reference, or even fills a void.
Seven years later, this logic has become more sophisticated: platforms now do part of the job for activists in these communities. The nuance between deviant and sincere content is quite difficult to assess, especially for the youngest. It is precisely because the boundary is thin that it has such strength; one can indeed fall in love with fiction after all.
Number of the week: 1.3 million subscribers
This is the number of followers of Dillon Latham, a young TikToker frequently associated with Lookmaxxer communities. A reference to understand what is happening...
Amazing links
A Harvard study assesses for the first time what children generate in advertising revenue for platforms like YouTube or TikTok.
Business Of Fashion delivers the fashion trends to follow in 2024, based on quantitative data from social networks.
What is life without the internet? This is the theme of the latest episode of the "Le Code a Changé" podcast led by Xavier de La Porte (in French).
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