Latest / Mini Scroll / Looksmaxxing: How the Male Glow-Up Became BlackPilled

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Looksmaxxing: How the Male Glow-Up Became BlackPilled · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  In October 2023, a new TikTok beauty trend emerged.
• 0:04
  This trend helped users achieve optimal facial balance,
• 0:07
  promising chiseled jawlines, more prominent cheekbones, and a
• 0:12
  more symmetrical bone structure. Unlike other appearance based
• 0:15
  trends on the app, this trend primarily targeted young men.
• 0:19
  This trend was called bone smashing and it told young men
• 0:23
  who wanted to look more attractive, to pummel their face
• 0:27
  with their fists, tools, or even a hammer, to fracture their
• 0:31
  bones and allow them to heal in a more aesthetically pleasing
• 0:34
  shape. Understandably, this trend
• 0:37
  caused mass uproar online and throughout the media.
• 0:40
  A quick Google search of bone smashing will pull up hundreds
• 0:43
  of articles, many who have interviewed doctors warning
• 0:46
  young men against trying this trend.
• 0:49
  And though the concern was for good reason, it turns out these
• 0:52
  warnings were largely unnecessary.
• 0:55
  Because what many TikTok users, doctors, and journalists got
• 0:58
  wrong was that bone smashing was actually not a trend at all.
• 1:03
  Rather, this dangerous practice turned out to be a troll that
• 1:07
  originated from the incel community.
• 1:09
  While October 2023 wasn't the first time that bone smashing
• 1:12
  made its rounds on TikTok, it was the first time where many
• 1:15
  users were introduced to the incel theory behind it.
• 1:19
  Bone smashing, though a troll, is part of a very real concept
• 1:23
  called looks maxing that teaches men how to change their
• 1:26
  appearance so they ascend the social hierarchy and finally get
• 1:32
  laid. From Centennial World, I'm
• 1:34
  Lauren Meisner and this is Infinite Scroll, a podcast about
• 1:38
  Internet culture, the creator economy, and how social media is
• 1:42
  shaping. Gen.
• 1:42
  Zed. Welcome back to Infinite Scroll,
• 1:45
  everyone. I hope you guys are having a
• 1:47
  great week. I've been having just a wild
• 1:50
  couple of weeks with my new schedule with the daily podcast.
• 1:54
  I know I said this last week, but so far the love has just
• 1:57
  been so kind and I'm just so excited to keep it going and see
• 2:02
  where the podcast goes from here.
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  So as always, Please remember to rate, review and subscribe.
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  And you can also chat with me. All right.
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  I just have two reviews to read for you guys.
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  Both of them came through Apple Podcasts this week.
• 2:42
  So the first is from Eraser who says, ah, mini scroll, Mini
• 2:46
  Scroll is everything. Thank you.
• 2:49
  I'm so glad you're loving it. And Chelsea says great for
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  Internet and pop culture. Love it.
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  Thank you guys. I feel like both of you are OG
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  listeners. I recognize your names.
• 3:02
  So today we are going to be going down a really dark and
• 3:06
  twisted rabbit hole in Internet culture.
• 3:08
  So this is a content warning for anyone who is not up for hearing
• 3:12
  about misogyny to click out. I won't cover specific instances
• 3:17
  of violence against women, but as you can imagine, this entire
• 3:20
  episode explores the depths of how certain men hate women, so
• 3:25
  please keep that in mind. Looks maxing has existed for at
• 3:28
  least a decade. However, the concept exploded in
• 3:31
  recent months thanks to TikTok, where creators have built
• 3:34
  massive followings, teaching users, primarily boys and young
• 3:38
  men, how to be the most attractive versions of
• 3:40
  themselves to attract more women.
• 3:43
  That being said, the concept of looks maxing is quite simple.
• 3:46
  It's essentially any attempt at improving one's physical
• 3:50
  appearance. As Riley Farrell writes for the
• 3:52
  BBC quote, the aim of looks maxing is becoming the most
• 3:55
  attractive one can possibly look, according to a set of
• 3:58
  prescribed criteria, with particular importance given to
• 4:01
  jaw lines, eyes and physique. The goal is obvious from the
• 4:05
  term itself where quote its suffix comes from the world of
• 4:08
  role-playing games in which to Max means to fully develop a
• 4:12
  single character trait like strength or wisdom, writes
• 4:16
  Joseph Bernstein for the New York Times.
• 4:18
  It's not surprising that TikTok has become the perfect breeding
• 4:22
  ground for looks maxing content given the platform's obsession
• 4:25
  with appearance based micro trends and self improvement.
• 4:28
  That Girl and Clean Girl are mainstream examples of women
• 4:32
  based trends that could be considered looks maxing.
• 4:35
  Otherwise, looks maxing can be divided into two categories,
• 4:39
  soft maxing and hard maxing. Soft maxing includes more high
• 4:44
  level techniques at improving one's appearance like haircuts,
• 4:47
  diet, exercise, mewing and grooming.
• 4:51
  Hard maxing on the other hand, includes more extreme measures
• 4:55
  like steroids, surgery, injectables and skin bleaching.
• 5:00
  While there are different ways to looks Max, there is a set of
• 5:03
  beauty standards that these men aspire to.
• 5:05
  Consider Kareem Shami for example, who goes by at Syrian
• 5:09
  Psycho on TikTok Kareem is one of the most prolific looks
• 5:12
  maxing influencers on the platform.
• 5:14
  With over 1.5 million followers, Kareem is a 22 year old student
• 5:18
  in San Diego, CA. His interest in changing his
• 5:21
  appearance started when he moved from Syria to the US and felt
• 5:25
  difference from his classmates, though he didn't realize what
• 5:27
  looks maxing was at the time. Kareem documented how he changed
• 5:31
  his appearance between the ages of 17 and 22 in a video, and
• 5:35
  that video went viral on Looks Maxing forums.
• 5:39
  A TikTok video pinned to his profile, which now sits at
• 5:41
  15,000,000 views, showcases his transformation and the quote UN
• 5:46
  quote looks maxing techniques that he employed over the 2 1/2
• 5:49
  years Kareem tried anything and everything, ranging from working
• 5:53
  out, trying different hairstyles and establishing a solid skin
• 5:56
  care routine. His appearance changed
• 5:58
  drastically though. This could be largely attributed
• 6:01
  to him getting older, but many commenters were asking how he
• 6:04
  was so successful and to drop his tips on quote His Jaw.
• 6:08
  Game Kareem's comment section is representative of the larger
• 6:12
  looks maxing community, with many Internet users spending
• 6:16
  their time sharing different ways to improve their
• 6:18
  appearance. A couple of techniques have
• 6:20
  started making the rounds on TikTok recently.
• 6:22
  This includes mewing, which is when someone presses their
• 6:25
  tongue against the top of their mouth, just behind the teeth.
• 6:28
  With your teeth pressed together.
• 6:30
  It is believed to work the jaw muscles in order to improve ones
• 6:33
  jawline and double chin. This particular technique has
• 6:37
  also made its way onto Girl Internet, with many women
• 6:40
  sharing videos, viewing or talking about the technique.
• 6:43
  If you're watching the video, you will see I just put pumpkin
• 6:45
  on my lap. She was begging to come up.
• 6:48
  A funny example of women mewing is actress Ariana Greenblatt,
• 6:51
  where many TikTok users claim that she Mews on red carpets.
• 6:56
  Similar to some corners of girl Internet looks.
• 6:59
  Maxers also promote cosmetic procedures, plastic surgery, and
• 7:02
  establishing a beauty regime. Some examples include gym skin
• 7:06
  care, teeth whitening, specific haircuts and injectables or
• 7:09
  Botox. Meanwhile, other looks maxing
• 7:12
  techniques are less widespread on the Internet, like skin
• 7:16
  bleaching, chin widening, surgery, hair restoration or
• 7:19
  maintenance and advocating for steroid use.
• 7:21
  And of course, another example as mentioned in the intro is
• 7:25
  bone smashing, although this turned out to be a hoax.
• 7:28
  As for what looks Maxers are aspiring towards, they want to
• 7:31
  look traditionally masculine, at least by a Eurocentric
• 7:35
  standards. For this looks, Maxers believe
• 7:38
  that they need a full head of hair, a lean body, large
• 7:42
  muscles, hunter eyes which are eyes that are slightly tilted
• 7:45
  down towards the nose, a strong jaw, hence mewing, Wide chin,
• 7:51
  clear skin, white or light skin, tan skin, so not too pale but
• 7:57
  still white and they want to be tall as part of glow up culture.
• 8:03
  There are some obvious problems with looks maxing.
• 8:06
  Similar to other trends promoting transformation, it
• 8:08
  tends to be exclusionary, frequently lacking diversity and
• 8:12
  can detrimentally impact self-confidence.
• 8:14
  However, the ramifications of looks maxing extend far beyond
• 8:18
  such concerns. Where this movement has its
• 8:21
  roots in in seldom Now. We've touched on the concept of
• 8:24
  in Cells before on this podcast, but we have never truly covered
• 8:28
  in cell ideology and motivations.
• 8:31
  We're about to go down a very dark route right now, so if
• 8:34
  you're not in the right headspace to hear about this
• 8:37
  topic, click out now. In Cell is a portmanteau that
• 8:40
  stands for involuntary celibate. They operate in the manosphere,
• 8:44
  which is an umbrella term for various online men's rights
• 8:47
  movements that share a common view on gender dynamics.
• 8:51
  They generally see men as victims in present day gender
• 8:55
  relationships, subsequently promoting masculinity and
• 8:58
  misogyny and opposing feminism. People who identify as incels
• 9:02
  are boys or men who are experiencing sexlessness despite
• 9:06
  their desire to be sexually active.
• 9:08
  It is important to note that this desire comes from a sense
• 9:10
  of entitlement that is deeply rooted in misogyny.
• 9:14
  Essentially, incels believe that they are entitled to sexual
• 9:17
  relationships with women based on a patriarchal perception of
• 9:20
  gender, society and eugenics. 1 Interesting way to conceptualize
• 9:24
  Incels is through the concept of aggrieved entitlement.
• 9:28
  This term, introduced by sociologist Michael Kimmel,
• 9:31
  describes the feeling of being unfairly treated by society.
• 9:34
  It's often linked with white, cisgender, heterosexual men who
• 9:38
  perceive themselves as the most privileged group, where they
• 9:41
  deserve the certain successes and opportunities that come with
• 9:45
  it. When they fail to attain this
• 9:47
  life, they harbor a sense of rage and anger, taking it out on
• 9:51
  others, often marginalized or oppressed groups like women.
• 9:55
  Despite Insel being a male only group now, the first Insel
• 9:59
  website was actually created by a woman, a Canadian woman named
• 10:04
  Alana who created Alana's Involuntary Celibacy project in
• 10:09
  1997 to document her frustrations with the dating
• 10:12
  world and support other, quote UN quote late bloomers who
• 10:16
  struggled in this area. Alana and her followers are
• 10:18
  considered the first wave in cells, Jim Taylor writes for the
• 10:22
  BBC Quotes. She described the site as a
• 10:25
  friendly any place, a simple website where she posted
• 10:28
  articles and ran a mailing list. It became a forum for men and
• 10:31
  women to talk about being lonely, where they could wonder
• 10:34
  aloud about why they couldn't meet anyone, Alana told the
• 10:37
  publication. Quote There was probably a bit
• 10:40
  of anger and some men were a bit clueless about how women are
• 10:43
  unique individual humans, but in general it was a supportive
• 10:46
  place. The 2nd wave in cells are more
• 10:49
  than modern definition, being male only groups who direct
• 10:53
  their sexual frustrations at women for shunning them and
• 10:56
  quote UN quote withholding sex. Modern day in cells communicate
• 11:00
  on in cell specific forums while mainstream platforms attempt to
• 11:04
  moderate content related to in seldom.
• 11:06
  Reddit previously served as a primary host.
• 11:09
  The subreddit R/IN cells experienced significant growth
• 11:13
  over the years, expanding from 11 members in 2014 to over
• 11:18
  42,000 members. However, it was shut down in
• 11:21
  November 2017 for inappropriate content.
• 11:25
  Its replacement, R slash brain cells, quickly amassed over
• 11:29
  50,000 members before being banned in September 2019.
• 11:33
  There are three overarching core beliefs that underpin the in
• 11:36
  cell ideology. Number one, they believe in an
• 11:40
  appearance based hierarchy. Incels believe that society is
• 11:43
  organized by looks based largely on Eurocentric beauty standards
• 11:47
  where most social and sexual relationships are determined by
• 11:51
  appearance. Within this hierarchy, the most
• 11:53
  attractive men and women exist at the top.
• 11:56
  These men are called Chads or Alphas, and the women are
• 12:00
  categorized as Stacy's in cells describe the chads as brutish
• 12:04
  and obnoxious and Stacy's as vapid and animalistic.
• 12:08
  According to the in cell social structure, Becky's and Betas,
• 12:12
  also known as normies, sit below the chads, and the Stacy's
• 12:17
  normies are men of average appearance and therefore have
• 12:20
  some ability to sustain relationships with women.
• 12:23
  However, Insults believe that normies are at risk of being
• 12:26
  betrayed and exploited by women, either through infidelity or
• 12:30
  financial manipulation. They believe that women will opt
• 12:33
  for a Chad over a beta if the opportunity arises.
• 12:36
  The Becky is less attractive than the archetypal Stacy, but
• 12:40
  they are still unattainable to insults.
• 12:42
  There are some very famous memes that have broken through into
• 12:45
  the mainstream that compare Stacy's and Becky's.
• 12:48
  These memes typically include a cartoon of a Becky and a cartoon
• 12:52
  of a Stacy. The former often wears dull
• 12:54
  clothing, whereas the latter wears a revealing outfit to show
• 12:57
  off a curvy figure. Not only does this completely
• 13:00
  objectify women, but these pictures often include
• 13:03
  derogatory text explaining that Becky wears quote, loose baggy
• 13:06
  clothing to hide small tits or a flat ass.
• 13:09
  However, Stacy has a quote naturally curvy body and never
• 13:13
  works a day in her life. As Rebecca Jennings writes for
• 13:16
  Vox Quote. If certain discussions on these
• 13:18
  forums are any indication, there are only two types of women in
• 13:22
  the world of Insel, both of whom are white, thin and attractive.
• 13:26
  But while Insel seem to believe that the untouchable and
• 13:28
  seemingly non existent Stacy will never sleep with them, they
• 13:32
  feel as though they are owed attention and sex from Becky.
• 13:35
  In other words, insels see themselves as victims of lookism
• 13:39
  existing at the bottom tier of society, leading them to
• 13:43
  typically hate and envy. People who exist in the upper
• 13:46
  tier in cells believe that both Stacy's and Becky's exclusively
• 13:51
  seek out sexual relationships with Chad's, where they
• 13:54
  purposefully deny sexual intimacy within cells.
• 13:57
  Women often Becky's are therefore quote UN quote
• 14:00
  oppressing in cells depriving them of sexual fulfillment and
• 14:04
  happiness with other derogatory terms to refer to women like
• 14:08
  FOID or femoid which is short for female humanoid suggesting
• 14:12
  that women are less than human. It is clear that the second core
• 14:16
  belief that informs in seldom is misogyny insults.
• 14:19
  Typically believe that women have created this looks based
• 14:22
  hierarchy where they see this hierarchy as the main obstacle
• 14:26
  to them having sex. They believe women are to blame
• 14:29
  for their sexlessness for two reasons.
• 14:31
  Firstly, women are only interested in their own social
• 14:34
  advancement and seek out men of higher social standing to date,
• 14:38
  which they believe is directly linked to attractiveness.
• 14:41
  If a sufficiently attractive man is not available, women will
• 14:45
  settle for a normie in the middle who has material wealth.
• 14:48
  They will then manipulate their partner in order to leverage
• 14:51
  their wealth to get higher social standing.
• 14:53
  Women are also untrustworthy because they are forever in
• 14:56
  search of the Holy Trinity, which is money, sex and power.
• 15:00
  This means women are prone to infidelity and are willing to
• 15:04
  take any chance they can in order to ascend the social
• 15:07
  ladder. Meanwhile, the second reason
• 15:09
  women are to blame for their sexlessness is that women are
• 15:12
  shallow and unable to appreciate the qualities of those who do
• 15:16
  not exist in the upper tiers, like humor and intelligence.
• 15:21
  Insults essentially believe that when choosing someone to date,
• 15:24
  women work to determine the most likely scenarios that will see
• 15:28
  them climb the social ladder. As a result, some in cells
• 15:32
  believe that the feminist movement should be undone or
• 15:35
  reversed as it was responsible for women's sexual agency.
• 15:39
  Unsurprising based on these beliefs, there are lots of
• 15:42
  mentions of rape and sexual coercion in the more extremist
• 15:46
  corners of the in cell community.
• 15:48
  The third overarching belief system that underpins in seldom
• 15:52
  is the blue pilled, red pilled and black pilled theory.
• 15:56
  Many of you probably already know this, but the pill theory
• 16:00
  is a reference to the Matrix. If Neo takes the blue pill, he
• 16:04
  will remain in the Matrix. If Neo takes the red pill, he
• 16:07
  wakes up in the real world and learns what is really going on.
• 16:12
  Under the insult red pill ideology, men believe that they
• 16:15
  understand the reality of what women want and they use this
• 16:19
  quote UN quote understanding to become a more desirable mate.
• 16:23
  Essentially, Red pilled men's rights activists believe that
• 16:26
  ascending the social hierarchy is something to be dealt with on
• 16:29
  an individual level. Individuals can and should
• 16:33
  improve themselves in order to gain upper tier status.
• 16:37
  Black pilled men's rights activists and in cells believe
• 16:40
  that the social hierarchy is almost entirely looks based and
• 16:45
  biologically determined. Many claim that the quote UN
• 16:47
  quote inequalities caused by the social hierarchy are problems
• 16:51
  that must be dealt with on a societal level.
• 16:54
  They believe that for many in cells or men on the lower tiers
• 16:57
  there is no way to ascend. Essentially, in the current
• 17:01
  system there will always be men in the lower tier.
• 17:04
  As you would expect, most in cells have been black pilled.
• 17:08
  A recent survey found that 95% of In cells subscribe to this
• 17:12
  ideology. Quote The Black Pill is central
• 17:15
  to the Insel belief system and claims that unattractive men are
• 17:19
  unable to ascend the confines of the social sexual hierarchy that
• 17:23
  excludes them and are forced to live in a state of doomed
• 17:26
  existence because of women's rejection and privilege, writes
• 17:30
  a 2023 journal titled Mainstreaming the Black Pill,
• 17:34
  Understanding the Insel Community on TikTok.
• 17:36
  This sense of nihilism and frustration significantly
• 17:39
  contributes to the misogynistic rhetoric prevalent in Insel
• 17:42
  communities. Within these circles, black pill
• 17:45
  beliefs have normalized sexual violence, justified look ISM
• 17:50
  highlighted perceived female privilege, and reinforced the
• 17:53
  notion of male victimhood. Considering looks maxing within
• 17:57
  the framework of incel ideology, it's evident that looks maxers
• 18:01
  don't necessarily align with the extreme end of the spectrum, but
• 18:05
  they can be associated with the red pill ideology.
• 18:09
  Under the appearance based hierarchy, the primary means for
• 18:12
  an insult to become a normie or an upper tier male is to enhance
• 18:16
  their looks, which is the goal of looks.
• 18:18
  Maxing the Red pill theory can be seen as providing a
• 18:21
  potential, quote UN quote, solution to challenges presented
• 18:24
  by evolving social norms without necessarily exhibiting overt
• 18:28
  violence or misogyny. But as the aforementioned
• 18:31
  academic paper continues quote, the Red pill ideology unites
• 18:35
  manosphere groups and purports to awaken men to the process of
• 18:39
  feminist brainwashing and misandry.
• 18:41
  In other words, once one adopts the Red Pill mindset, it becomes
• 18:46
  easier to descend further into in seldom.
• 18:49
  When viewed from this standpoint, we cast looks maxing
• 18:52
  in a different, more perilous and misogynistic light.
• 18:56
  But looks maxing becomes even more intertwined with in seldom.
• 19:00
  When we consider the origins of this practice, the term looks
• 19:04
  maxing likely originated on the in cell
• 19:06
  adjacentforumlookism.net. Lookism.net is among three
• 19:10
  websites that gained popularity among in cells, although they
• 19:14
  weren't explicitly in cell forums.
• 19:17
  It constitutes another segment of Insel culture specifically
• 19:20
  known as PS:. L PS:.
• 19:22
  L stands for PUA Slut Hate lookism.
• 19:25
  As Allie Conti explains for Vice quote, PSL is an umbrella term
• 19:30
  for various subsets of Insel related worldviews.
• 19:34
  To be indoctrinated into PSL means you've covered three of
• 19:37
  the big pillars by spending time on a now defunct board where
• 19:40
  people complained about shady pickup artists.
• 19:43
  The misogynistic board people moved to after it shuttered and
• 19:47
  looks maxing forums. For further context, pickup
• 19:51
  artists are another aspect of the manosphere.
• 19:54
  They are a group of men whose goals are seduction and sexual
• 19:57
  success. In Cell see pickup artist
• 19:59
  techniques and gurus as bullshit because they only work on a man
• 20:03
  that is attractive enough and it is otherwise a scam.
• 20:07
  Elliott Rodger, a mass shooter of the 2014 Isla Vista killings,
• 20:11
  was on pickupartisthate.com. And it was shut down, which led
• 20:15
  to many users moving to sluthate.com.
• 20:18
  When this was discovered from these forums, a PSL style rating
• 20:22
  system was established. Users on these sites measure
• 20:26
  attractiveness based on a bell curve.
• 20:30
  A4 represents the medium physical attractiveness, where 8
• 20:34
  represents perfection. Quote PSL ratings were created
• 20:37
  as a way of being able to determine one's aesthetic value
• 20:40
  and applying beauty standards to a rating system based solely on
• 20:44
  their face, A page on Looks max.org reads.
• 20:48
  Quote PSL ratings can be better described as giving objective
• 20:51
  ratings based on facial harmony, balance, symmetry, sexual
• 20:55
  dimorphism, unique qualities and averages.
• 21:00
  It's giving eugenics. On these forums people would
• 21:03
  post pictures of themselves and get APSL rating and get
• 21:06
  suggestions on how to looks Max and this is obviously very
• 21:10
  similar to how looks Max TikTok creators operate today.
• 21:14
  However, what is concerning is the normalization of this trend.
• 21:19
  As an increasing number of TikTok users, both men and
• 21:22
  women, produce videos seeking and offering advice on achieving
• 21:26
  a glow up on TikTok. There are new accounts dedicated
• 21:29
  to assisting women on quote becoming prettier or glowing up.
• 21:33
  One example is at Caroline, 79, who specializes in providing
• 21:38
  digital makeovers to mostly young women.
• 21:42
  When they ask her advice, she might tell the user to
• 21:45
  straighten or dye their hair, strengthen their eyelashes, or
• 21:48
  go out and get a tan. Providing tips and tricks to
• 21:51
  enhance one's appearance has long been a staple in women's
• 21:54
  magazines, but as we encounter similar content on TikTok, it
• 21:59
  becomes increasingly concerning. Because online we navigate
• 22:03
  shared spaces within cells. By adopting their practices, we
• 22:08
  run the risk of unintentionally legitimizing these groups
• 22:11
  without fully understanding their origins or recognizing the
• 22:15
  harm that they inflict on women. Now that we know that Looks
• 22:18
  maxing is tied to Insult Them, it shouldn't be surprising that
• 22:22
  Looks Maxers aren't solely focused on enhancing their
• 22:25
  appearance. They also harbor several deeply
• 22:28
  misogynistic beliefs. Some are in line with the Insel
• 22:32
  ideology, but the overlap isn't perfect.
• 22:35
  Nevertheless, both Looks Maxers and In Cells assert that Looks
• 22:40
  play a paramount role in attracting women.
• 22:42
  While Looks Maxers concede that personality might matter for a
• 22:47
  long term relationship, a man's appearance still holds greater
• 22:50
  significance overall, leading to the portrayal of women as
• 22:54
  shallow and vapid. They also believe that short
• 22:57
  term relationships are hypergamous where one partner is
• 23:00
  perceived as being out of the other's league.
• 23:03
  In other words, short term relationships only happen when
• 23:06
  the man is out of the woman's league.
• 23:09
  Like in cells Looks Maxers also see men as victims in society,
• 23:14
  contending that even average looking men face negative
• 23:17
  judgment due to the Halo effect, which is a psychological theory
• 23:20
  favoring attractive individuals claiming that they are viewed
• 23:24
  more positively and or to be more competent at things.
• 23:27
  While there are clear issues surrounding looks maxing and the
• 23:30
  practices underlying beliefs, it is important to note that not
• 23:34
  all looks maxers are in cells and not all in cells engage in
• 23:38
  looks maxing. The former might not be aware
• 23:40
  that the practice has roots and in seldom and subsequently
• 23:44
  misuse the term. For those men looks maxing might
• 23:47
  simply help them develop their self esteem and confidence.
• 23:50
  Meanwhile for self-described in cells who engage in looks
• 23:53
  maxing, it can act as a form of deincelization, which means when
• 23:58
  an in cell manages to have sex. Though it might be a popular
• 24:01
  TikTok trend right now, at the end of the day looks maxing
• 24:05
  represents another example of in cell ideology spreading to
• 24:08
  mainstream platforms. It is particularly worrisome
• 24:12
  when the primary audience for looks maxing content is young
• 24:15
  boys during a crucial development stage of their
• 24:18
  lives. Here a slippery slope emerges
• 24:22
  suggesting the potential of widespread adoption of violence
• 24:25
  against women and misogynistic beliefs.
• 24:28
  Infinite Scroll is a podcast written, produced and presented
• 24:31
  by me, Lauren Meisner for Centennial World.
• 24:34
  Additional research and reporting is by Annabelle and
• 24:36
  David. And preliminary research is by
• 24:39
  Nick Meisner. Editing is by Danny Fennec.
• 24:42
  Thank you guys so much for listening.
• 24:44
  I love you guys so much and I will talk to you next week.
• 24:47
  Bye.