Are Teenage Boys the New Looksmaxxing Fangirls?
Looksmaxxing it’s been all over the place since 2021 but more importantly, its continuous prominence on TikTok. What draws young teenage boys to male models? How does this tie to self-improvement?
As I scrolled on TikTok, I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that teenage boys are being inspired by male model edits such as Jordan Barrett, Chico Lachowski, and Sean Opry. Why are these models the face of the looksmaxxing community? Why is it that teenage boys all of a sudden need self-improvement? As I kept going on a deep dive into social media, specifically TikTok, I kept finding creators such as @zeta or @andrewsaccount who are prominent people in the community, yet their influence seemed to be a little crazy. It felt like the Kate Moss fan girl when being thin was all that mattered had come back but this time for a different demographic. Can’t teenage boys go back to playing video games and eating junk food rather than spend time glamorizing models and unhealthy eating habits?
As I dived even further into the community, I realized that the Looksmaxxing community is very sensitive, although many of the people who may follow these trends post about achieving good looks and being better than everyone. Deep down you can sense the insecure teenage boy inside of them. There is nothing wrong with self-improvement, but there is something wrong with wanting to look better than everyone else and getting countless plastic surgery done.
Overall, the trend of teenage boys being obsessed with their looks has over time caused an increasingly alarming amount of adolescent boys following into the trends of βlooksmaxxingβ while trying to achieve their full potential Is it worth idolizing male models and plastic surgery? The answer is simple yet complex. Although many teenagers fangirl about these very attractive models and even try to achieve the same type of looks, everything comes with a price. If that price means dignity and more insecurity who knows maybe over time more teenage boys specifically will fall into a vicious cycle of not being pleased with themselves.