Controversial influencer Clavicular just got taught a lesson that not only does his misogynistic brand of self-improvement not work for women, but it doesn’t work for gay men either.
The leading voice of the “looksmaxxing” subculture is going viral for a bizarre interaction he had with a group of gay men he cold-approached at a beach in Miami.
Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, is the face of the manosphere-adjacent “looksmaxxing” subculture where young men try to improve their social standing and attractiveness by focusing on everything from skincare and fitness to more extreme measures like injecting black market testosterone, taking methamphetamines as a weight loss drug, and smashing their face with a hammer to increase jaw size.
In the now-viral clip that has amassed close to 3 million views, Peters and fellow looksmaxxing influencer Hexumlite approach a group of shirtless gay men on a beach before Hexumlite announced that he is “a bull.”
When the men ignore the influencers, Hexumlite asked, “Do you know about bulls?” before explaining that he’s “trying to beat hypergamy,” a term colloquially known as “marrying up,” which looksmaxxers invoke to explain their belief that women only want to date rich and conventionally attractive men.
“I’m JBG-maxxing. I’m trying to beat hypergamy,” Hexumlite said. Within the looksmaxxing community, “JGB” stands for “Just Be Good-looking,” but the caption of the video jokes that Peters was “Just Be Gay maxxing.”
“Women are getting so picky dude, I f*cking hate it bro,” Hexumlite continued.
But when Peters said, “Yeah, it’s over. It’s over,” the men who were trying to relax on a gay beach finally clued them in, “You’re on the wrong beach.”
This is almost as embarrassing as the time a group of transgender women told Peters that his hyper-masculine version of a glow-up was invented by women like them who are the "OG looksmaxxers."
This prompted an even stranger interaction: “I’m a top, I’m a bull,” Hexumlite said.
One of the men then told Hexumlite that he doesn’t look like a top, and he seems to take it personally. “I don’t look like a top? You saying small? I don’t have muscles? Why dude? Do I look like a bottom?” he asked as he flexed his bicep.
Hexumalite’s outdated homophobic belief — rooted in misogyny — that bottoms are smaller, weaker, and more submissive than tops shows that he lacks any understanding of the gay community, which is full of power bottoms and muscular men who never top.
Looksmaxxing, for which Peters is the de facto leader, is associated with incel culture and the stated desire to attract the opposite sex, but people have begun pointing out the inherent homoeroticism of “looksmaxxers” who seem to be more concerned with impressing other men than women and who look to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as their physical ideal.
In the video clip, Peters then points out that hypergamy seems to exist in gay culture as well. “It’s funny because the hypergamy is even carried over. Dude, it’s over,” he said. While it likely would never be referred to as “hypergamy,” this problem is no surprise to gay men who have to deal with toxic gym culture, image-obsessed circuit parties, and face body-shaming phrases like “no fats, no femmes,” and “gym-fit only” on Grindr.
Before they walk away, Hexumlite asked again if he looks like a bottom, and the answer was simple: “Yes,” one of the gay beachgoers responded.
But that didn’t deter him from telling the gay man how hot he is. “Looking fine as hell bro,” Hexumlite said.
Peters and Hexumlite clearly don’t see the irony in changing their appearance in an attempt to attract straight women, only to become obsessed with getting the approval of gay men who are also uninterested in them.
The confusing viral video sparked debate in the comments, where some people defended Peters, but other people pointed out that the two looksmaxxers are incomprehensible when they speak, have no understanding of the gay community, and look like twinks.
