Clavicular and the Looksmaxxing Cult That Almost Killed Him

What happens when a teenage boy spends his formative years on incel forums, starts injecting steroids at 14, hits himself in the face with a hammer in the name of self-improvement, injects his underage girlfriend with unlicensed substances on a live stream — and the response from mainstream media is a New York Times profile and a Fashion Week runway? This week we're digging into looksmaxxing: where it actually came from, what the TikTok version obscured, and why a movement rooted in white supremacist beauty standards got repackaged as self-help.

Then we talk about Braden Peters, the influencer known as Clavicular, and make the case that the media didn't just cover his rise — it manufactured it. Let us know what you think by emailing hello@ or leaving a comment on Spotify.

Pre-order Bridget's forthcoming audiobook about AI and intimate relationships at ! Follow Bridget and TANGOTI on social media! || / || || || See for privacy information.

See for privacy information.