21 July 2026
Caring about our physical appearance isn't anything new, but there is a new social media trend targeted at young men that's taking it to the extreme
Dr Rebecca Owens, Head of the School of Psychology at the University of Sunderland, is exploring how "looksmaxxing", an extreme cosmetic social media trend, is pushing young men and boys towards body obsession, misogyny, and self-harm.
“Looksmaxxing is a relatively new term, popularised over the last five to10 years thanks to social media influencers. The term refers to a practice of maximising one’s physical attractiveness. There are different facets of looksmaxxing – softmaxxing includes things like, following a healthy diet and skincare regime, whereas hardmaxxing incorporates more extreme practices, such as taking steroids or undergoing surgery. When described like this, it probably doesn’t sound like such a new concept, for example, the term ‘metrosexual’ was a term popularised in the 1990s describing men who took care of themselves, adopting facial skincare routines and taking pride in their appearance. Regardless of what term is in fashion at the minute, this concept has existed for as long as we know and exists in other cultures – though it may look slightly different to how it looks in the UK in 2026. Let me explain.
Evolutionary psychology argues that men are born with an innate drive to seek social status within their environment – the drive varies for sure, but generally this is what we see. Because the social environment varies, the way in which men seek social status also varies – but it exists. The ultimate, deep-seated explanation for this is that it helps men to propagate their genes into the next generation – even though this isn’t necessarily something we consciously think about. Of course, when it comes to propagating genes into the next generation, women play a very important role. Evolutionary perspectives suggest that women have historically been responsive to cues associated with health, strength and reproductive potential, creating incentives for men to compete through the display of those traits. Men therefore compete to show off these indicators. Throughout the history of the development of our species, these traits have become what we typically understand as indicators of masculinity, and they are underpinned by testosterone levels.
Traits underpinned by testosterone include things like muscle mass, body shape, tone of voice, and facial hair. Psychologically, traits underpinned by testosterone include things like risk taking behaviours and a propensity for competitiveness. Examples of this include sport but also include perhaps more unusual avenues – competing to be the most generous or the most altruistic or engaging in risky driving behaviours and risky substance abuse. The social setting is therefore very important for guiding how these behaviours manifest.
Way back when, before civilisation and certainly before social media, men honestly displayed their suitability as a mate and a father – there was very little men could do to fake this. Building muscle required physical labour or training. A deep voice, broad frame, or facial structure could not easily be altered. Modern technologies increasingly allow individuals to modify, exaggerate or imitate these signals through surgery, hormones, cosmetic procedures and digital self-presentation. Indicators of traits underpinned by testosterone were seen as particularly attractive to women, but also as formidable to other males – the competitors.
If we fast-forward to the present time in the UK in 2026, the focus on enhancing these traits is ever present. Lookmaxxers are doing jaw exercises to enhance their jaw line, taking steroids to artificially enhance their levels of testosterone, impacting on their muscle mass and facial hair growth. They may be engaging in practices known as ‘mewing’ – jaw exercises which some orthodontists claim can improve the aesthetics of the face, which other orthodontists claim are dangerous, not supported by evidence, and the risks involved in the unsupervised practice of this are particularly risky.
"A more extreme practice we may see in looksmaxxing is jaw surgery, where the end of the chin bone is sawn off and repositioned with a titanium plate, encouraging bone to grow back and fill the gap to create a stronger, more pronounced jawline.
Although these behaviours may look different in different environments, one thing I would argue is consistent here is a risk-taking tendency – the propensity to take a risk whether that is in competition or cooperation, being generous or being dangerous, the inclination to take a risk is essential and indeed, can become a form of competition itself. The behaviours that we see from looksmaxxers show different levels of risk-taking behaviours and these behaviours send different messages to women as potential mates, but also to men as competitors – they indicate varying levels of formidability. Looksmaxxing, to varying degrees, is therefore associated not only with physical stereotypes of masculinity, but also psychological ones.
But, why looksmaxxing, and why now? If a pressure to be attractive has always existed, why are we seeing this extreme now? I think it is because it is possible now, and it wasn’t before.
Surgical procedures are advancing every day. Some procedures exist now that are much more routine than they were 30-40 years ago. We have learned more about the materials used and the mechanics of various procedures – largely through trial and error – which mean such different procedures are now possible. But, although they are arguably more common now, they have existed for a far longer period of time. For example, height is something that is seen as very attractive and formidable in men and therefore leg lengthening procedures are more common in some parts of the world now. However, the origin of leg lengthening procedures dates back to 1903 – when it was much more risky to undergo such a procedure.
Another factor I think is important here is the advance of social media. As an innately social species, our very being relies on us making social comparisons, and on being able to take note of, and track, the social status of others. This is important for tracking hierarchies and minimising harm. But we evolved at a time when it was normal to live in groups of 100-150 people, and our field of comparison was much smaller.
Now, with social media the way that it is, we are making global comparisons. This means that we are deceived into competing with what may be seen as the elite – the most attractive men and women in the world. I say deceived because I think if we were to ask people whether they think they are competing with the most attractive people in the world, they would say of course not. But in the unconscious primitive parts of our brain, what we see online feeds into our frame of reference – it becomes our norm, our standard for comparison.
As more and more people conform to a new standard, we see that standard become extreme – then usually it collapses down to something much more manageable. But this is what I can see in the looksmaxxing trend – a desire for very extreme masculine features, to be seen as formidable and attractive, and men willing to take the risks to achieve that. Looksmaxxing is a result of ancient status-competition mechanisms colliding with modern technologies that allow appearance to be endlessly modified and with social media platforms that expose us to global standards of attractiveness.”
Dr Owens is available for interview.