What ‘looksmaxxing’ tells us about modern masculinity
The Global Story
BBC
3.8 • 668 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
***This episode contains discussions of body dysmorphia, self-harm, sex and drug use, and references to language that may cause offence***
A controversial internet streamer who goes by the name Clavicular has taken the internet by storm, going to extreme lengths to try to enhance his looks – from using steroids and testosterone to hitting his face with a hammer.
Clavicular has become the poster boy for an online movement called ‘looksmaxxing’, centred on maximising physical attractiveness. Like many subcultures, it has given rise to a whole new lexicon which is gradually migrating from the margins of the internet to the mainstream.
In today’s episode, we turn to journalist and documentary filmmaker Matt Shea to explain whether Clavicular – and the movement he champions – is just another viral curiosity, or a strange symptom of modern masculinity.
Producers: Aron Keller and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: James Shield Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: A hand holding a mobile phone showing an influencer holding a hammer to his face on screen. Credit: Yui Mok/PA Wire)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | A quick warning, this episode contains discussions of body dysmorphia, self-harm, sex and drug use, |
| 0:12.7 | and it references language that may cause offence. |
| 0:16.4 | Pick one of the big pop culture moments of the last century. |
| 0:20.1 | The rumble in the jungle, maybe, O.J. Simpson and his Ford Bronco, the launch of the big pop culture moments of the last century. The Rumble in the Jungle maybe. |
| 0:21.9 | O.J. Simpson and his Ford Bronco. The launch of the iPhone. Well, earlier this month in Arizona, |
| 0:28.2 | there was a new one, at least if you're extremely online. |
| 0:32.3 | You got me by a lot. I stop Jimmin. It's been christened the frame-mogging of clavicular. |
| 0:39.3 | Pierce, the biggest news over the weekend was clavicular getting brutally framed-mogged by the ASU frat leader. |
| 0:45.3 | Here's a deal. There's a guy called clavicular. He has muscles. |
| 0:49.3 | And then someone with bigger muscles comes to stand next to him. |
| 0:53.3 | He's obviously been Jim Maxing. This is one of the most brutal frame-moggings we've ever seen. And somehow this moment becomes a massive internet phenomenon. Flavicular was just frame-mogged by an Arizona state frat later. Dude, clavbed up frame-mogged by an ASU student. Why are all these memes coming out of nowhere? And if you have no idea what we're talking about, that's okay. |
| 1:14.0 | We'll explain it. |
| 1:15.2 | Clavicular is a 20-year-old from New Jersey. |
| 1:18.3 | He streams online for hours most days. |
| 1:20.9 | He cares deeply about what he looks like. |
| 1:23.5 | He says he's broken his own face with a hammer to make it look better. |
| 1:28.3 | From the BBC, I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. |
| 1:32.1 | And I'm Tristan Redmond in Paris. |
| 1:34.4 | And today on The Global Story, |
| 1:36.3 | Who is the Suddenly Everywhere clavicular? |
| 1:39.5 | What does his fame tell us about the world we live in |
... |
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