Last Tuesday, April 14, the influencer Clavicular was hospitalized for a suspected overdose while live-streaming in a Miami shopping mall, the city where he resides. During the broadcast, the 20-year-old began to show signs of erratic and absent behavior, with difficulty opening his eyes or holding his head up. “I’m doing what I can, but I’m destroyed,” he mumbles. One of his companions, Androgenic – another influencer, known as “the Australian Clavicular” – asks him if he wants “an addy” (Adderall, an amphetamine medication used to treat ADHD). A few moments later, the live broadcast is interrupted.
Hours later, Clavicular posted an image on X with blood marks on his face, defining what happened as “brutal”: “All these substances are just a way to deal with trying to feel neurotypical while in public, but obviously it’s not a solution.” He also stated that the hospital recommended he remain admitted, but he voluntarily left the institution to attend an event at the Bacara club in Miami, where he continued his usual rhythm of live broadcasts, essentially streaming almost his entire life online.
The episode has gained unexpected media attention, where the content creator’s presence has been steadily rising in recent months. He has become the most visible face of a growing phenomenon that has jumped from digital subculture to the mainstream: looksmaxxing, whose approximate translation would be “maximizing appearance.” In more basic terms, everything for beauty.
With terms like “personal improvement” or “ascension,” the consumption of unsupervised medication, a whole range of eating disorders, or, directly, self-mutilation are disguised.
In the best American tradition of character creation, Clavicular is a self-made man. From his name, derived from his online nickname, which has overshadowed his real name, Braden Peters, to his appearance, which he has molded, as he himself explains, with hammers, among other elements. The dangerous and increasingly popular technique known as bonesmashing consists of hitting one’s facial bones to break them, with the conviction that, like a boxer, this will harden facial features. Furthermore, at 20 years old, he is one of the clearest examples of a person educated by the internet. After a childhood defined as “completely normal” within a middle-class family in New Jersey, he soon began spending 14 hours a day online, especially on Looksmax forums. Peter has recounted his life not only on his internet profiles (amassing millions with almost 550,000 followers on Instagram, almost 900,000 on TikTok, and over 300,000 on Kick, in addition to other networks), but also in various interviews. The New York Times or the American edition of GQ have dedicated interviews to him that oscillate between fascination and schadenfreude. The data provided in this article is based on everything he has declared on his networks or in those media.
“Aesthetics matter”
Associated with the incel phenomenon, Looksmax forums are part of a subculture that links a very specific and hegemonic type of beauty with social and sexual success. Practices to achieve it range from basic hygiene to facial remodeling exercises of supposed effectiveness to transform the jawline – the obsession with the chin and lack of a double chin is a constant in these circles – including, of course, surgery. “Aesthetics matter” is the motto of this world, and Braden adopted it as a mantra with the faith of a convert. He became one of the most active users of the forums advocating looksmaxxing and even a moderator, although the characteristic content is not precisely known for being moderated or filtered, but rather for being an open field for lies, pseudoscience, misogyny, racism, and far-right ideas.
Although Clavicular claims that in his early adolescence and high school he did not stand out for his physique, charisma, or sociability, certain key elements existed around him to change that, and not only in the digital sphere: his mother had been a bodybuilder and had a home gym. At 14 (coinciding with the COVID crisis lockdown), he began injecting testosterone he bought online. When his parents discovered it, they threw away his supplies, but he proceeded to open a P.O. box to receive his doses there. He claims his family eventually gave up because “there was nothing they could do to stop my ascension.” In looksmaxxing jargon, “ascension” is the most common word used to refer to improvement and personal development. Some elements in the forging of this hero (or villain) mix reality and fiction in the inextricable way digital life often does.
Clavicular claims he has molded his face with hammers to “sharpen” his bones. And with success, given his current appearance of an AI-designed Superman. And not just his face: he also claimed (in GQ) to have increased his penis girth by placing weights on it, which he says has allowed him to achieve more powerful erections. Added to this is his advocacy for the consumption of methamphetamines to control appetite and avoid eating, steroids whose use is only permitted in animals, and a plethora of pills ranging from those that stimulate hair growth to those indicated for anxiety, as well as those that enhance tanning.
His mother had been a bodybuilder and had a home gym. At 14 (coinciding with the COVID crisis lockdown), he began injecting testosterone he bought online.
His time at university was ephemeral; he was expelled shortly after enrolling for being found with steroids. In this regard, he commented in an interview with podcaster Adam Friedland: “If you want to earn hundreds and hundreds of dollars without loans, it’s better to invest in cosmetic surgery and not in university. In fact, you can get university loans and invest them in cosmetic surgery.”
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The line between whether what he is saying is real or provocation is blurred. The problem is that Clavicular has hundreds of thousands of followers who follow his advice and who have made him the visible face of a new type of masculinity to aspire to. The truth is that even if it comes wrapped in a neologism and, like all internet niches, has its own incomprehensible vocabulary for the uninitiated (a Becky is a woman of average attractiveness, a Stacey a high-value woman, a Chad is a canonical good-looking guy), what this theory advocates is the umpteenth twist on a phenomenon that has always existed in the digital world: that of men seeking physical attractiveness and success with women through twisted and manipulative tactics akin to mind control. The book The Mystery Method, published in 2005, would be just one of many examples. Women appear in it as beings without their own judgment who can be confused by poisoned compliments, overwhelming self-confidence, or movements similar to dog training, so that they fall into what the method’s users call “seduction.” This mixes with the discovery by the looksmaxxing sphere that beautiful people, in principle, have an easier time in life. And instead of trying to change it or maintain a neutral position, the movement strongly embraces this fact, seeking to benefit from it at all costs. Thus, with terms like “personal improvement” or “ascension,” the consumption of unsupervised medication, a whole range of eating disorders, or, directly, self-mutilation are disguised. From subforums to the mainstream, it is a new incarnation of eugenics, a pseudoscience that cloaks pure superstition with vaguely scientific terms.
The ‘Clavicular’ system
Clavicular claims that his content is also aimed at women, but his audience is overwhelmingly male. It’s not surprising: it would seem that his users suddenly discover a universe of demands and impositions against which women have particularly rebelled in recent years. The manosphere arrives years late, inventing or exacerbating standards that are a direct passport to unhappiness and dissatisfaction, analyzed and dismantled decades ago by feminism. But in a context where even this feminism is in decline, with society shifting towards more conservative positions, more and more eager ears and eyes appear, desirous of consuming the message.
And there’s a lot to consume. For those who wish to seek him out, Clavicular offers endless hours of content: he streams practically all his waking hours on the Kick platform, an even more extreme and uncontrolled alternative to Twitch. There, he can be seen delivering his tirades on personal improvement and “evaluating” others’ beauty as something objective, measurable, and quantifiable in terms of symmetry and well-placed bones. Especially female beauty, which has led him to claim that Sydney Sweeney is “malformed”: “Her upper jaw is extremely retracted” and her gaze lacks infraorbital support.” His most offensive and misogynistic comments become viral clips – edited by other members – and are spread on other networks, increasing his popularity. This happened in 2023, when he experienced a boom thanks to TikTok. He has created his own “Clavicular system,” where for a $39 monthly subscription, he provides access to videos on aesthetics, skincare, pharmacology, or social skills, as well as membership in a self-defined “exclusive” community. The best advertisement for this lifestyle is himself. In a world where ultimate validation, especially in the United States, is the money you earn, he claims to earn it in spades. According to his statements to The New York Times, in January 2026, he earned $133,000 directly on Kick, apart from what he received from sponsors and advertisers (like an online casino).”
His off-screen ventures are usually surrounded by controversy: since the beginning of his fame, he has dangerously bordered on delinquency, with episodes such as a car accident because, in his own words, he had fallen asleep at the wheel due to medication, or an arrest accused of instigating a fight between two women to stream it online. Although he does not have a diagnosis, he defines himself as neurodivergent and claims that without methamphetamine, he becomes rude. When he records himself on the street, he addresses strangers, sometimes ridiculing them; often, teenage fans gather around him to appear in his broadcast, some cheer him, others insult him. Disturbances break out, and the police have to intervene. He has been arrested several times for possession of illegal substances and is under investigation for episodes such as shooting a revolver at the carcass of an alligator. Of course, during a live broadcast.”
Another high point in his rise to fame was when, in an interview on the Daily Wire, a right-wing media outlet, he stated that despite his ideas being more in line with Republican JD Vance, he would vote for Democrat Gavin Newsom for being more attractive compared to an “obese” Vance. These statements, like others, do not bring him any negative consequences. He has been adopted by the far-right as a kind of mix between a mascot and a role model, and of course, his audience never reproaches him for episodes such as when he danced to the song Heil Hitler by Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) in a club, the occasion when he claimed women should not have the right to vote, or the moment he stated he had run someone over and hoped they had died.”
He told The New York Times that he no longer enjoyed going to clubs but continued to do so “for money.” He has also claimed to intentionally ejaculate one minute into intercourse “to become productive again.” His body no longer produces testosterone naturally, and according to his statement to GQ, he believes he is infertile. Those who discover him without buying into his message oscillate between considering him an agent of evil or a brainless victim of the system, a drug addict worthy of pity. Some even speculate about how much life he has left.”
Certainly, few walking metaphors of our time are as clear as Clavicular: a twenty-year-old who gets rich by literal blows to chisel his face but keeps British model David Gandy as his phone wallpaper as an example of beauty he can never achieve; someone who streams his sexual encounters – sound only – and shortens them to the extreme to avoid losing engagement; a person who uses drugs not for recreational purposes but to produce more. Misogyny, competitiveness, treating oneself and others as an ultracapitalist work machine ostensibly to be improved and optimized ad infinitum, is something that is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed. It is not difficult to draw a parallel between the Clavicular and looksmaxxing phenomenon and the crisis of classic masculinity that sees its values falter in pursuit of building a more just world. This amalgam of beliefs, this way of life that self-destructs its followers with EDs, drugs, and injectables, offers something to believe in: a system, a method that in times of uncertainty is clothed in absolute truth. It provides certainties and answers precisely when they are most needed. And it is also quantifiable, gamifiable, progress can be measured, always striving for more. A thirst that is never quenched.”
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