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The Manosphere and the Gospel of Self-Optimization

In an era of overexposure, perhaps looksmaxxing was inevitable.
Roxanne Stone and Katelyn Beaty

Bro, do you even know your facial thirds?

In an era of overexposure, perhaps looksmaxxing was inevitable. Clavicular, the face of this buzzy new internet phenomenon, tells us an uncomfortable truth we probably already knew: physical attractiveness gets you places. And, in true manosphere fashion, he is taking that to its transgressive extreme — steroid use, appetite suppressants, bone smashing, jaw surgeries, an incalculable amount of supplements and an obsessive fixation on achieving the perfect body ratios. But to what end? 


On this episode of the podcast, Katelyn and Roxy examine the looksmaxxers’ zealous pursuit of physical “ascension” and its guiding ethos of self-optimization at seemingly all costs. We are joined by RNS national reporter Fiona Murphy to discuss the “inverted asceticism” of the looksmaxxing community and its connections to the broader manosphere. We also get into the other manosphere development of late: Louis Theroux’s new documentary, which follows several streamers and podcast hosts displaying a range of bad behaviors in pursuit of clicks. And we ask: what role is religion playing in all this male meaning-making?

GUEST:

Fiona Murphy is a New York-based multimedia journalist and national reporter at Religion News Service. Murphy covers local stories as well as national trends, with a focus on how faith intersects with digital life, identity and community. When it comes to the manosphere, she has written on Looksmaxxing, Catholicism and the new discipline of the body, and Nick Fuentes and the Groyper challenge to Catholicism.

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