There’s a stereotype that hypermasculine men are unconcerned with their appearance. But after years of encountering these types on the apps, we know better.
By Alex Reimer
And now, we have the research to back up our intuition.
The New York Times recently highlighted a survey of men’s motivations for pursuing plastic surgery. The study looked at adult men in German-speaking parts of Europe, the largest native-language region in the E.U. While Berlin is queer and cosmopolitan-the historic city is arguably the subcultural capital of Europe–there are many homogeneous areas throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland and surrounding countries.
The point is, researchers didn’t stand in line at KitKatClub and report back. Presumably, they surveyed more conservative types. Or at least, they would probably call themselves conservative. Their credit card bills for, erm, enhancement may suggest otherwise!
Of the 241 men who responded to the researchers, 19.5% had undergone a cosmetic procedure. But here’s the catch: men who adhere to “traditional masculine norms,” defined as competitiveness and dominance, being a philanderer and pursuing power, were about twice as likely to undergo plastic surgery.
And they’re not necessarily doing it for women…
The male gaze
For millennia, women have shaped their bodies to please men. This phenomenon, popularized by feminist Laura Mulvey, is called the male gaze. While women want to impress other women, they’re really vying for the attention of men, who are the ultimate arbiters of beauty in a patriarchal system.
In the NYT, Dr. Kate Manne argues that straight men are succumbing to the same force. Part of the reason? They’re simply seeing themselves more often. With Zoom at work and Instagram all the time, men are being exposed to the same relenting beauty standards that have long plagued women.
Men may say they’re getting hair transplants or inflating their assets to impress women, who are known to reject the vast majority of men on dating apps. But along with Dr. Manne, we doubt that’s the true reason.
On this, we turn to the looksmaxxers…
For the bros
The most infamous of looksmaxxers confessed to the New York Times that he doesn’t enjoy having sex with women. Instead, he says knowing that he could have sex with women is more gratifying. “It’s a big time saver,” he added.
With roots in the incel community, looksmaxxing oozes with toxicity. Zoomers obsessed with their looks and virality have taken to smashing their own faces with hammers to alter their bone structure and ingesting alarming quantities of stimulants to suppress their appetites.
As gay men become more powerful (mwahaha), The Atlantic’s Spencer Kornhaber argues that looksmaxxing represents a “new wave of homophobia.”
The mog-happy crowd may resent us, but only because they’re jealous!
Earlier this year, a prominent looksmaxxer named “Dillon Lathom” was honest about his infatuation. “I just think it’s really funny that ‘gay’ is used as an insult, because I am not insulted by it whatsoever,” he said.
Lathom adds that the gay dating market is “far more competitive” than the straight market (honey, we know)…
An ironic twist
In search of meaning, wayward young men are going changing their faces like a Real Housewife and marching off to ” alpha male bootcamp.” If that all sounds pretty gay, that’s because it is.
At the end of her NYT article, Dr. Manne notes the irony in all of this looksmaxxing: men who curate themselves to Adonis-like standards wind up mostly attracting… other men.
Early this year, a male fitness influencer named Clay Barrett bemoaned that he “gets more attention from dudes” than women.
That’s probably because high numbers of women value intangible traits like personality and kindness more than looks (or at least they say they do). Yet, with the economic prospects for men dimming, they have to hang their hats onto something.
Along those lines, the creator of the “catching print” trend remarked that he “didn’t know how sensitive men were” about their members. Perhaps in challenging times, the d measuring contest goes one way.
Meanwhile, we’ll be looking in the opposite direction, thank you very much!
Source: https://www.queerty.com/years-before-heartstopper-forever-this-director-made-some-truly-wild-gay-adult-films-20260713/
