From the shadowy corners of incel forums, a new obsession was quietly emerging. To succeed, financially, socially and sexually, you need to level up your face and frame. Enter “Looksmaxxing”, the idea that how you look can be engineered to perfection to maximise your full aesthetic potential. It's a TikTok-fuelled culture of mogging, "bone-smashing", and glow-ups - and a way for young men to measure beauty, status, and self-worth. How far will some go to “max” their looks? Is it vanity, or a survival strategy in a hyper-visual world? And what does it reveal about the state of men’s mental health today?
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Host: Rosie Wright
Guest: Jack Burke, times contributor.
Producer: Dave Creasey
Read more: Looksmaxxing: the worrying new extreme teenage trend
Image: Getty Images
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