looksmax

present singular third person looksmaxes · participle present looksmaxing · participle past looksmaxed · past looksmaxed

1. alternativeAlternative form of looksmaxx.

   It doesn’t matter how much I looksmax, I’m so plain it’s like my face is a mask.

   2023, Greg Buchanan, Consumed, Orion Fiction, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   Unhappy with how they look, thousands of young men are joining anonymous message boards such as Lookism.net to dissect their looks and exchange detailed tips on looksmaxing — their term for enhancing their appearance.

   2018 July 24, Jesselyn Cook, “Inside Incels’ Looksmaxing Obsession: Penis Stretching, Skull Implants And Rage”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 01 Apr 2019

   Generally, the ideology prevalent on incel forums falls in line with this conceptualization: the only way to truly see the reality of interpersonal relationships is to accept and, eventually, get over the fact that physical attractiveness is the sole criterion of a person’s value, and thus men considered ugly or effeminate will never find a sexual or romantic partner. This painful realization can be dealt with by looksmaxing, that is attempting to alter one’s appearance to adhere to the standards of male physique portrayed as ideal in the media […]

   2020, Małgorzata Waśniewska, “The Red Pill, Unicorns and White Knights: Cultural Symbolism and Conceptual Metaphor in the Slang of Online Incel Communities”, in Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, editor, Cultural Conceptualizations in Language and Communication (Second Language Learning and Teaching), Springer, →ISBN, page 68

   However, many insist that, for truecels, looksmaxing does not actually improve one’s status: “Gymcelling doesn't work. We all know that. You need good genes to succeed at gymcelling, and if you have such genes you'll never need to gymcel anyway because women will be naturally attracted you and you'd have been getting validation for as long as you were getting pubes,” says OrangeFez2311.

   2020 April 26, Joshua A. Segalewitz, “'You Don't Understand... It's Not About Virginity': Sexual Markets, Identity Construction, and Violent Masculinity on an Incel Forum Board”, in University of Dayton, archived from the original on 13 Aug 2023, page 25

   On the rightmost end of the spectrum are factions like Incels, those pale, misanthropic creatures who contend that feminism has spelled their downfall on the sexual marketplace and who have responded with either “blackpilling” (accepting one’s fate) or “looksmaxing” (using extreme plastic surgery to carve oneself into an Adonis).

   2021, Barrett Swanson, Lost In Summerland, Counterpoint, published 2023, →ISBN