This thesis looks into how masculinity is being shaped, challenged and performed across various digital spaces in 2025. This work focuses on how teenage boys and young men in particular, are navigating certain aspects such as their appearance, their identity and male expectations online. ‘Looksmaxxing’ is an incel term, which was popularised within the ‘manosphere’ communities, which refers to the process of optimising one's looks/physical appearance in order to succeed socially, as well as sexually. For many teenage boys and young men, the pursuit of masculinity online has become closely tied to both aesthetics and to consumerism.
I explore how certain men profit off of other men's insecurities, and how they offer solutions for this, solutions such as Looksmaxxing courses, routines, as well as any other content that claims to be able to improve one's attractiveness, as well as dominance as a man. Looksmaxing courses all promise the same result, confidence including romantic success with women, but they also reinforce harmful gender dynamics and hyper masculine ideals. Popular male influencers and figures online such as Andrew Tate, are central to this narrative, promoting control, wealth and misogyny as masculine virtues.
I examine how hypermasculine content such as Tate’s and that of others, circulates widely and influences Gen Z men in particular, across a variety of digital platforms such as Tik Tok, Instagram, Youtube and Reddit. I investigate what makes these characters appealing to today's young men and what this says about masculinity, rebellion and isolation in today's current digital age. I analyse how popular male fictional characters such as Patrick Bateman from the film American Psycho, and Travis Bickle from the film Taxi Driver, are being idolised online, through memes and Tik Tok edits. In this thesis I try to find the answer as to why these particular figures have become central and why they are called ‘sigma/alpha males’ across multiple incel communities, despite their violent and disturbed personalities. I make a connection between Looksmaxxing and ancient ideals of male beauty, particularly I reference ancient Greek sculptures, and the concept of the Euandria, which is described as an ancient male beauty contest, which took place in ancient Greece. I write about how social media apps like Tik Tok have become a sort of digital Euandria in itself.