looksmax

English

Verb

looksmax (third-person singular simple present looksmaxes, present participle looksmaxing, simple past and past participle looksmaxed)

1. Alternative form of looksmaxx.
   • 2018 July 24, Jesselyn Cook, “Inside Incels’ Looksmaxing Obsession: Penis Stretching, Skull Implants And Rage”, in HuffPost‎^[1], archived from the original on 1 April 2019:

     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.

   • 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:

     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, Joshua A. Segalewitz, "'You Don’t Understand... It’s Not About Virginity': Sexual Markets, Identity Construction, and Violent Masculinity on an Incel Forum Board", thesis submitted to the University of Dayton, page 25:

     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.

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

     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).

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

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