Clavicular, revisited
Clavicular, revisited
By ANJALI IYER — amiyer@ucdavis.edu
After my last examination of Clavicular, it seemed like the looksmaxxer’s relevancy was dwindling. I naively hoped a lethargic walk through Paris fashion week and an unfortunate attempt to smoke an unlit cigarette were to be his final notable hijinks to grace our screens. But I was wrong to think that Braden Peters would fade into obscurity without disgracing himself one last time.
A few months ago, posts began popping up on social media alleging that Peters had been charged in connection with the sexual battery and rape of an underage girl at her parent’s house that occured in May 2025. He is also facing a civil lawsuit for injecting the same victim with unregulated fat-dissolving peptides on a livestream later that year. These appalling crimes reveal an insidious side to Peters that extends beyond his pathetic attempts to garner validation from his male audience.
My first Clavicular article was written shortly after he stormed out of a 60 Minutes interview when asked if he identified as an “incel.” His ridiculous persona and the disastrous TV stunt punted him into an era of unrelenting ridicule. What struck me at the time was how quickly mainstream media dismissed Peters as yet another caricature of inceldom — a far-right corner of the internet home to influencers with a homosocial fixation on appearance. But Clavicular’s outrageously misguided philosophy distracted society from the fact that his rising popularity pointed to a more pernicious phenomenon.
Clavicular’s desire to “ascend” his physical appearance is a perversion of modern male frustration with financial and social stagnation. In an increasingly nihilistic world, rooting existence in a fixation on physical beauty is an attractive escape to men who feel inadequate.
The notion that incels employ looksmaxxing in pursuit of female affection is incomplete. Looksmaxxing draws a community through which men reinforce masculine ideals through superficial critiques of physical characteristics. Online looksmaxxing forums are cesspools of male discontent. But rather than examine any wider causes for this growing disenfranchisement, the men on these forums prefer to blame women for their lack of success, often referring to them as “foids” — a degrading portmanteau of “female” and “humanoid.”
The looksmaxxing community’s self-aggrandising disdain for women elicited in me a sinking dread when I decided to engage with posts about the allegations. And with Peters at the helm of the looksmaxxing community, I expected legions of fans to flood posts documenting these allegations with comments defending his innocence. But as I tentatively scrolled through Instagram, I sensed an unfamiliar silence.
Had Clavicular’s crimes resulted in some kind of a widespread revelation?
Though there remain some straggling Clavicular fans, it seems that his impending arraignment has shaken the support of less indoctrinated looksmaxxers. Perhaps the deplorable nature of Peters’ crimes have sobered casual supporters to the inevitable result of incel rhetoric.
The looksmaxxing community’s dehumanization of women and mounting frustration with the asymptotic pursuit of physical perfection is derivative of Clavicular’s extremist philosophy. Its effects on fans are further exacerbated by a modern rape culture to produce a destructive sense of entitlement, wherein men refuse to acknowledge female agency or any wider sociopolitical power dynamics.
The relentless commitment to this tired incel routine makes it all the more puzzling as to why Clavicular’s fans have grown silent in the face of his criminal charges. After all, rape is a violent manifestation of the very same hierarchical social order incels strive to uphold. And, historically, society tends to be incredibly forgiving to abusers in the public sphere.
As Clavicular fans continue to falter in their support of their favorite looksmaxxer, one can only hope they are rethinking his influence. It will take more than a conviction to eradicate Clavicular’s hold over men who are fueled by a painfully warped view of the world. But justice for his victim will show men that his poisonous philosophy has irreparable consequences for all of society. If one cannot recognize the humanity in others, one might as well be a looksmaxxer.
Written by: Anjali Iyer — amiyer@ucdavis.edu
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