Clavicular Reveals the Emptiness of Manosphere Culture
Graphic by Emma Novy
“Looksmaxxing”, “jestering”, “mogging”, these are just a handful of words that have made waves across the internet in 2026 primarily due to one man: Clavicular.
Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, is a 20-year old Kick streamer who appears to be the flavor of the month from the manosphere community. We’ve all heard of the methods he’s implemented to maximize his looks from “bonesmashing” to using meth to suppress his appetite, but in a recent interview with Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan, I found Clavicular’s outlook on life to be the most chilling (such as him scoffing at the idea of taking a girl on a bowling date because “where is the ROI in that,”).
Most manosphere figures, such as Andrew Tate or the Paul brothers, have explosive personalities defined by domination, conquest and hedonism. The traits pushed by these manosphere figureheads are supposedly to help young men live a better life. Clavicular represents what happens when an adolescent boy heeds their advice and what the end result is: a hollow shell devoid of humanity.
How did we get here? Why is a man who is not even of legal drinking age taking the internet by storm? The origins of Clavicular can be traced back to a time when we were quarantined and taking Zoom classes. I was stunned to learn that Clavicular was 14-years old during the pandemic. Clavicular says it was during this time when he was spending a considerable amount of time on the internet and absorbing the culture. Unfortunately, as someone who spent my preteens playing football during nutrition with my friends in school, I find this to be a complete tragedy. Clearly, spending your formative years isolated while being exposed to the most depraved corners of the internet corrupted the young Peters. Peters says he first began taking substances to “ascend” his looks during this time.
While Clavicular’s origins began during COVID, he’s gained over a million followers across TikTok, Kick and YouTube this past year. I became aware of Clavicular after I saw him go along with the rogue’s gallery of manosphere creators, highlighted by the aforementioned Tate, self-proclaimed neo-nazi Nick Fuentes, misogynist podcaster Myron Gaines and Sneako at a Miami night club where it ended with the group being banned after playing Kanye’s song praising arguably the worst person in human history. I immediately assumed that Clavicular was just another right-winged bigot who just so happened to be the new sensation of what we’ve seen before.
Yet, as Clavicular insists, he claims to be “apolitical”. Obviously, when someone claims to be “apolitical,”it reveals their own complicity with the current status quo which is dictated by politics, but let’s take his word for it for a second. I do agree that Clavicular is less explicit with his politics than his other manosphere counterparts. However, where Clavicular lacks in outright hateful politics, there’s something deeply apathetic in his approach to “looksmaxx.”
Clavicular’s defining philosophy behind “looksmaxxing” is the belief that if one improves their looks, they can improve all aspects of their life. To be clear, there is nothing wrong with one wanting to take steps for self improvement or wanting to pursue a better life. What’s warped about Clavicular is the purpose of his desire to “looksmaxx” and his definition of what a better life is.
In his interview with Channel 5, Clavicular revealed that he believes a majority of people are “jester” and there’s no purpose in associating with people unless they’re someone of a higher status who you can network with. In his own words, “there’s really not that many people that are worth interacting with.”He went on to argue that going on dates with women is fruitless unless you’re streaming it for your audience. In another indictment on regular people, he thinks that men who hang out, drink beer and watch sports together is a complete waste of time and men would be better served researching ways to “looksmaxx.”
The contempt Clavicular has for normal people and the way he reveres status should come as no surprise. Clavicular doesn’t seek to “looksmaxx” to better himself as a human to connect with his fellow man. In fact, he seeks to do the opposite.
Clavicular’s conquest is precisely to drift further away from people and fulfill an ego that seemingly can never be satisfied. To be clear, his whole journey started out of deep dissatisfaction with his own natural appearance, as if there’s something wrong with one’s inherent physical traits. The whole purpose of “ascending” is not to bring you closer to humanity, but to isolate yourself even further from those who aren’t “worth interacting with.”
This is ultimately the endgame of where manosphere culture leads to; it begins with the premise that human beings are flawed, and therefore you ought to “ascend” yourself as far away from them as possible. The end results are a life alone, devoid of humanity and a purpose of endless self-fulfillment that leads to no connection to people.
Clavicular, as cold and apathetic as he can be, had what should’ve been formative years of his teenhood robbed and supplemented with the alienation of being chronically online. This is not to excuse his heinous behavior on the internet, but it does serve as a foundation on how young men in the 2020s can easily be corrupted by these forces. It’s no shock, young men are falling right now and when people are falling behind, they look to anyone offering them a bone. The manosphere culture is the lowest hanging fruit to grab, which is why there are young men that gravitate towards these spaces.
Yet as Clavicular shows, taking up that life leads to an empty soul and self-destructing controversies to maintain relevance. Let Peters serve as a cautionary tale for what happens when you let these spaces suck up the last parts of your soul.