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1LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Many teen boys spend a lot of time in front of the mirror. It's a rite of passage. But some boys are taking part in a very risky trend to change their image. NPR's Alana Wise reports.
ALANA WISE, BYLINE: There's caring about your looks, and then there's looksmaxxing, a viral movement that urges boys and young men to radically improve their appearance. Some of the more benign advice offered in this online community revolves around gym tips and skin care, like this from user Michael Hoover on YouTube.
MICHAEL HOOVER: I tried using all of the most popular looksmaxxing glow-up tips to see if they would make me more attractive.
WISE: But more extreme tactics call for elective surgery, steroid use or even a practice called bone smashing - hitting yourself in the face with a hammer in a misguided attempt to improve your jawline. Here's controversial looksmaxxing influencer Clavicular.
CLAVICULAR: I'll just lay down in my bed and brace my head so that there's no CTE and then smash my zygos so that they grow.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh.
WISE: Doctors say bone smashing is ineffective, dangerous and can cause permanent damage. Dr. Gene Beresin has worked in child psychiatry for 40 years. He says the looksmaxxing movement is one of the most troubling trends he's seen.
GENE BERESIN: The combination of young male development with the emphasis on appearance and social media is a very dangerous combination because it can result in significant physical as well as mental health consequences.
WISE: Also troubling is the movement's origins. Looksmaxxing grew out of the incel community. That is involuntarily celebrate men who blame women for their lack of happiness and sexual fulfillment. Maximizing their looks became a way to attract female attention, but looksmaxxing was rife with negative undertones from the start.
BERESIN: You're scored from being subhuman to what's a normie or a norm to Chad. And Chad is the - unfortunately, it's the essence of white supremacy.
WISE: That means to be a Chad, you have to meet European beauty standards - sharp-jawed, tall and white. Beresin says there are signs parents can look out for to see if their sons are dipping into problematic behaviors.
BERESIN: Do they complain that they're not looking good enough? Are they comparing themselves to others? Is there a change in their eating habits?
WISE: Beresin says it's important to speak early and often about body image and to approach without judgment. But it can be hard to get boys to open up, says Valerie Adams-Bass. She studies adolescent identity and body image, particularly among Black youth.
VALERIE ADAMS-BASS: Males are not socialized at home and certainly not in peer groups to say, I'm having a tough day. Right? They're not socialized to say, you know, I'm really struggling with what to wear, how to look, how to have a conversation.
WISE: She suggests taking an interest in their passions, like maybe video games, as a way to introduce deeper conversations.
ADAMS-BASS: Where you can begin to sort of break down, why is that the avatar you've chosen? Right? Why is it that you're choosing these exercises for the gym? Why is it that you are socializing with this particular group of young men?
WISE: Adams-Bass says making these subtle introductions can help soften boys to the idea of talking more openly.
ADAMS-BASS: It may not all come at once, but I do believe that you have to. And this takes work, right? So - takes work to break down the walls of adolescence.
WISE: Her big piece of practical advice? She suggests parents try to redirect their sons' focus from their appearance and image-obsessed social media to healthier outlets like sports, art and coding.
Alana Wise, NPR News, Washington.
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