queermunist comments on ‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with rape in Massachusetts

‘Looksmaxxing’ influencer Clavicular charged with rape in Massachusetts (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 1 week ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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The “looksmaxxing” personality known as Clavicular has been charged with rape in Massachusetts, online court records show.

The charges listed against Clavicular, 20, whose real name is Braden Peters, are one count of rape, one count of drugging someone for sexual intercourse, and one count of procuring liquor for someone under 21 years old, according to the records.

The charges were filed Sept. 8, and the alleged offenses occurred May 23, 2025, the records indicate. More details about the allegations were not immediately available.

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[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 48 points 1 week ago (15 children)

It's very telling that a "looksmaxxer" drugs and assaults women. It was never about looking good, it was about believing he could manipulate and control women with mind control cheat codes. It's just the next generation's manifestation of PUA.

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[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 20 points 1 week ago (13 children)

It's kinda crazy that PUA stuff is coming back, because the bar has been so low for men now that it's extremely easy to find a partner that would have traditionally been kinda out of your league.

My wife taught dance for a uni and performed professionally for +10 years. The company she worked with is filled with beautiful women who are mostly partnered with the most normcore looking people in the world. Most of the older men/women who have been married to someone in the company for a while are just average Joes with typical jobs, no one is financially well off.

What all the partners have in common is that they are supportive of their significant others passion/career, kind, and not controlling. Like, that's really all you have to do. I've heard so many horror stories from the younger company members about the dating pool nowadays, makes me feel really lucky that I've never had to use a dating app.

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[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago (9 children)

what's PUA?

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[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Pick Up Artist, men who use an array of tricks to manipulate women into sleeping with them. They're the type of dudes to use shit like negging, giving women indirect put downs in the hopes they'll strive for your approval in defense. A lot of their tricks are unethically manipulative, and while they may get you laid once, they're generally a terrible idea if you want to sleep with the same woman multiple times, like in a relationship.

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[+] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -7 points 1 week ago (6 children)

and women seem to flock to men who do this.

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[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I mean, it's targeted manipulation of pressure points in human psychology. If it never worked, they'd adopt different unethical tactics.

That said, I think you overestimate the level of churn those guys are willing to go through. They'll strike out a lot in rapid succession, burning through the local pool of women until they find one that falls for their gimmicks. When you're willing to take dozens of rejections and settle for anyone moderately physically attractive, yeah, it's easy to keep someone around, just not easy to keep the same someone around.

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[–] eldavi@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

I mean, it’s targeted manipulation of pressure points in human psychology. If it never worked, they’d adopt different unethical tactics.

it strikes me as a tragedy because of how deeply unnecessary it is since here are SO MANY people who would happily have sex w them, but the pick up artist is conditioned to want the prize that society tells him is prize-worthy.

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 week ago (1 child)

When I was single, it was very apparent women love assholes before their first divorce.

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[–] AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 1 point 1 week ago

Many people model their relationships after their parents'. A woman who grew up around a shitty dad often (but of course not always) subconsciously seeks something similar until they're disabused of it by reality. We seek out what we know until we come to understand that what we know isn't good for us.

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[–] ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 week ago

Yes, manipulation often works on people who don't know what that looks like yet, like young people.

Plus people who do this stuff know what sort of targets to look for. They intentionally choose vulnerable people with whom the strategies are more likely to work. It’s not that this shit works universally on women.

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[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago

I don't really think women "flock" to these types. Part of what they teach is how you shouldn't care about rejection, so those types end up asking/harassing a lot more women.

Say you are in a competition with someone to get as many job offers as possible. The dude handing out his resume and hounding the recipients all day and night is going to get more job offers than someone selectively applying for jobs they want. That doesn't mean the dude harassing people is going to get a good job, or have it very long, but that's not what they care about.

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[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 3 points 1 week ago

Pick up artist

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[–] Zephorah@discuss.online 3 points 1 week ago

Manosphere taint.

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[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 child)

i'm not against people figuring women out per se. in a vacuum, this PUA thing could have evolved into something neutral.

the very thing this comes down to is that these people just seem to not want to accept they are bad people and keep doubling down on getting laid through whatever it takes so they can be the super manly and successful little boys they want while making sure they can keep being the worst actual people without bruising their ego or any real self reflection.

it's just the bitter incel type people in "new" packaging, which is what makes this sort of news so unsurprising and recurrent.

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[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 7 points 1 week ago

this PUA thing could have evolved into something neutral.

The problem is that PUA basically boils down to harassing enough women until one of them gives you sex. It's inherently a dangerous and misogynist belief and is the architecture a lot of Incel culture is founded upon.

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[–] PunkMonk@lemmygrad.ml 5 points 1 week ago*

These lookmaxxers view women as nothing more than objects for their own pleasure, if they aim to make a woman happy it is only so they get something back themselves out of it, if they could, they'd all happily own a sexbot android that does whatever it asks of them and see that as the perfect girlfriend. And whether they know it or not, they also align with the nazi's ideas of the ubermensch, as in trying to be this ultimate, superior, dominant, alpha male, manly man. Which is a major reason why they and their friend groups are always so right leaning.

It's very lame.

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