MMA journalist and host Luke Thomas used a recent episode of Luke Thomas Gets Political to push back hard against the growing trend of young men using peptides, testosterone replacement therapy, and cosmetic procedures in the name of looksmaxxing, arguing the whole culture is built on a broken foundation.
The conversation started with a question about whether looksmaxxing gives straight men a socially acceptable way to compliment each other’s appearance. Thomas was unconvinced from the start.
“The way to create a system for men to be able to compliment one another should not be a route through self-deformity,” he said. “And in fact, that’s the worst way to give another guy a compliment because now you’re reinforcing the idea that he’s got to do all this to himself to make him look a certain way. You’re endorsing the worst things that are pressuring young dudes to look a certain way.”
Thomas was clear that looks carry real-world value, but argued they rank well below what actually moves the needle in a person’s life.
He said, “Do looks matter? As far as I can tell, they definitely matter. But what I can definitely also tell you is that what matters much more than that is having a personality.”
He continued: “And the good news is none of us are really born with one. Some are more socially gregarious naturally than others. But you can actually work on that. That’s a thing you can work on.”
He drew a firm line between healthy self-care and what he sees as a self-destructive obsession. He noted, “You should take pride in your appearance and you should take efforts to maintain a healthy weight if you can, maintain a clean living space, and just have a self-care kind of orientation that’s real and healthy and long lasting. If you want to go lift weights, go lift weights. I have nothing bad to say about that whatsoever.”
Where his patience ran out was with the more aggressive end of the trend. Thomas stated, “These guys in their 20s taking peptides and TRT and things to combat hair loss and then hammering their face and then being like, ‘Oh, doesn’t this create a pathway to compliment it?’ No. It gives you a pathway to double down on the worst ideas about what masculine ideals themselves should be.”
His alternative was straightforward: learn to be open with the people around you. He said, “You should just not be afraid to be vulnerable with another dude if you’re straight and he’s straight. It maybe takes a little bit of practice or the right kind of relationship with another friend, but just not feel shame for having a totally nonse xual but like general, not reverence, but, hey man, you’re looking great, looking smooth brother. But trying to force that through this broken, refracted world of self-mutilation, no. I think that’s terrible for young dudes.”
He closed the point by making the case for personality over appearance in the long run. He said, “Do you know how many ugly dudes with great personalities I’ve seen clean up? Those dudes clean up a lot more than the pretty one who doesn’t have much of a personality. And even those ones, their looks fade. It’s very hard in your 40s and 50s to look like you’re in your prime. Work on your personality. Work on that.”
