In short, he’s a 20-year-old manosphere influencer obsessed with enhancing his physical appearance, or “looksmaxxing” (think Derek Zoolander, only sexist). My fellow YAP journo Sophie Randell recently caught his base’s attention after posting a Reel mocking their clavicle-laden master and telling white boys to return to Y2K skater culture. Today, she dives into the blowback her viral video received from Clavicular nation - and what it indicates about the fragility of this movement.

-Devin Pike, Guest Editor 💜

An analysis by WIRED and Indicator recently found that nearly 90 schools and 600 students around the world have been impacted by AI generated deepfake nude images, and that number that is likely to climb.

Teenage boys are literally saving Instagram and Snapchat photos of classmates, of course targeting girls, and creating fake sexualised images that they then quickly spread around the whole school, leaving victims humiliated and violated. The technology is free, easy to use, and requires no technical skill, just a normal photo and a few clicks. But the psychological harm is real and lifelong.

Schools are scrambling to respond, but there's no clear legal framework for prosecuting this kind of abuse, especially when the perpetrators are minors. Some countries are introducing laws specifically targeting non-consensual deepfake imagery, but enforcement is nearly impossible when the tools are hosted overseas and distributed through encrypted channels.

My inner child is kicking and f*cking screaming. We’ve just handed over the technology to cause sexual harm to young girls in the easiest way possible. I’m sick.

Onto less important news I could really care less about: Sydney Sweeney is fronting another American Eagle campaign, and honestly, it's just proof that the brand has found their golden formula and are milking it for all it’s worth. Controversy is lucrative, apparently.

And lastly, Mark Zuckerberg is continuing his pursuit of AI human clones, which is either visionary or deeply unsettling depending on your tolerance for tech billionaire megalomania (I’m going with the latter).

The CEO allegedly has an odd obsession with replacing himself with an artificial intelligence-powered duplicate, developing an AI clone version of himself, which is being trained on his mannerisms and conversation style. Supposedly, the bot will eventually be able to interact with Meta employees, giving them more opportunity to connect with the Meta founder.

The technology is advancing fast, and Meta is betting that people will accept AI versions of themselves as long as it saves time. Whether that's convenience or existential horror is still up for debate.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

The concept for my Reel was simple: casting a spell on the white boys to forget about clavicular and remember the ancient texts. The ancient texts being the grungy, effortless, cool as fuck energy of Y2K skate culture that us Zillenials grew up with.

I expected some “hell yeah” comments or maybe a debate about the best Vans era. Instead, I opened a portal to the f*cking manosphere.

240,000 views later, my notifications aren't full of fashion tips or ex-skater boys reminiscing their childhoods. They are a case study in Clavicular’s influence on young men and his ideologies, where jawlines are "scientific" and women are reduced to "femoids” or subhuman creatures.

I’ve written about it before, but for the uninitiated, Clavicular, real name Braden Peters, is the poster boy for a hyper-fixation on physical dominance. His followers want to look good, but it doesn’t end there; they want to "ascend" through "hardmaxxing", a philosophy that treats the male body like an RPG character to be levelled up through extreme grooming, "bone smashing", and a rigid social hierarchy.

When I told the "white boys" to forget him, I wasn't just critiquing a style. To his followers, I was attacking their entire religion, and their god. The vitriol in my comments, men calling me a "foid" (shorthand for "female humanoid") proved that for this corner of the internet, fashion isn't about self-expression. It’s about power.

This goes beyond some "guy thing". This is a massive shift, in which aesthetics are being used as Trojan horses for radical ideologies.

We see it in other subcultures too. The tradwife trap, which on the surface looks like 100% cotton and sourdough. Underneath, it signals a return to patriarchal structures and a rejection of modern rights for women. No bank account? No problem! Daddy will take care of it while you tend to the garden and lose your independence.

Same goes with the “old money” mirage, which appears to be quiet luxury, but is actually quietly reinforcing the idea that class and status are inherited traits, and mirroring traditionalist political leanings.

Yes and no. A lot of these diehard Clav groupies were commenting about how I was encouraging a lazy, slobbish, stoner lifestyle. And yeah, maybe some skaters are like that. The stereotype is certainly pinned to the subculture.

But the reason my Reel really hit a nerve is because early 2000s skate culture represents their worst fear: imperfection. Skate culture is about falling down, scraped knees, and oversized clothes that hide your "genetics". It’s a subculture built on rebellion and community, not "mogging" your friends to prove you’re the alpha.

By calling for a return to the "ancient texts", I was inadvertently calling for a return to a world where we are allowed to be messy, human, and most importantly not obsessed with the "science" of our collarbones.

I posted a Reel about baggy jeans and accidentally became a threat to someone's entire cosmology. That's not a sentence I expected to write this week.

The fact that a 30-second clip of skate references could provoke that level of ideological fury tells you more about where we are than any of the comments did. Imperfection isn't just unfashionable to these guys. It's dangerous, it’s a crack in the worldview. If you're allowed to be messy and still be worthy of taking up space, the whole hierarchy falls apart.

I'm not naive enough to think a fashion Reel is going to dismantle the manosphere. But I do think there's something kind of radical about just existing in a way that doesn't optimise for dominance.

Like scraped knees. Oversized jeans. Band practice in the garage. Maybe even a little eyeliner. But also, not mogging anyone. Still being hot asf. Touching grass, even better, asphalt. Not dehumanising women.

The ancient texts were onto something. We must return. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Today’s trend comes from a baseball gender reveal gone wrong, posted by ESPN on TikTok. In the clip, a guy tries to hit a golden egg with a bat, but completely loses his grip. The bat goes flying and smashes some glass, leaving everyone there a bit stunned.

“Let’s see what’s inside that golden egg… oh sh*t”.

This trend is all about expectations versus reality. Creators set up a moment where they expect something good, like checking their bank account or test results, then reveal a disappointing or awkward outcome. It's relatable and works well for everyday situations where things don't go to plan.

Using the audio, turn the camera on yourself, insert onscreen text starting with "Me checking...", and set up a moment where you expected a good result but were left disappointed. 

A few ideas to get you started:

-Fiona Badiana, Intern

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: when you have kids... 
❤How wholesome: aaw so cute 
🎧Soooo tingly: Wood soup wth? 
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: No-cook tuna dinner idea! 

Hey Sara!

I know you're probably wanting to find clients ASAP, so it's tempting to create content with a strong CTA. But, if you're just building your audience, you need to give people a reason to follow you.

Depending on your audience, you need to decide what kind of content to create. Of course, this will depend on the platform(s) you are trying to grow on. You will likely want to focus on educational or entertaining content that's shareable. The purpose is to get attention, build your audience, and get your brand out there.

Once you've got a solid audience, you can begin asking them to do stuff like sign up for your email list or attend a webinar. But if you try to do this too soon, people will very quickly tune you out!

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.