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Men paying to have their jaws broken in the name of ‘manliness’

13 points| subliminalpanda | 2 years ago |gq-magazine.co.uk

25 comments

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logicalmonster|2 years ago

It sounds horrifying, but I don't think these men are that irrational. Being good looking is the recipe for living life on easier mode, and a very thin sliver of bone on a man's face can be the difference from being far below average looking to far above average looking. It seems entirely rational to make a short-term sacrifice for a good life.

If you're against this, have you thought about the intense frustration and pain some men feel in their lives to even consider something this extreme? I'm not saying I'd do it or recommend it, but I understand why somebody would think about that.

Apocryphon|2 years ago

But the article itself lists less drastic procedures as options:

> As technology has advanced, bringing with it cheaper, and less invasive procedures like injectable fillers and Botox, the “superhero jawline”, or the “GI Jaw”, as one surgeon has marketed it, is increasingly available to all.

Perhaps even if one agrees in principle that people should be free to pursue cosmetic surgery as they see fit, one could still have qualms about massive operations that are medically unnecessary?

Breefield|2 years ago

Gender affirming care for cis people—same as breast augmentation, hair transplants or hormonal/endocrine modifications.

PaulHoule|2 years ago

… legs broken in the name of being taller, all sorts of weird injections, etc.

One of my son’s friends got into the wheat waffles and Tik Tok rabbit hole, refused my offer to teach him weightlifting but stole money from his mom to buy steroids, broke contact with my son because my son is taller and doesn’t want to be “heightmogged”. It’s crazy, it’s self-loathing, it is all about pathological narcissism but people writing about it can’t get past “misogyny” which is prevalent in that community but I’d say not primary.

bulbosaur123|2 years ago

> it is all about pathological narcissism

I don't think so. I think it's just about biological need to secure a suitable mate. Men are convinced (not entirely without basis) that you need to be hyper-competitive this day and age to even have a chance at procreating and young impressionable minds fall for it big time. I don't see what it has to do with "misogyny", the fact that women prefer taller guys is just common knowledge. Until now men didn't really have options, now they have leg lengthening.

evandale|2 years ago

Wheat waffles? Cursory google, is it actually just a guy you pay to send pictures to and he gives you a rating out of 10?

debacle|2 years ago

What is a wheat waffle?

meowfly|2 years ago

This article was very click baity. Supposedly tech workers are getting invasive cosmetic surgery because they look at themselves all day on Zoom. The author highlights an insecure man who says he was border line suicidal. The reader is left believing that fringe online culture is making young men engage in drastic surgeries to be chad like.

Here is an alternate hypothesis: People with expendable income, or the insecure, are paying for cosmetic surgery just like they always have.

Apocryphon|2 years ago

This is probably a sensationalist exposé on a very very niche sub-subculture, but this just goes to show, for every modern societal ill, there is a much dumber and counterproductive "cure" peddled by those who know how to make good money.

anigbrowl|2 years ago

I don't think i's sensationalist. I'm somewhat familiar with this community (they're overrepresented on 4chan, which I study a lot) and this reads like a very fair summary of their discourse/anxieties.

JumpinJack_Cash|2 years ago

These guys have some latent homosexual tendencies (not that it's a bad thing per se obviously).

But I don't think it's controversial to say that male models and Hollywood actors are not exactly manly figures.

jitl|2 years ago

Why do we have to shame people for cosmetic or gender affirming surgery?

LawTalkingGuy|2 years ago

Shame is your word, but we do need to have a voice of reason telling people that cosmetic surgery is stupid, regardless of your reasons. Undergoing actual surgery can kill you and when used for emotional reasons generally doesn't produce the results you want anyways.

And yes, all cosmetic surgery. I know someone who almost died from complications from a simple facelift.

There's an industry pushing these useless surgeries, and of course hostile communities (pro-ana, etc) pushing people into them or into the mental illness that makes them attractive. The more people who speak out about the need to modify yourself to be happy, the better.

bulbosaur123|2 years ago

Disgusting clickbait title. You could say this about any surgery.

LawTalkingGuy|2 years ago

Right, and people should. Chopping up the bodies of insecure people is bad for society even if it's good for surgeons.

markx2|2 years ago

> “I think I’ve done everything I can do for myself with looks, really,” he says. “Now it’s just about my personality.”

and a new look will not help with that.

krapp|2 years ago

Whatever happened to "squats and oats?"

PaulHoule|2 years ago

Those people think working out at the gym just makes you an ugly MF like me.