A satirical drag show at Bushwick’s Talon Bar brought a diverse group together to lampoon a bizarre Internet subculture.
BY CAROL CHEN
BUSHWICK — The viral Instagram flyer promised New York City’s first — and perhaps last — looksmaxxing drag king contest. Last Friday night, the basement of Talon bar in Bushwick filled up with queer regulars, algorithmically curious strangers, a few attendees who had never been to a drag show, and at least one self-identified looksmaxxer who had driven in from Woodside.
The event was organized by Sarah Rescigno and Emily Herman, a couple whose party-throwing instincts led them toward an unusual subject: the growing online phenomenon of looksmaxxing Popular among young men, looksmmaxxing involves optimizing one’s physical appearance through extreme means, from structured fitness regimens to facial bone reshaping and, in some cases, methamphetamine microdosing for its supposed fat-burning properties.
The catalyst was Clavicular, a 20-year-old content creator who has become the internet’s most visible, and most polarizing, ambassador of the looksmaxxing world. Known for his streams, his controversial statements, and a recent drug overdose that briefly made national news, he has become a kind of funhouse mirror for anxieties about masculinity, body image, and the internet’s influence on young men.
Rescigno said the mainstream notoriety of looksmaxxing coupled with its distinctively queer undertones inspired her to put on the event: “My mom knows who Clavicular is now. It still has this niche appeal of feeling like you’re in an in group, but it’s becoming mainstream. And I thought it was perfect for a gay event — he’s this very flamboyant cisgender heterosexual man. It’s a very interesting thing to examine the gender performance.”
The post announcing the party — including a contest where drag kings compete to out-Clavicular each other — accumulated around 11,000 likes on Instagram and more than 160 RSVPs on Partiful.
The night opened with a performance by drag king Hugh Mann Race, a Brooklyn-based performer who took the stage in a black shirt and heavy contour, dancing and stripping to the Village People’s “Macho Man” to warm up the crowd. Then the contest itself began: five drag king competitors, each riffing on looksmaxxing culture to varying degrees.
The performance that drew the loudest reaction was that of Abby Nazziola, who wore a white wife-beater, red shorts, and elaborate prosthetic makeup that extended his jawline and accentuated his cheekbones into the chiseled, angular silhouette that looksmaxxers aspire to. He punched himself in the face with a hammer and flexed for the crowd to music, all while holding a muppet in hand.
When asked about the elements of his performance, Nazziola said: “I wanted to show the inherent transness of looksmaxxing. The foundation of it is fear of being ‘not man enough.’ I wanted to show that all of this is hurting more than helping, and how ridiculous these men look and sound.”
To Nazziola, the puppet represents the vulnerable inner child of those who use ultra-masculinity as cover: “I’m sure they see puppets as emasculating and childish, so I know they wouldn’t be happy with this depiction,” Nazziola said.
“There’s no room for being yourself in this sphere,” he added in a text message after the event Nazziola said over text after the event. “If these men really looked inside, they could find self-acceptance elsewhere. I think we as queer people know this very well.”
That parallel between the trans experience and the looksmaxxing community was constantly brought up throughout the night. Hugh Mann Race, who is trans, described watching young men pursue extreme physical transformation as genuinely sad. “I had to struggle to love my body,” he said backstage. “Being trans and being fat are the best things that could have happened to me. It was so sad to watch men hitting their faces with hammers when they don’t need it.”
Kax Petkovich, another contest participant, said that his experience mirrored that of Clavicular: “He’s been taking testosterone since he was 14. So am I.” However, Petkovich, argued that drag king culture offers a different model of masculinity: one arrived at through self-discovery rather than self-punishment. “Most drag kings are trans men or queer women — people who’ve been on the brunt of the worst of men, who then reclaim masculinity for themselves. It’s coming from a place of finding yourself.”
Murray Rosenbaum, 28, a public school teacher who stumbled onto the event while looking for things to do nearby, offered a perspective that hovered between the satirists and Rodrigues. His students, middle schoolers, have picked up looksmaxxing vocabulary and habits. “They would do the ‘mewing’ (during class), dragging their finger down their face to press their jaw in, to tell me they can’t answer a question.”
He said the event helped him make more sense of this cultural trend but also deepened his worry for the kids that he teaches, who are immersed in this culture. “Listening to Clavicular’s statements, it’s clear he struggles with happiness. He’s quoted saying men aren’t meant to be happy. He’s accepted this ideology of ‘I’m meant to suffer”.
At the end of the contest, the crowd voted by applause. Nazziola won. The MC Lauren Corcoran concluded the night with: “We want to make it very clear that we are not here to support Clavicular. We are here, in fact, to make f–ing fun of it.”
