South Park reveals the toxic ‘looksmaxxing’ terms every parent needs to know

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone may be in their 50s with 29 seasons of satire under their belts, but they’re still just as fluent in youth culture as ever.

That’s certainly the case for the show’s latest episode, released last week, in which Kyle, Stan, Cartman, Kenny and co. confront the younger generation’s self-improvement obsession.

While tweens caring about their looks is nothing new, this is a far cry from anything most 30+ viewers experienced growing up.

In the on-screen send-up of recent skincare trends, we see 10-year-old Wendy joining hordes of fellow schoolgirls at Sephora to get her hands on the latest anti-ageing cream.

Next, Ike takes part in a series of ‘aura battles’, where he tries to ‘mog’ his opponents by ‘looksmaxxing’ — a practice dad Randy also ends up embroiled in. See what we mean when we say it’s another world?

As you might expect from South Park, it’s all a bit ridiculous. But the issues raised in You Like That On Your Face are (unfortunately) very real.

Looksmaxxing, the process of making oneself as physically attractive as possible to gain sexual attention, was first popularised on incel message boards in the 2010s, but hit the mainstream in the last few years.

Although in first glance, this may seem relatively harmless — after all, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to look after yourself — there’s an insidious undertone to this, where human worth is reduced to algorithmic facial scores and dangerous methods are promoted in the name of personal enhancement.

Researchers have described looksmaxxing as ‘a systematic pseudoscientific framework’ that ranks people ‘through a racialised and gendered hierarchy’, tying their self-worth to these strict beauty standards.

And alongside the risk of fuelling mental health conditions like body dysmorphic disorder, anxiety and depression, the subculture’s manosphere ties mean it could act as a gateway for young people to be exposed to increasingly toxic ideologies.

With all this in mind, it’s vital parents are able to identify the signs their child may be falling down this pipeline and intervene early. So if you hear your child using any of these terms, it may be time for a conversation.

Glossary of looksmaxxing words and phrases

Softmaxxing: A subset of looksmaxxing which focuses on non-invasive habits like skincare, fitness, and hair care.

Hardmaxxing: A more extreme element, where invasive — and often dangerous or irreversible — interventions are used, ranging from extreme diets to taking substances such as steroids or undergoing cosmetic surgery, alongside DIY methods like bonesmashing (explained below).

-maxxing: This suffix is added to a range of words to describe targeted efforts in respect to image optimisation, including leanmaxxing, skinmaxxing and hairmaxxing.

Aura: To have aura means to be effortlessly cool, confident and just generally impressive, with a person gaining or losing imaginary ‘aura points’ based on how well they fit this bill.

Aura farming: Deliberately staging an action or situationo boost your aura; seen as ‘cringe’ as it feels forced.

Aura battle: Sometimes also known as an aura-off, this originally began as a social media meme about public competitions where people were judged on their aura, but has now evolved into real-world and online face-offs. In an aura battle, each side performs a series of poses and gestures, with viewers deciding a winner based on presence, cool factor, or personal style.

Mogging: Derived from AMOG, or ‘alpha male of the group’, this refers to when someone looks significantly more attractive than someone or something else, causing them to appear inferior in comparison.

PSL scale: A a one to 10 rating system to rank facial attractiveness, based on symmetry, proportions, sexual dimorphism, skin quality, and harmony. While some claim it stands for three forums behind the rating system’s creation (PUAHate, Sluthate, and Lookism) others say it’s an initialism of the supposed attractiveness principles of proportion, size, and lineation.

Looksmaxxing apps: An app that uses AI to scan selfies and evaluate a person’s attractiveness based on various parameters, including those listed above. After receiving a score, they are typically then given a step-by-step plan to ‘improve’ it. Among the most popular platforms in this respect are Looksmaxxing AI, Looxup, Potential AI, and Face Card.

Chad: The archetype of an alpha male; a muscular, sexually successful man and the opposite of ‘incel’ or ‘beta male’, often depicted in memes and sometimes used in racist contexts. If someone is just below this on the PSL scale, they may be described as ‘Chadlite’, while those who surpass it acquire the status of ‘Gigachad’.

Stacy: The female version of a Chad.

Normie: Someone with an average PSL rating. This can be broken up into low-tier (a score of 4 to 4.9), mid-tier (5 to 5.9), and high tier (6 to 6.9) normie. According to one looksmaxxing forum, this is where ‘the honest majority of the population lands.’

Sub5: Someone scored five or below on the PSL scale. More generally, this term may be used as a synonym for ‘ugly’.

Subhuman: Someone with a score of three or below on the PSL scale. The community’s harshest label

Ascension: The belief or goal for looksmaxxers, wherein drastically improving one’s face and body elevates a person’s PSL score, and by proxy their social, romantic, and general life success.

Glazing: Excessively complimenting or praising someone. The noun, glazer, is akin to ‘brown-noser’ or sycophant,

Frauding: Using clothing, grooming, angles, filters or lighting to cheat your way into a higher PSL rating.

Cope/coping: Making excuses or using self-delusions to avoid accepting a harsh reality; in relation to looksmaxxing this may be that ‘personality matters more than looks’ or ‘money beats genetics’.

Social inflation: The idea that real-world attractiveness ratings are artificially inflated out of the desire to be polite or avoid awkwardness. As such, only algorithms and tech tells the ‘truth’ about how attractive someone is.

Mewing: A viral but widely debunked oral posture technique where you flatten your entire tongue against the roof of your mouth in an effort to sharpen your jawline and straighten your teeth without braces.

Bonesmashing/bone smashing: A dangerous practice that involves striking the face with hard objects like hammers, knuckles, or massage guns in a misguided attempt to fracture the facial bones and have them heal into a more ‘desirable’ shape. Not only is there zero scientific proof of aesthetic benefit to this, it risks, permanent nerve and dental damage, traumatic brain injuries and disfigurement.

Genetic ceiling: The perceived biological limit of how attractive a person can become, regardless of improvement measures taken.

Halo effect: An umbrella term for societal cognitive biases towards people deemed more physically attractive. While studies do back this up (e.g. attractiveness is linked to improved job prospects, better educational outcomes and higher earnings), it’s used in an overly dogmatic context in these circles, effectively promoting the reverse halo or ‘horn effect’ where having ‘flaws’ makes someone socially inferior.

Canthal tilt: The angle of an imaginary line drawn from the inner corner of the eye to the outer corner. Within looksmaxxing circles, a positive tilt (where the outer corner is higher) is prized.

Hunter eyes: Narrow, deep-set, almond-shaped eyes with hooded lids and a positive canthal tilt. A high-value masculine trait for looksmaxxers due to their supposed similarity to predator animals like wolves or big cats. The antithesis to prey eyes, seen as a negative attribute in men but largely valued among women.

Maxilla: Male lookmaxxers typically aim for a ‘forward-grown’ maxilla, meaning they have a well-positioned upper jaw that projects outward and upward rather than sagging downward and back. The opposite of this is a ‘down-swung’ or recessed maxilla, which is said to produce ‘midface incompetence’ issues such as dark circles, a droopy nose, flatter cheekbones, and a poorly defined transition into the upper lip.

Interpupillary distance/IPD or intercanthal distance/ICD: Facial harmony metrics. IPD describes the measurement between the centres of a person’s pupils, while ICD is the distance between the inner corners of each eye. In both, an average gap is seen as more conventionally attractive than very narrow or very wide spacing.

Gonial angle: The angle at which the the vertical part of the lower jaw (ramus) meets the horizontal part (body of the mandible). The masculine ideal among proponents of this ideology is usually between 110° and 120°, or around 125° to 135° for women.

Norwood Scale: A classification system for male pattern baldness, from full head of hair (NW1) to only sides and back remaining (NW7).

Zygos: The slang term used for zygomatic bones or cheekbones. To have ‘good’ zygos means your cheekbones are projected, wide, and visible; in contrast to an apparently substandard flat or recessed cheek structure.

Clavicular: Braden Peters, the content creator often credited with popularising looksmaxxing. In September 2026, Peters was charged with rape and drugging a person for sex.

How to talk to your children about online culture

The exact approach you take all depends on a range of factors, from your child’s age to how deep they are in harmful subcultures.

More generally however, BACP-accredited therapist and parenting expert Jenny Warwick, previously told Metro that the best approach is to ‘keep an open and curious mindset.’

‘You want to encourage an open dialogue with no judgement,’ she explains.

Your ultimate goal is to create a safe space where your child feels comfortable discussing anything they might have come across.

After this, you can begin to ask open-ended questions that get them to explore the harm in practices like looksmaxxing. Something like, ‘What do you think about the fact people are rating each other’s attractiveness online?’ is a good place to start.

‘Encourage critical thinking,’ Jenny adds. ‘Teach them to question the sources of online content and why some groups hold certain beliefs.’

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk

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