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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   9125 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of March 16, 2026

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The "Clavicular Thesis" would be closer to "Looks are the most important thing, more important than everything else." You could say, yeah, everyone knows looks are important, but since you're not currently a looksmaxxer, clearly your preference for looks is weaker than Clav's. And he'd say your preference was wrong.

Yeah but... so? What does it exactly even mean for a preference to be "wrong" or "right" in this context? Near as I can tall, it's a debate on what is effective (for attracting women), and my observations on what the type of a guy who attracts a lot of women and has a highly successful dating life indicates that yes, looks are important, but they're not as important as being fun, charismatic and confident, and the manosphere types are frequently not a reliable type on what sort of looks are actually the most attractive to women (partly due to ignorance, partly due to their predilection for maing money by advertising get-swole-quick solutions etc.)

looks are important, but they're not as important as being fun, charismatic and confident

Looking hot is the number one determinant of whether people interpret you as fun charismatic and confident.

and the manosphere types are frequently not a reliable type on what sort of looks are actually the most attractive to women

Although there is always an arbitrary component attractiveness has many objective parts. Bone structure, body fat percentage, frame, jawline, hairline, fashion, clear skin, red lips, etc. etc. There are some guys who take it too far into ridiculous caricatures but generally when we talk about looking more attractive we all know what's being talked about. There aren't a lot of competing schools of thought here, there isn't one group claiming you should shrink your hairline, another claiming you should restore your hairline, one claiming you should gain 100 pounds, one claiming you should develop acne, etc. etc.

Clav would say, essentially, that you're coping. That some like blondes and some like brunettes doesn't change the basic beauty ideal. And maybe, sure, too much goes too far but women who profess to look down on looksmaxxing in theory swoon for the looksmaxxers in practice.

As I said, I'm comparing what is being said here with my own observations for 40+ years of life and counting. Who am I going to believe, my own lying eyes or some guy online?

There aren't a lot of competing schools of thought here, there isn't one group claiming you should shrink your hairline, another claiming you should restore your hairline, one claiming you should gain 100 pounds, one claiming you should develop acne, etc. etc.

Well, sure, obvious stuff is obvious, but there are in fact differing opinions on how muscular you should get and where, whether you should aim for the hollow-cheeks look etc.

Looking hot is the number one determinant of whether people interpret you as fun charismatic and confident.

Oh come on. I had a friend who was quite handsome but mumbled and had the presence of wallpaper. Ended up drinking himself to death, creeping women out on the way.

This is like if I said that men are taller than woman and you said, no way, the tallest person I know is a woman, she's 6'5.

Do you think that's literally the only example I've ever seen, not simply the most salient?

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