Braden Peters — known online as Clavicular — started taking testosterone at 14. His goal was specific: hollow cheeks, a square jaw, and a muscular build that matched the aesthetic now coveted by a corner of the internet obsessed with what it calls "looksmaxxing." By 20, he was one of the most recognizable faces of a movement dedicated to maximizing physical appearance through any means available. He was also, by his own account, infertile.
In February 2026, he told the New York Times that six years of unmonitored testosterone supplementation had rendered him unable to produce his own testosterone naturally. His levels, when eventually tested, had dropped to zero. His body had stopped producing what he'd been flooding it with externally. "I had no test," he said in a subsequent livestream. "My d*ck didn't work at all. I was literally crying every day."
A Movement Built Around Optimization, Whatever the Cost
Looksmaxxing is a broad subculture centered on maximizing physical attractiveness through disciplined, often extreme methods. At its moderate end, it looks like aggressive skincare and gym routines. At its extreme end — where Clavicular operated — it involves pharmaceutical-grade substances, including testosterone, obtained through direct-to-consumer services, gray markets, or simply bought online without medical oversight.
The movement has produced its own vocabulary, its own influencer hierarchy, and a detailed canon of techniques with names like "mewing" (tongue posture to reshape the jaw) and "bonesmashing" (striking the face with a hammer to stimulate bone remodeling). Clavicular engaged in the latter. He also used Accutane, Retratrutide, beta-blockers, Melanotan 2 for artificial tanning, and high-dose melatonin alongside the testosterone — a stack he described openly to reporters.
The Vox framing of this story is accurate: looksmaxxing is killing men's sperm. Not metaphorically, not in theory — in measurable, documented outcomes for the men who take unsupervised testosterone long enough to suppress their natural hormone production.
What Testosterone Supplementation Actually Does to Fertility
The mechanism is not controversial. When external testosterone enters the body, the brain's hypothalamus detects the elevated levels and signals the pituitary gland to reduce its own production of the hormones that stimulate sperm production. The testicles, receiving fewer signals, reduce or stop producing both testosterone and sperm.
Doctors can help men manage or avoid these effects with careful dosing and medication protocols. The problem is that most men obtaining testosterone through gray and black market sources — or through direct-to-consumer services that prioritize convenience over medical oversight — are not getting that guidance. They're getting the effects without the safeguards.
Lowered sperm count, shrunken testicles, and impaired fertility are known, documented side effects of testosterone supplementation, particularly at the doses and durations common in the looksmaxxing community. In some cases, fertility returns after stopping. In others — particularly after years of suppression beginning in adolescence — recovery is partial or doesn't happen at all.
The Broader Male Fertility Picture
Clavicular's case is extreme, but male fertility is declining on a broader scale regardless of supplementation. A landmark 2017 meta-analysis found that sperm counts in Western men dropped by more than 50% between 1973 and 2011. Researchers have pointed to endocrine disruptors in plastics, pesticide exposure, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic stress as contributing factors. The trend line is not improving.
Against that backdrop, a subculture encouraging teenage boys to take unmonitored testosterone in pursuit of a specific aesthetic is introducing an additional, self-inflicted variable into an already deteriorating picture.
The Optimization Paradox
Clavicular eventually stopped taking testosterone — reportedly because his mother took away his supply, and because he wanted to try to recover his fertility. Four weeks after stopping, photos of him circulated online showing a body dramatically changed from the one that had defined his brand. The comments were merciless.
The paradox at the center of looksmaxxing is that the pursuit of optimal physical form is actively destroying some of the most basic biological capacities of the men engaging in it. They are optimizing their way into infertility, chasing an aesthetic while trading away something that can't be reverse-engineered from a forum post.
The extreme version is Clavicular. The moderate version — testosterone prescribed loosely by direct-to-consumer wellness services to men who don't need it — is more common, less visible, and accumulating the same biological debt on a slower clock.
