Clavicular: Media and Student Perception

By Karina Strofs' 27

Who is Clavicular?

Braden Peters, a 20-year-old streamer who goes by Clavicular, is one of the most discussed people on social media this year. 

Peters grew up in New Jersey and moved to Miami last year, according to the Miami New Times. He has built his following by promoting “looksmaxxing,” which is the practice of going to extreme lengths to look more attractive. 

Looksmaxxing ranges from gym training and skincare to riskier things such as “bonesmashing” (hitting your facial bones in the belief they will grow back more prominent and stronger), steroids, and stimulants. Peters himself has admitted to beginning his use of injectable testosterone at the age of 14, and during the pandemic, while spending most of his time online. His online name comes from “clavicle,” aka the collarbone, since looksmaxxers treat wide clavicles as a sign of a strong frame. 

By 2025, Peters was posting on TikTok and Kick, a livestreaming site. The New York Times also reported that in February 2026, his Kick streams brought in more than $100,000 per month. He also sells a subscription course called The Clavicular System, which, for a mere $49/month, gives you access to a private online community designed to help young men “optimize” their physical appearance through looksmaxxing.

Currently, Peters is in the news for a criminal case. On September 8th, 2026, Massachusetts prosecutors charged Peters with rape, drugging for sex, and serving alcohol to a minor, according to court records reported by the New York Times. The accuser was 17 at the time of the alleged assault in May 2025. She told the police that Peters gave her cups of alcohol while he livestreamed from a home in Cape Cod. She also said that Peters told her to say on camera that she was 18 and had sex with her several times after the stream ended. An investigator wrote that she could not consent. Peters’ lawyer says he is innocent, and his arraignment is set for October 14, 2026, in Orleans District Court. He has not yet been convicted of anything in this case.

Clavicular’s Portrayal in the Media

Coverage of Peters has been varied and vast.

Early profiles treated him as the face of an odd online subculture. In January, Thomas Chatterton Williams of The Atlantic called him looksmaxxing’s “newest star”. He wrote that his nihilism (his belief that traditional human values are meaningless, making physical appearance and social status the only defining factors of people) appealed to young men.

Others were harsher. Charlie Sabgir from Rolling Stone stated that Peters’ fixation on optimization is “inseparable from aggressive sexism”. A Guardian columnist compares his methods to body dysmorphia. The Arizona Republic wrote that he is well known for using racist slurs on his livestreams.

Politics is also a topic of discussion. The Forward placed Peters on a list of right-wing extremists to watch in 2026 because of his link to the far-right commentator Nick Fuentes, while describing Peters’ own political views as muddled. Peters has stated that he is apolitical.

Peters has been through his run of legal stories across the media. In February, Peters was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, for possession of a fake ID, Adderall, and an oral steroid. In March, Peters was arrested in Florida over a fight between two women that he was accused of arranging. Prosecutors dropped both cases. In May, a Florida judge sentenced him to six months of probation after he pleaded no contest in a case over shooting a dead alligator on a livestream.

In April, he went viral for ending an interview with 60 Minutes Australia after being asked whether he was an incel. Days later, on April 14, he was all over the media once more as he collapsed during a Miami livestream. Dispatch audio described it as a “20-year-old male overdose,” and he was taken to a hospital. In July, he told Sean Hannity in an episode of Hang Out with Sean Hannity titled “Is ‘Looksmaxxing’ Ruining Gen Z?” that he had not overdosed, only drank too much on an empty stomach and passed out.

He has also appeared across foreign press in June, when French and British outlets covered clips of women in Paris turning him down.

Cate Students on Clavicular

I asked two Cate students, one male-identifying and one female-identifying, what their thoughts were of Peters. Although two students are a small sample, their answers can show how a person like Peters reaches teenagers.

The male-identifying student said he knows Peters from social media and from other students talking about him at school. “I just see him on social media,” he said. He had not looked into the case on his own time and had only seen a TikTok headline about him. His impression of Peters is that his “whole persona was never portrayed well.” The TikToks he remembers show Peters surrounded by crowds of girls and overdosing at clubs, which reinforced his idea that Peters’ kind of content is “not positive energy for society.”

The female-identifying student argued that Peters was “less of a leader and more of a reflection of our current political climate,” and suggested that young men are the easiest target for divisive messaging. In her view, Peters’ emphasis on pride and ego makes his influence on young men worse, and his message is sexist, racist, and “hurting young vulnerable men.” She also saw a contradiction in that Peters has had surgery while telling followers to do the opposite and put in hard work. 

Both students reached a harsh verdict against Peters, and their views agree that Peters’ content is a negative influence on society.

Reasons behind Peters’s Media Infamy

Peters’ clips travel further than his streams. He broadcasts for hours on Kick, and what circulates are short, captioned excerpts posted by other accounts (clippers). Business Insider’s Katie Notopoulos wrote that clippers often have a financial motive because creators or influencers pay them. The Times’ Joseph Bernstein added that Kick paid some users to clip Peters’ streams.

The vocabulary in the clips results in traction. Words like “mogging” (looking better than someone else) and various phrases attached through the suffix “-maxxing” spread through memes about Peters. In February, a post saying he had been “brutally frame-mogged” by a fraternity leader at Arizona State University became an immensely viral meme across the internet. Repeatable vocabulary, such as the -maxxing suffix and phrases like “brutally frame-mogged,” are catchy to social media users, resulting in traction everywhere.

Some of his virality comes from the way he sells himself. Ezra Marcus of New York magazine’s Intelligencer described his business as shock-jock tactics fused with plain marketing. A December livestream clip appeared to show him hitting a man with his Cybertruck, and Williams of The Atlantic called it “perhaps his most viral moment”. 

Peters has drawn a large and growing following of Gen Alpha boys and has been compared to Andrew Tate. In a Guardian column, Jason Okundaye tied the rise of Peters and looksmaxxing to insecurity in young men who feel they don’t measure up. 

Sources:

1. Miami New Times, "A night out in Miami Beach with Clavicular," 2026. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/a-night-out-in-miami-beach-with-clavicular-40569608/

2. Thomas Chatterton Williams, "'Looksmaxxing' Reveals the Depth of the Crisis Facing Young Men," The Atlantic, Jan. 19, 2026. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/looksmaxxing-clavicular-vanity-trump/685636/

3. Elle Hunt, "The disturbing rise of Clavicular: how a looksmaxxer turned his 'horror story' into fame," The Guardian, Feb. 18, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/18/foid-looksmaxxer-manosphere-influencer-braden-peters-aka-clavicular

4. David Mack, "Everything You Need to Know About Clavicular, the 20-Year-Old Influencer Encouraging Steroids, Meth, and Taking a Hammer to Your Jaw," Slate, Feb. 13, 2026. https://slate.com/life/2026/02/clavicular-asu-looksmaxxing-frame-mogged-explained.html

5. Joseph Bernstein, "Looks Aren't Everything? Clavicular Begs to Differ," The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/style/clavicular-looksmaxxing-braden-peters.html

6. Charlie Sabgir, "I Paid $49 for Clavicular's 'Looksmaxxing' Academy. What I Saw Should Scare Us All," Rolling Stone, Jan. 25, 2026. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-commentary/clavicular-looksmaxxing-acadamy-influencer-1235504022/

7. Maia Spoto and David Ovalle, "Clavicular, 'looksmaxxing' influencer, charged with raping a 17-year-old," The New York Times, Sept. 22, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/clavicular-looksmaxxing-rape-charges.html (also published by The Philadelphia Inquirer: https://www.inquirer.com/news/nation-world/looksmaxxing-influencer-clavicular-braden-peters-charge-rape-teenage-girl-alcohol-20260922.html)

8. Jason Okundaye, "Behind the rise of Clavicular and 'looksmaxxing' there are insecure young men who feel they don't measure up," The Guardian, March 22, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2026/mar/24/clavicular-insecure-young-men-looksmaxxing

9. Helen Rummel, "Who is Clavicular? What to know about streamer facing charges in Arizona," The Arizona Republic, Feb. 10, 2026. https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale-breaking/2026/02/10/who-is-clavicular-what-to-know-about-streamer-arrested-in-scottsdale/88593060007/

10. Mira Fox, "These are the right-wing extremists we're watching out for in 2026," The Forward, Jan. 9, 2026. https://forward.com/culture/796030/extremists-to-watch-in-2026-right-wing-antisemitism/

11. Miami New Times, "Clavicular Released from Hospital After Suspected Overdose in Miami," April 2026. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/clavicular-released-from-hospital-after-suspected-overdose-in-miami-40539362/

12. Bernadette Giacomazzo, "Looksmaxxing Star Clavicular Says Viral 'Overdose' Was Just Alcohol," Complex, July 2026. https://complex.com/pop-culture/a/bernadette-giacomazzo/clavicular-overdose-hospitalization-rumor

13. James Hibberd, "Clavicular Walks Out of '60 Minutes' Interview After Being Asked if He's an Incel," The Hollywood Reporter, April 13, 2026. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/clavicular-60-minutes-interview-1236562495/

14. Adam Sage, "Women of Paris say a firm 'non' to manosphere influencer Clavicular," The Times, June 23, 2026. https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/clavicular-paris-france-social-media-us-influencer-controversy-8ncb2ggt5

15. Miami New Times, "Of Course, Clavicular's Miami Club is Hosting Rapper 6ix9ine," 2026. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/of-course-claviculars-miami-club-is-hosting-rapper-6ix9ine-40546555/

16. TMZ, "Blueface Turns Up Miami Club With Clavicular After Streamer's Suspected Overdose," April 16, 2026. https://www.tmz.com/2026/04/16/blueface-at-miami-nightclub-with-clavicular/

17. Katie Notopoulos, "How 'jestermaxxing' and 'frame mogging' are taking over the internet," Business Insider, Feb. 12, 2026. https://www.businessinsider.com/frame-mogging-jestermaxxing-looksmaxxing-new-words-explained-2026-2

18. Pilar Melendez and Allan Smith, "Mog, maxxing and the other manosphere lingo that has taken over social media," NBC News, Feb. 16, 2026. https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/viral/mog-maxxing-clavicular-take-over-the-internet-rcna258999

19. Ezra Marcus, "Life on Peptides Feels Amazing," Intelligencer, Jan. 27, 2026. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/peptides-from-instagram-china-wellness-cure.html

20. Will Lavin, "Clavicular Claims Self-Defense After Alleged Livestream Vehicular Assault," Complex, Dec. 25, 2025. https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/a/will-lavin/clavicular-self-defense-alleged-vehicular-assault

21. Chloe Combi, "Braden Peters is the new Andrew Tate: What parents need to know about 'mogging'," The Independent, Feb. 1, 2026. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/braden-peters-looks-andrew-tate-parents-boys-mogging-b2910949.html