The term “maxxing,” as used in the context of self-improvement for men, is actually a suffix (as in -maxxing or -maxx) that involves a broad range of activities aimed at improving some feature of one’s sexual market value.
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It consists of the practice of “maximizing” or “intensely optimizing” a specific aspect of one’s life or physical appearance. Therefore, maxxing doesn’t only involve improving physical characteristics, but any aspect in one’s life that can result in an “upgraded” sex life.
Apart from being an activity mostly associated with wanting a better sex life, it can also apply to the wish of finding a romantic partner, without “having sex” necessarily being the most important motive.
A person who has done or undergone maxxing activities receives the suffix -maxxed after the name of the activity performed. For instance, “this or that person is looksmaxxed” or “this or that person looksmaxxed himself.”
Over the years, the types of maxxing activities have drastically increased. Besides the well-known looksmaxxing and its many subcategories, you’ll find plenty other maxxing domains, such as statusmaxxing, therapymaxxing, thugmaxxing, carreermaxxing, jestermaxxing, povertymaxxing, and uglymaxxing, just to give you some examples.
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It’s also important to note that maxxing isn’t only a practice performed by men; women can also “maximize.” Nevertheless, the day-to-day reality is that the practice is mostly engaged in by so-called incels (a blend of the phrase “involuntary celibates”), which generally refers to male members of an online subculture who are unable to find romantic or sexual partners despite desiring them. By the way, involuntary female celibates are called femcels.
Most incels, at least those encountered in online communities, are heterosexual young men (between 18 and 30 years old), but the experience of involuntary celibacy affects people of various ages and genders. Hence, unfortunately, the term has evolved to primarily refer to a specific, male-dominated, ideological subculture.
In the context of “maxxing” as used in this article, maxxing practices began to appear around 2010, based on the following (doubtful) conceptions:
- Lookism: the belief that physical attractiveness is the only determinant of social, romantic, and sexual success;
- Sexual Market Value (SMV): to use maxxing as a strategy to raise one’s chances to attract women;
- Extremity and desperation: engaging in extreme, dangerous, and/or desperate practices to maximize or optimize one’s Sexual Market Value.
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Yet, in the past couple of years, maxxing has also become a trend outside the incel community, one that often sparks debate about body image, self-worth, and social pressures in our day and age, in addition to attitudes of racism, misogyny, and violence against women.
Nevertheless, maxxing as a practice or concept has become more neutral and mainstream, being adopted by a wider demographic than incels alone. It often appears across social media and is moving into realms of less problematic connotations, often used or promoted in a neutral or ironic context related to general self-improvement activities and healthy habits.
