We form of thought we’d seen every thing on the web, to be sincere. However TikTok’s newest harmful viral pattern, “bone smashing,” has completely confirmed us flawed. That is proper up there with consuming Tide Pods by way of a nasty thought gone internet-wide, and it signifies a bigger, deeply worrying pattern amongst males on-line.
What’s Bone Smashing?
“Bone smashing” includes hitting one’s personal face with blunt objects, like a hammer or percussive massager, so as to create micro-fractures. Based on netizens, the hits are supposed to be mild—not that it issues. The (extremely misguided) hope is that these micro-fractures will heal in a method that makes their jaw look extra enticing.
Based on Rolling Stone, this began as a hoax pattern on incel boards that has since unfold to TikTok, the place it’s been repackaged as real recommendation as part of ‘looksmaxxing’ tradition. Even when not utilizing a literal hammer on their faces, males are sharing makes an attempt at tapping, massaging and “mewing” their methods to a sharper jawline, none of which have any credibility.
To not point out that the web shouldn’t be significantly well-known for parsing sarcasm, which is how this pattern blew up from an in-joke amongst 4-chan incels to getting nation-wide information protection.
Miami plastic surgeon, Sean Simon, MD expresses the honest frustration these tendencies and their protection ignite in professionals. “I really feel like this shouldn’t require a remark,” Dr. Simon explains. “Though there are lots of folks on the market, particularly nowadays, whom I’d suggest follow this method on themselves, again and again, it will be extremely silly for anybody to do that to themselves however I suppose nothing ought to shock us any extra.”
To be clear, there’s nothing to be gained from this follow.
“Is it a good suggestion to smash your personal face so as to break your personal facial bones within the hope that it will produce a extra interesting look? NO,” Dr. Simon says firmly. “Would you are taking your fingers and repeatedly smash them in a door or a drawer to interrupt them within the hopes that your palms would look and performance higher? The reply can be NO.”
What Is Going On Right here?
We all know cosmetic surgery and beauty enhancements have been on the rise not too long ago. Youthful sufferers and an increasing number of males are getting concerned with what the aesthetic trade has to supply. By the identical token, that elevated curiosity has led to a flood of misinformation on-line with DIY and fast fixes to enhance your face by ‘looksmaxxing.’
Principally a TikTok tag for males to share recommendations on how one can get scorching, looksmaxxing does comprise good details about pores and skin and haircare for males, but it surely sadly has a variety of misinformation and dangerous recommendation, too. Little workouts, chewing powerful gum, and now bone smashing are all makes an attempt to get the masculine jawline that consultants agree can solely be achieved by skilled intervention.
These suggestions usually are not simply flawed, they’re additionally a part of a way more worrying environment amongst younger males on-line the place these historically “masculine” traits are made poisonous: Males should have a powerful jaw so as to be seen as manly; the way in which their eyes tilt signifies hunter or prey.
Poisonous masculinity like this can be a complete mindset that must be undone with vital work, explains Scientific American. It will probably make one thing as clearly ridiculous as hitting your self within the face for a nicer jaw one thing that males on-line will attempt, even when it started as a joke.
