On a recent episode of Bradley Martyn’s Raw Talk podcast, looksmaxxing content creator Clavicular joined the fitness entrepreneur for a discussion about dating, attraction, and how social media has reshaped modern relationships. Throughout the conversation, Clavicular repeatedly emphasized the importance of physical appearance in romantic success and argued that platforms like Instagram have fundamentally changed the dating situation.
The discussion began when Bradley Martyn floated a common belief, that women primarily seek financial security in a partner. Clavicular immediately disagreed, arguing that physical attractiveness plays a more decisive role than income or status.
“The highest thing that women look for is definitely still looks over wealth,” he said. “I think that’s been very easily disproven by a lot of the self-report studies that we’ve seen and just stuff with dating apps reporting their data.”
According to Clavicular, looks act as a gatekeeper in dating, determining whether a man even gets the opportunity to demonstrate other qualities like personality or financial success. Without that initial attraction, he argued, the rest of a man’s attributes may never come into play.
“A lot of these women won’t even give you the time of day to prove your value, prove your income if you’re an ugly motherf**ker,” he said. “So if you can’t even have that first interaction go well, there’s no way to build a rapport with women and be this guy who’s got a high income, because you never even had that door opened.”
He concluded the point bluntly, stating that physical appearance remains the dominant factor in modern relationships for both men and women.
“So looks are 100% the most important driving factor in relationships for men and women,” he said.
The conversation later shifted to the role of social media, particularly Instagram, in shaping modern dating dynamics. Clavicular described the platform as one of the most disruptive forces in the relationship marketplace, arguing that it dramatically increased competition for attention.
“Instagram was the worst introduction of a platform,” he said, explaining that social media expanded women’s dating options far beyond their immediate social circles.
He argued that in the past, a woman’s potential partners were largely limited to people within her local community. Now, however, social media allows users to interact with celebrities, athletes, and influencers from around the world, raising expectations and intensifying competition among men.
“Maybe a girl is able to have selection of her immediate surroundings, like everyone in her town,” he said. “But now it’s a worldwide thing for these girls to hook up with football players and professional athletes, actors.”
To illustrate his point, Clavicular used a vivid example of how global visibility changes the competition.
“Imagine you’re the guy in this girl’s town now,” he said. “You’re not only competing against like this Chad, you’re competing against Lionel Messi.”
While critical of the platform, he acknowledged that such changes were likely inevitable as technology advanced. “So Instagram definitely was one of the worst things for dating, but it was going to happen eventually,” he said.
When asked about his own standards for a serious relationship, Clavicular emphasized modesty and privacy as key qualities. He suggested that a partner’s public behavior, particularly on social media, reflects directly on the man she is dating.
“Just someone who is extremely modest too, is another big one,” he said. “Not wearing revealing stuff, not posting on Instagram.”
He framed relationships as a form of shared representation, where each partner’s actions influence the other’s public image.
“The way that I explain it is your girlfriend, your wife is an extension of you,” he said. “So if she’s not doing everything in her power to make you look better as a person, then that’s just not something that you should want to get into.”
Toward the end of the discussion, the topic turned to platforms like OnlyF*ns and why some women choose to create adult content. Rather than placing blame solely on women, Clavicular argued that male demand is the primary driver behind the platform’s growth.
“Women don’t have a lot of foresight. They’re not very smart,” he said. “Of course they’re going to do this.”
He ultimately framed the issue as a collective responsibility among men, suggesting that consumer behavior shapes the market.
“It’s our job as men to kind of shape society in the way that we want to,” he said. “And if you guys are going to be buying their subscriptions and sitting there, of course they’re going to do it.”
