MASCULINE OPTIMIZATION INFLUENCERS AND THE SACRALITY OF SELF-OPTIMIZATION

Resumen

From daily cold plunges to meticulous morning routines to obsessive fitness tracking, there is a rising cohort of American male influencers centered around the notion of reaching “maximum potential” physically and mentally. Focusing on a cohort I’m calling “Masculinized Optimization Influencers,” I argue that this group is best understood through the lens of Sara Ahmed’s (2004) “affective economies.” Defined as those who place a dual focus on men’s need to hustle equally at the gym and in their career, Masculine Optimization Influencers present a particular vision of masculinity that binds together physical discipline with financial success. Crucially though, this is presented as much more than a selfish pursuit, this cohort’s approach joins a long American tradition of presenting bodywork as a moral imperative (White et al., 1995). Moreover, as this research will argue, they construct this path of self-optimization as a sacred pursuit. Such an approach attempts to justify hierarchical relations at a time when masculinity and capitalism are facing critique. Through identifying how “emotions circulate between bodies and signs,” and paying particular attention to the emotions of shame and disgust, this research examines how this affective economy mobilizes emotions to sacralize their ascendance in a dissymmetric economic system (Ahmed, 2004, p. 119).