Welcome back to The Weekend Press! Today, Abigail Shrier writes to a Catholic father who’s upset that his daughter is no longer a virgin. Eli Lake visits the home of the eccentric military strategist Edward Luttwak. John Stossel explains why libertarians have happier retirements. And more! But first: River Page reports on the dark world of looksmaxxing.
There’s a corner of the internet where teenage boys are encouraging each other to take meth and punch themselves in the face. Their goal is a higher one: physical perfection. These are the looksmaxxers, the kids who’ve swallowed the manospheric idea that the only way to have a decent life—to succeed at work, to hold onto a girl—is to be as attractive as possible. And they’re going to extreme lengths.
I’ve spent the last couple weeks talking to the guys who spend their days on looksmaxxing forums, where people write things like, “So I started meth like a week ago because I wanted to get hollow cheeks but now my heart has been acting really weird.” They think they can make themselves two inches taller with elastic bands, and talk about how J.D. Vance is “subhuman.” Their algorithms bombard them with pictures of jacked-up hot guys day in, day out, and it’s left them feeling woefully inadequate.
If you want to be prepared for when your 14-year-old nephew starts talking about bone smashing or “Maasai jumps,” you need to read my piece. —River Page
Two Drinks with . . . the Last Great Military Strategist |
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When the most powerful people in the world want advice about war, they go to Edward Luttwak. And if the start of 2026 is anything to go by, he might have a busy year ahead. So this week, Eli Lake called on the 83-year-old military strategist at home for a couple of Campari sodas. They talked about the protesters in Iran, the operation to grab Nicolás Maduro, the defensive postures of cattle, and the linguistic offenses of President Donald Trump. “He thinks that ‘incredible’ means ‘good.’ He is appallingly ignorant of the English language,” says Luttwak. | | |
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Get Real Friends, Not Mom Cliques |
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It’s not just the boys who are dying to fit in. In an essay published last week in New York magazine, former Disney Channel star Ashley Tisdale set the internet ablaze with the announcement of her exit from a Hollywood mom group that included Mandy Moore, Meghan Trainor, and Hilary Duff. Is it loneliness, shared trauma, or something else that drives the formation of mom friend groups, our features editor Dana Schuster wonders—and are they really that different from high school cliques? | | |
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Tough Love: My Catholic Daughter Is No Longer a Virgin |
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“My 18-year-old daughter has been intimate with her first-ever boyfriend,” writes a devoutly Catholic reader, in this week’s letter to our advice columnist, Abigail Shrier. “I’m afraid she’s making terrible mistakes and is choosing infatuation and sin over love of God.” In her response, Abigail reminds him of a truth he may find uncomfortable: “Catholic school carpools across this great land are driven by legions of women in minivans who surrendered their V-cards in college.” | | |
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The Renaissance of the Finance Bro |
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“Industry” is back. The thrilling show, about young bankers in London who earn enormous amounts of money and do silly things with it, returns for its fourth season this weekend—and in her column "Second Thought" this week, Suzy Weiss reviews it. She also visited a gym that’s going to crazy lengths to stay relevant in the Ozempic era. “There’s an oxygen-intake measuring protocol,” she warns. | | |
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