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Thursday,
February 05, 2004
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New
breed of men is its own type of faux pas
Sarah Krebs
is a junior news-editorial journalism major from Arlington.
Every
time I see one of my male friends, he inquires about whether
his clothes look good.
He tells me he is into snap-button shirts, necklaces and
looking stylish. He and his friends work out regularly
to get the buff look they think attracts women. They also
plan on getting facials, he told me.
He claims to be a metrosexual, and I believe him. But
what exactly does being a metrosexual mean?
This new and overused buzzword is defined as a man who
is a straight, sensitive, well-educated, urban-dweller
in touch with his feminine side.
The need to be stylish and perfect, like the models in
magazines, has plagued women for far too long; it now
seems to be plaguing men. The magazines GQ, FHM and Maxim
have steered men like cattle toward desiring the sleek
builds, fashionable clothes and sexy mystique they see
in these publications.
Shows like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”
add to the push for the modern man to become a new breed
of fashion-driven lemming.
Men are discarding the old stereotypes of being the tough
guy who doesn’t cry and hates to shop, but at what
cost?
The new freedom to shop, to get a facial, to have his
nails painted, and to primp and pamper adds solely to
a man’s self-love.
Women have traditionally primped and pampered out of the
desire to snatch a man. The feminine sex has been antagonized
for making men wait while they perfect their hair or make-up,
and now it is our turn to wait for the men.
However, I don’t think metrosexuals are primping
solely for the purpose of getting a date. I find a man
who stands in front of a mirror longer than a woman to
be extremely vain.
British journalist Mark Simpson invented the term in a
1994 article titled “Here come the mirror men”
in The Independent.
Mirror men is a suitable description if you ask me. Simpson
hit on the new self-obsession embarking in the male world.
A Psychology Today survey showed that 43 percent of men
are dissatisfied with their overall appearance, and 63
percent are unhappy with their abdomen in particular.
In 2002, Simpson wrote another article about metrosexuals
and the term took off. Now, it has made the top of the
annual list of overused words compiled by educators at
Michigan’s Lake Superior State University.
Though this fad led to the beautification of the male
sex, I feel it will lead to self-obsession, which women
do not have at the top of their “what I look for
in a guy” list.
Women, I would hope, are still more concerned with a man’s
personality and a man’s treatment of others than
she is with his clothes or physique.
A warning to those wishing to become part of the metrosexual
cult: Just because you look better, doesn’t mean
that you are a better person. |
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