Metrosexual

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Metrosexuality is, according to British journalist Mark Simpson, the trait of an urban male of any sexual orientation (usually heterosexual) who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great amount of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. Simpson coined the term in 1994 in an article in the The Independent ^[1] after writing his book about contemporary masculine identity Male Impersonators: Men Performing Masculinity. Simpson described the effect of consumerism and media proliferation, particularly the men’s style press, on traditional masculinity. Metrosexuals often can be seen sporting the latest in men's fashion.

1 Evolution of the word
- 1.1 Other terms
2 Narcissism
3 Changing masculinity
4 The commercial metrosexual
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Evolution of the word

The origin of the term traces to a 1200 word article titled "Here come the mirror men" dissecting the new urbane man by Mark Simpson, published on November 15, 1994 in The Independent, a major British daily. Barely any usage of the term in print publications can be found in the same decade. Simpson returned to the subject in 2002 in an essay for the (then) popular online magazine Salon.com called 'Meet the metrosexual', introducing the term to the US online public. The article was much forwarded and percolated around the web. In May of the following year, the term became frequently used in British press articles. In June, a New York Times article titled "Metrosexuals Come Out", which credited Simpson as coining the term in 1994 but didn't mention the Salon.com essay of the previous year, inaugurated a host of copycat articles in the American media.

The rising popularity of use followed the increasing integration of gay men into mainstream society and a correspondingly decreased taboo towards deviation from existing notions of masculinity. Over a short span, Canada introduced same-sex marriage legislation, various US states legalised same-sex marriage and civil unions, the US Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy statutes as unconstitutional in Lawrence v. Texas, and gay characters and themes, long present on TV shows like Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, and Ellen made further inroads. In particular, the Bravo network introduced Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, a show in which stereotypically style- and culture-conscious gay men gave advice to their heterosexual counterparts.

Perhaps the best current definition, as stated recently by Kylie Minogue, desribes a metrosexual as "a heterosexual, with homosexual tendencies".

Media explaining the term often rely on citing a few individuals as prime illustrations. David Beckham has been called a "metrosexual icon"^[2] and is often coupled with the term. Amply referred-to individuals include personalities such as Brad Pitt, Arnold Schwarzenegger^[3] and George Clooney, though even Donald Rumsfeld has been mentioned as a metrosexual in "an antediluvian way." ^[4]

[edit] Other terms

Over the course of the following months, other terms countering or substituting for "metrosexual" appeared. Perhaps the most widely used was "retrosexual", a man who rejects focus on physical appearance, sort of the opposite of a metrosexual (again coined by Simpson, who described the term in a Salon.com article entitled "Beckham, the virus."^[5]

Another example, the übersexual, coined by marketing executives and authors of The Future of Men, caused Simpson to reply: “Any discussion in the style pages of the media about what is desirable and attractive in men and what is 'manly' and what isn't, is simply more metrosexualization. Metrosexuality—do I really have to spell it out?—is mediated masculinity.” ^[6]

Many of the individuals now named übersexuals—e.g. George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Bono—were once shining examples of metrosexuality, showing little differentiation between the two terms.

[edit] Narcissism

Narcissism may play a crucial role in the metrosexual concept. In On Narcissism, Sigmund Freud analyses the psychological aspect of narcissism and explains narcissistic love as follows:

"A person may love: (1) According to the narcissistic type: (a) What he is himself, (b) What he once was, (c) What he would like to be, (d) Someone who once was part of himself." ^[7]

The metrosexual, in its original coinage, is a person who, under the spell of consumerism, is or desires to be what he sees in magazines and advertising. Simpson’s metrosexual would be a type A or type C narcissist, as he loves himself or an idealized image of what he would like to be.

[edit] Changing masculinity

Traditional masculine norms, as described in Dr. Ronald F. Levant’s Masculinity Reconstructed are: “avoidance of femininity; restricted emotions; sex disconnected from intimacy; pursuit of achievement and status; self-reliance; strength and aggression; and homophobia.” ^[8]

Statistics, including market research by Euro RSCG, show that the pursuit of achievement and status is not as important to men as it used to be in the past; and neither is, to a degree, the restriction of emotions or the disconnection of sex from intimacy. Another norm change is supported by research that claimed men “no longer find sexual freedom universally enthralling.” The most important shift in masculinity is that there is less avoidance of femininity and the “emergence of a segment of men who have embraced customs and attitudes once deemed the province of women.” ^[9] What is accepted as "masculine" has shifted considerably throughout the times, so the modern concept of how a man "should be" differs from the ideal man of previous eras. Some styles and behaviors that are today considered feminine were, in the past, part of the man's domain (e.g. knee britches, makeup, jewelry, appreciation of art and music, etc). Hence, as the concept of femininity conquered more territory, masculinity became more restricted.^{[citation needed]} Perhaps metrosexuality is a reaction against this shift, as some men feel too confined within the gender roles. It could also be considered a means of establishing greater equality between the sexes through a shift toward androgyny.

Changes in culture and attitudes toward masculinity, visible in the media through television shows such as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer as Folk and Will & Grace, have changed these traditional masculine norms. Metrosexuals only made their appearance after cultural changes in the environment and changes in views on masculinity.

Simpson explains in his article Metrosexual? That rings a bell... that “Gay men provided the early prototype for metrosexuality. Decidedly single, definitely urban, dreadfully uncertain of their identity (hence the emphasis on pride and the susceptibility to the latest label) and socially emasculated, gay men pioneered the business of accessorising—and combining—masculinity and desirability.” ^[10]

[edit] The commercial metrosexual

Brad Pitt is another often cited example for metrosexuality

In its soundbite diffusion through the channels of marketers and popular media, who eagerly and constantly reminded their audience that the metrosexual was straight, the metrosexual has congealed into something more digestible for consumers: a heterosexual male who is in touch with his feminine side - he color-coordinates, cares deeply about exfoliation, and has perhaps manscaped.

In August of 2004, New York-based journalist and author Peter Hyman published a collection of essays entitled The Reluctant Metrosexual: Dispatches From An Almost Hip Life. The book is far from a celebration of metrosexuality (thus his "reluctant" position). To the contrary, Hyman attempts to debunk the term, which he compares to "Generation X." Here, the author reveals his belief that metrosexuality is, more than anything, a marketing ploy:

"The metrosexual revolution is not so much an uprising as it is a more efficient way to sell expensive face creams, allowing marketers to trade on good, old-fashioned insecurity (a method that has been successfully imposed on women for decades). Men with disposable incomes who like to shop, it seems, are this year’s black."

Men didn't go to shopping malls, so consumer culture promoted the idea of a sensitive guy who went to malls, bought magazines and spent freely to improve his personal appearance. As Simpson put it:

"For some time now, old-fashioned (re)productive, repressed, unmoisturized heterosexuality has been given the pink slip by consumer capitalism. The stoic, self-denying, modest straight male didn't shop enough (his role was to earn money for his wife to spend), and so he had to be replaced by a new kind of man, one less certain of his identity and much more interested in his image – that's to say, one who was much more interested in being looked at (because that's the only way you can be certain you actually exist). A man, in other words, who is an advertiser's walking wet dream." ^[11]

This commercial vision is also adapted in television’s metrosexual archetype, Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in which the “Fab Five” instructively transform the appearance of the straight guy—but largely avoid dealing with his personality.

In some contrast, there is also the view that metrosexuality is at least partly a naturally occurring phenomenon, much like the Aesthetic movement of the 19th Century, and that the metrosexual is merely a modern incarnation of a dandy.

Another person who confesses to his metrosexuality is Mike Greenburg, co-host of the popular morning sports talkshow "Mike and Mike in the Morning" on ESPN Radio. He has many times confessed to being metrosexual and his book (Why My Wife Thinks I'm An Idiot) has "Confessions of a Metrosexual Sportscaster" on it.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ Simpson, Mark. (November 15, 1994). "Here come the mirror men". The Independent (London), p. 22.
^ Chrisafis, Angelique. (June 16, 2003). "Spot the salmon pink shirt". The Guardian (London), p. 6.
^ Simpson, Mark (January 5th, 2004). MetroDaddy speaks!. Salon.com; later MarkSimpson.com.
^ Dowd, Maureen. "Butch, Butch Bush!", The New York Times, 2003-08-03, pp. E11.
^ Simpson, Mark (June 28th, 2003). Beckham, the virus. Salon.com.

"Beckham is the uber-metrosexual, not just because he rams metrosexuality down the throats of those men churlish enough to remain retrosexual and refuse to pluck their eyebrows, but also because he is a sportsman, a man of substance—a "real" man—who wishes to disappear into surfaceness in order to become ubiquitous—to become media."
^ Simpson, Mark (Dec. 2005). Metrodaddy v. Ubermummy. MarkSimpson.com.
^ Freud, Sigmund (1952). The major works of Sigmund Freud. Chicago: William Benton.
^ Levant, Ronald F. Dr., Gini Kopecky (1995). Masculinity Reconstructed: changing the rules of manhood: at work, in relationships and in family life. New York: Dutton.
^ Alzheimer, Lillian. "Metrosexuals: The Future of Men?", Euro RSCG, 22 Jun. 2003.
^ Simpson, Mark (22 Jun. 2003). Metrosexual? That rings a bell…. Independent on Sunday; later MarkSimpson.com.
^ Simpson, Mark (22 Jun. 2002). Meet the metrosexual. Salon.com; later MarkSimpson.com.