Übersexual
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The word "übersexual" (from German über = above, superior and Latin sexus = gender) was claimed to be coined by the authors of the book Future of Men (O'Reilly, Matathia, Salzman, 2005). It is a variant of metrosexual. The word itself seems to have been inspired by the phrase 'uber-metrosexual' used by the creator of the metrosexual Mark Simpson to describe David Beckham ('Becks the virus' Salon 2003). Salzman and Co. appropriated Simpson's work on the metrosexual in 2002 to sell another book. [1]
Many of the 'top ubersexuals' named by Salzman, such as Clinton and Clooney as were on her list of 'top metrosexuals' in 2002.
Unsurprisingly, the authors of Future of Men argue that the übersexual is not derivative of the metrosexual man.
The future of men, proclaim the authors, is "not to be found in the primped and waxed boy who wowed the world with his nuanced knowledge of tweezers and exfoliating creams. Men, at the end of the day, will have to rely on their intellect and their passion, their erudition and professional success, to be acknowledged and idealised in contemporary society. Called the 'übersexual'—-a degree of greatness and perfection, an acknowledgment that this is an evolved species of man—he is so perfect as to leave little margin for error and fallacy."
Some, including Simpson and Armistead Maupin, have suggested that behind this marketing-speak there was something rather simpler going on: a homophobic attempt to stop the metrosexual being so 'gay'. Or as Salzman herself put it proudly, the ubersexual, unlike the metrosexual 'doesn't invite questions about his sexuality'. [2]
Simpson has argued that from the beginning the appropriation of the metrosexual concept by these marketers was always about trying to straighten him out. His original definition of the metrosexual was sexually ambiguous; the marketers by contrast always insisted that the metrosexual was always 'straight'. [3]
Despite a large PR push for their 'new', less 'gay' metrosexual, the 'ubersexual' failed to catch on, as Salzman has admitted herself. [4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- O'Reilly, Ann; Matathia, Ira; Salzman, Marian (2005). The Future of Men, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-6882-9.
[edit] External links
- "Metrodaddy v. Ubermummy" The father of the metrosexual mocks the marketer's 'ubertwaddle'.
- "The Metrosexual is Dead, Long Live the Metrosexual!" Article about the so-called demise of the metrosexual and the rise of its brother the übersexual.
