It shouldn’t have been so surprising that the person sitting on the couch beside me in the salon was a guy and that he was there for the very same reason that I was – to get our mani-pedi done.[break]
The time that the markets started gaining a hold on men who wanted to look pretty, I should’ve been warned.
A guy who looked no less than your Abercrombie-Fitch model was sitting right next to me and getting his share of grooming. What’s more, he wasn’t shy about it, either.
Hello, Metrosexual Man!
Now, to pin down what exactly is a metrosexual man is something I don’t know if I can do any better than you. But with the rapid number of “metrosexuals” on the rise, it’s definitely worth exploring the concept and how it’s redefining masculinity in more ways than one.
When Mark Simpson coined this neologism as early as 1994, he was chiefly talking about “a new, narcissistic, self-conscious kind of masculinity produced by film, advertising and glossy magazines... I meant it both as cheeky satire and sober observation.”
Even before Simpson actually coined the term, however, I would like to think that the biggest example of a metrosexual image existed in the form of Barbie’s Ken: he looked good, dressed nice, and we got to make him behave to way we wanted to.
Illustration: Sworup Nhasiju
But the early 2000s saw much debate about what exactly this term “metrosexual” entailed and who exactly personified it. Was it a taboo to be metrosexual? Was it effeminate? Was it okay?
Well into the 21st century, most men today are as comfortable with this notion as they are with that of the “macho man.” In that, it’s become easy to spot men who “like to take care of themselves,” and don’t mind putting in a little extra effort to “doll up” around town these days.
Especially if men like David Beckham are finding their way into being metrosexual icons, then most men won’t be diffident towards embracing this new lifestyle choice. I mean, imagine, allegedly, Beckham paints his fingernails, braids his hair and poses for gay magazines, all the while being manly enough to make most girls wish he were her guy.
Personally, I think it would require a lot of self-confidence and reaffirmed belief in one’s masculinity to actually be so intrepid. How else can you be confident enough to pose for a gay magazine and still be straight?
So, on one side, we have the whole argument that encourages a man to spend time considering how he dresses, how he wears his hair, how he looks in general.
However, there’s that other side to the argument, a side that essentially questions: where have all the real men gone?
As appealing as a clean-shaved, metrosexual-looking man is to a girl, there’s still something about that rugged, unshaven man who has all that intensity surrounding him and doesn’t care how he appears to the outside world.
Let’s face it: It’s always nice for a woman to look like the woman and a man to look like the man in any relationship. I mean, how can we obsess over a guy who obsesses over his own looks more than us girls do over ourselves?
So either way, men should note that they’ll have people who’ll admire them despite their inclination towards a certain lifestyle choice, and then there’ll be some who won’t.
But it’ll pay all the men to know that some girls are okay with metrosexualtiy, and others prefer the traditional knight in shining armor type. So regardless of the trend, if you know what you’re doing and are confident about it, you’ll likely have a fan following.
As for girls, I think we’ll just have to relish all the different kinds of men we have the option to choose from!
The writer is a student of Political Science at Thammasat University who enjoys exploring life and all that it has to offer.
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