Metrosexual Murphy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Metrosexual (disambiguation).
Metrosexual neologism, derived from metropolitan and heterosexual, coined in 1994 describing a man (especially one living in an urban,post-industrial, capitalist culture) who is especially meticulous about his grooming and appearance, typically spending a significant amount of time and money on shopping as part of this.[1] The term is popularly thought to contrast heterosexuals who adopt fashions and lifestyles stereotypically associated with homosexuals, although, by the definition given by the originator (see below), a metrosexual "might be be officially gay, straight or bisexual."
Contents
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1 Origin
2 Related terms
3 Narcissism
4 Female metrosexuality
5 Changing masculinity
6 In popular culture
7 See also
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Origin [edit]
The term originated in an article by Mark Simpson[2] published on November 15, 1994, in The Independent. Simpson wrote:
Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the Eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ, in television advertisements for Levi's jeans or in gay bars. In the Nineties, he’s everywhere and he’s going shopping.
However, it was not until the early 2000s when Simpson returned to the subject that the term became globally popular.
In 2002, Salon.com published an article by Simpson,[3] which identified David Beckham as the metrosexual poster boy and offered this updated, succinct definition:
The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis — because that’s where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference.
The advertising agency Euro RSCG Worldwide adopted the term shortly thereafter for a marketing study. Sydney's daily newspaper,The Sydney Morning Herald, ran a major feature in March 2003 titled "The Rise of the Metrosexual" (also syndicated in its sister paperThe Age) which borrowed heavily from Simpson's Salon.com piece (but failed to acknowledge this or mention Simpson). A couple of months later, the New York Times' Sunday Styles section ran a story, "Metrosexuals Come Out." The term and its connotations continued to roll steadily into more news outlets around the world.
Though it did represent a complex and gradual change in the shopping and self-presentation habits of both men and women, the idea of metrosexuality was often distilled in the media down to a few men—David Beckham, Sam Romano, and Brad Pitt were frequently mentioned—and a short checklist of vanities, like skin care products, scented candles and costly, colorful dress shirts and pricey designer jeans.[4] It was this image of the metrosexual—that of a straight young man who got pedicures and facials, practiced aromatherapy and spent freely on clothes—that contributed to a backlash against the term from men who merely wanted to feel free to take more care with their appearance than had been the norm in the 1990s, when companies abandoned dress codes, Dockers khakis became a popular brand, and XL, or extra-large, became the one size that fit all.[4]
A 60 Minutes story on 1960s-70s pro footballer Joe Namath suggested he was "perhaps, America's first metrosexual"[5] after filming his most famous ad sporting Beautymist pantyhose. Simpson has called Joe Namath "America's abandoned metrosexual prototype", leaving the field open for later Brit metro imports such as Beckham.[6]
When the word first became popular, various sources incorrectly attributed its origin to trendspotter Marian Salzman, but by Salzman's own admission Simpson's 2002 Salon.com article was the original source for her usage of the word, which she had "updated, based on a more commercial take on the now".[7]
Related terms [edit]
Over the course of the following years, other terms countering or substituting for "metrosexual" appeared. Perhaps the most widely used was "retrosexual," which in its anti- or pre-metrosexual sense was also first used by Simpson.[8] However, in later years the term was used by some to describe men who subscribed to what they affected to be the grooming and dress standards of a previous era, such as the handsome, impeccably turned-out fictional character of Donald Draper in the television series Mad Men, itself set in an idealised version of the early 1960s New York advertising world.
Another example was the short-lived "übersexual", was coined by marketing executives and authors of The Future of Men, and was perhaps inspired by Simpson's use of the term "uber-metrosexual" to describe David Beckham.[9]
Simpson has argued that from the beginning the appropriation of the metrosexual concept by American marketers such as Salzman in 2003 was always about trying to straighten him out.[clarification needed] Simpson's original definition of the metrosexual was sexually ambiguous, or at least went beyond the straight/gay dichotomy. Marketers, in contrast, insisted that the metrosexual was always "straight" – they even tried to pretend that he was not vain.[10] However, they failed to convince the public, hence, says Simpson, their attempt to create the uber-straight ubersexual.
Narcissism [edit]
Narcissism, according to Simpson, plays a crucial role in the metrosexual concept. As Simpson writes in "Big Tits: Masochism and Transformation In Bodybuilding" [11] (Male Impersonators, 1994), narcissism is a very important aspect of contemporary masculinity. Citing Freud's On Narcissism, which analyzes the psychological aspect of narcissism and explains narcissistic love as follows:[12]
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.
— Sigmund Freud , The major works of Sigmund Freud
Female metrosexuality [edit]
Female metrosexuality is a concept that Mark Simpson explored with American writer Caroline Hagood.[13] They employed the female characters from the HBO series Sex and the City in order to illustrate examples of wo-metrosexuality, a term Hagood coined to refer to the feminine form of metrosexuality. The piece implied that, although this phenomenon would not necessarily empower women, the fact that the metrosexual lifestyle de-emphasizes traditional male and female gender roles could help women out in the long run. However, it is debatable whether the characters made famous by "Sex and the City" truly de-emphasized female gender roles, given that the series focused a high amount of attention on stereotypically feminine interests like clothing, appearance, and romantic entanglements.
Changing masculinity [edit]
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; andhomophobia."[14]
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; 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."[15] 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).
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."[16]
But such probing analyses into various shoppers' psyches ignore other significant factors affecting men's shopping habits, foremost among them women's shopping habits. As the retail analyst Marshal Cohen explained in a 2005 article in the New York Times entitled, "Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell," the fact that women buy less of men's clothing than they used to has, more than any other factor, propelled men into stores to shop for themselves. "In 1985 only 25 percent of all men's apparel was bought by men, he said; 75 percent was bought by women for men. By 1998 men were buying 52 percent of apparel; in 2004 that number grew to 69 percent and shows no sign of slowing." One result of this shift was the revelation that men cared more about how they look than the women shopping for them had.[4]
Men's fashion magazines – such as Details, Men's Vogue, and the defunct Cargo – target what one Details editor calls "men who moisturize and read a lot of magazines".[17]
However despite changes in masculinity, research suggests men still feel social pressure to endorse traditional masculine male models in advertising. Research by Martin and Gnoth (2009) found that feminine men preferred feminine models in private, but stated a preference for the traditional masculine models when their collective self was salient. In other words, feminine men endorsed traditional masculine models when they were concerned about being classified by other men as feminine. The authors suggested this result reflected the social pressure on men to endorse traditional masculine norms.[18]
In popular culture [edit]
In its soundbite diffusion through the channels of marketeers 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.[19] Men did not go to shopping malls, so consumer culture promoted the idea of a sensitive man who went to malls, bought magazines and spent freely to improve his personal appearance. As Simpson put it:[20]
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."
— Mark Simpson , Salon.com
This commercial vision is also adapted in television's metrosexual archetype, Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in which the gay presenters instructively transform the appearance of the straight guy—but largely avoid dealing with his personality.
In 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. Simpson has strongly rebutted attempts to suggest that metrosexual is 'just a dandy':
“A metrosexual wouldn't be caught dead in a powdered wig -- though he might be tempted by the stockings and buckled shoes. Sorry to be pedantic, but dandies were an 18th century phenomenon. Metrosexuals belong to the 21st century. Dandyism was the pursuit of an elite, mostly aristocratic, or wannabe aristo group of men and was largely a way of advertising their wealth, idleness and refined taste. Metrosexuality is a mainstream, mass-consumer phenomenon involving the complete commodification of the male body. It takes Hollywood, ads, sports and glossy magazines as its inspirational gallery, rather than high classicism. The metrosexual desires to be desired. The dandy aimed to be admired. Or at least bitched about."[21]
In 2011 Simpson published the ebook Metrosexy - A 21st Century Self-Love Story, billed as 'A biography of the metrosexual. By his Dad'.[22] It argues that the profound impact of metrosexuality on our ideas of masculinity and femininity and sexuality itself has been obscured by the media's effusive but largely 'skin-deep' coverage of it.
“Contrary to what you have been told, metrosexuality is not about flip-flops and facials, man-bags or manscara. Or about men becoming ‘girlie’ or ‘gay’. It’s about men becoming everything. To themselves. In much the way that women have been for some time. It’s the end of the sexual division of bathroom and bedroom labour. It’s the end of sexuality as we’ve known it.”
See also [edit]
Chad (slang)
Dandy
Fashion
Fop
Gastrosexuality
Homomasculinity
Homosexuality
Kkonminam
Macaroni (fashion)
Masculine psychology
Metrosexuality (TV series)
New Romantic
Pansexuality (aka omnisexuality or polysexuality)
Notes [edit]
^ Collins, William. "Metrosexual". Collins Unabridged English Dictionary. Harper Collins. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
^ Marksimpson.com 'Here come the mirror men' by Mark Simpson - first usage of the word 'metrosexual'
^ "Meet the metrosexual", Salon.comhttp://www.salon.com/2002/07/22/metrosexual/
^ a b c Colman, David (19 June 2005). "Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell". The New York Times.
^ Broadway Joe, Football Great Talks About His Drinking Problem With Bob Simon CBS News
^ America - meet David Beckham
^ "Metrosexual? That rings a bell..." Mark Simpson on the appropriation of his bastard child
^ Wordspy
^ Simpson, Mark (December 2005). "Metrodaddy v. Ubermummy". MarkSimpson.com.
^ Metrodaddy v. Ubermummy
^ http://deathatthemall.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/big-tits-masochism-and-transformation-in-bodybuilding/MarkSimpson Big Tits!
^ Freud, Sigmund (1952). The major works of Sigmund Freud. Chicago: William Benton.
^ Huffington Post Mark Simpson and Caroline Hagood on Wo-Metrosexuality and the City April 13, 2010
^ 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 (22 June 2003). "Metrosexuals: The Future of Men?". Euro RSCG. Archived from the original on 3 August 2003. Retrieved 15 December 2003.
^ Simpson, Mark (22 June 2003). "Metrosexual? That rings a bell...". Independent on Sunday; later MarkSimpson.com. Retrieved 2003-10-13.
^ Fine, Jon (28 February 2005). "Counter-couture: Men's fashion titles on rise even as ad pages fall". Advertising Age. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
^ Martin, Brett A. S.; Juergen Gnoth (30 January 2009). "Is the Marlboro Man the Only Alternative? The Role of Gender Identity and Self-Construal Salience in Evaluations of Male Models".Marketing Letters (20). pp. 353–367.
^ Mark Simpson in The Guardian January 2012
^ Simpson, Mark (22 June 2002). "Meet the metrosexual". Salon.com; later MarkSimpson.com.
^ Simpson, M Metrodaddy Speaks! (2004)http://marksimpson.com/pages/journalism/metrodaddyspeaks.html
^ http://www.marksimpson.com/metrosexy/
References [edit]
Simpson, Mark (2011).'Metrosexy: A 21st Century Self-Love Story'
O'Reilly, Ann; Matathia, Ira; Salzman, Marian (2005). The Future of Men, Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-6882-9.
Further reading [edit]
Rodney E. Lippard (2006). "The Metrosexual and Youth Culture". In Greenwood Publishing Group. Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia (illustrated ed.). pp. 288–291. ISBN 0-313-33729-2.
External links [edit]
Look up metrosexual in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
"Metrodaddy v. Ubermummy" The father of the metrosexual mocks the marketer's 'ubertwaddle'.
"Meet the Metrosexuals" Mark Simpson introduces the metrosexual to the US in a 2002 Salon piece.
'Metrodaddy Speaks!' Mark Simpson answers questions from the global media about his offspring in 2004
Mark Simpson reassesses the term in 2005
"The Metrosexual Defined; Narcissism and Masculinity in Popular Culture" Article exploring the commercial and sociological sides of the metrosexual
[1] The Metrosexual: Gender, Sexuality, and Sport by David Coad. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2008.
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