Metrosexuals

[mikeijames]

Originally posted by Holland_MULTIMEDIA*@Sep 7 2004, 09:10 PM
Ok, I started this topic and Ive been saying the same thing all along. Im straight but i take the gay guys side on this one. It seems within the last couple of years straight guys almost think its cool to act gay ( no offense to any guys reading this post ( gay, or straight ) because we obviously share the same interest) BUT for instance my problem lies with my next door neighboors who would tease me durring middle school for making my own clothes and bringing my moms Vogue magazine to school. They taunted me for years because I was the symbol of a gay guy. I remember when dirty jeans came out a few years ago and I wore them to school and people either thought I was white trash or gay. Now dirty jeans are everywhere! I can go to ghetto malls in my city and dirty jeans are everywhere.
C'mon cant you remember when guys started carring shoulder bags! At first it was only gay guys (well including myself) Because no straight guy would be caught dead wearing a purse regardless of how functional they are!! My point was, and still is, that I was harrassed for years for being myself and just recently my whole generation has adopted my way of living and dressing without any thought to the pain they have brought many people thru the years.

Another way you can tell something strange is going on is all of a sudden if you ask most girls they tell you about their "GAY" guy friend. Its like its cool to have a "TOKEN" gay friend all of a sudden. Were not an accessory you can just drop when the trend wears off Who tha @$$% do they think they are! People should seriosly drop this fake bull sh*t.

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i completely agree that this metrosexuality issue is not an apology on behalf of american culture for marginalizing an entire group of people (both gay and straight). i relate it to the whole idea of urban/hip-hop fashion becoming trendy. this does not erase all of the blatant racism and attacks that came over the years but i think it's a tidy way to sort of deconstruct the ideas of what it is to be a member of any group.

i read an interesting article that talked about how there's a new subculture among gay men that prize a sort of hyper masculinity...they aren't obsessively clean, they don't care anything about fashion, they grow their chest hair out...i think metrosexuality is almost eliminating gay stereotypes while providing a new "closet" for straight men on the brink to hide in...metrosexual is the new bisexual.

 

[AlexN]

Originally posted by mikeijames@Sep 8 2004, 08:37 AM
i think metrosexuality is almost eliminating gay stereotypes while providing a new "closet" for straight men on the brink to hide in...metrosexual is the new bisexual.

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I just don't get the comparisons to actual sexuality. Being metrosexual has nothing to do with your sexual preference.

 

[mikeijames]

Originally posted by AlexN@Sep 8 2004, 11:54 AM
I just don't get the comparisons to actual sexuality. Being metrosexual has nothing to do with your sexual preference.

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actually, it does -- the inference of course being that the way one dresses has no relationship to one's sexuality. while cerainly true in concept, culturally it's a misnomer. the way a person dresses, in many respects, does attach them to a particular identity (sexuality, ethnicity, et al). to try to problemtize that relationship creates a new grey area (much like bisexuality created a grey area between being absolutely straight or absolutely gay)...if you read safire's article about metrosexuality, he asserts that a metrosexual's love object is himself. which, again, may be true, but also implies some sort of asexuality which we know rarely, if ever, actually exists.

by overlooking one's actual preference (even discounting it), it conveniently renames "the closet". (the "closet" being that idea of someone not actually asserting their sexuality in any real way).

 

[softgrey]

lalalalala.....

many...and i mean MANY...gay men have NO style...and even BAD TASTE...and the same goes for straight men and gay women and straight women...

but this is not a competition...get over it already...it's a GOOD thing that more people look better...what are you worried about exactly???...that you won't be able to complain about how bad the kids at the mall look anymore...???...

c'mon....fashion is fun for everyone...a boy and a girl...

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY....

 

[mikeijames]

Originally posted by softgrey@Sep 8 2004, 01:32 PM
but this is not a competition...get over it already...it's a GOOD thing that more people look better...what are you worried about exactly???...that you won't be able to complain about how bad the kids at the mall look anymore...???...

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i actually LOVE the phenomenon...there cannot BE enough well-dressed men in the world (like i'm happy that MOST nightclubs these days have dress code as opposed to nothing two years ago when anything went and trucker hats abounded)...it's the labels that ruffle my feathers...

 

[AlexN]

Mike, I see what you're saying. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by mikeijames@Sep 8 2004, 02:03 PM
...there cannot BE enough well-dressed men in the world

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yes...more stylish boys please...

 

[Dior]

great 12 pages what a jumbled world!

 

[Holland_MULTIMEDIA*]

Ya, I think weve come to the same conclusion like 7 times already

 

[goeth314]

Current issue:

I don't want to upset anyone!
Some women probably don't like metrosexuals because they feel threatened by (trying to look) beautiful men.
Up to recently women have had the upper hand in beauty, and now the balance is shifting (just like it is shifting in social terms for them as well).

Prediction:

My opinion is that within the next few decades, there will be no difference between men and women in fashion terms, males and females will be treated equally in all aspects.

We'll look back at the metrosexual days and laugh.

Finally, within a few centuries, almost everyone be bisexual, it will all be a matter of sexual optimisation. None of this will ever matter.

 

[*AndoraStar*]

LOL! Are you kidding..? I'm not threatened by "metrosexuals" actually they are TOTALLY my type of man. My boyfriend is one and I love it.

 

[goeth314]

Great.
I was just trying to be very careful about my phrasing.

 

[snowqueen]

i think this is exsactly the same as after ww1 when women got freedom do to the same as men (were trousers etc.) this si exsactly the same but the other way around now. We look back at those days now and are like omg how petty !! How stupid !! etc. so in a few years we will think the same. (hope this makes sense) any ways women battled for ages for womens rights so now men should be the same. It political correctness at its maddest. ANy ways I personally find metro guys hot, I like to be able to talk to my boyfriends about fashion and they have a small clue what im chatting about. ne ways just my 2 cents !!

 

[goeth314]

Yes Tiamaria, something along those lines.

My reasoning is that there is little point talking about it, it's just a natural evolution.
Classifying yourself as a metro will not matter soon.

BTW, until recently I would have placed myself in the metro category, I guess I could have placed myself in the human being category as well.

 

[Diego]

Wow... 200+ posts on this metrosexual things...

Metrosexual is a new label, and as such people identify in it, or refuse it, or customize it as they see fit. In this thread, we had examples of all of these reactions. And they're all ok.

But who's created this term? And why it has generated so much attention?

Metrosexuals are guys (straight, bi, gay -- guys) that live in or very near to big cities (because in big cities there are the best shops, hairstylists, clubs, gyms) and spend a lot of time and effort to look good. Or at least this is Simpson's original definition.

The point is that metrosexual are also an 'advertiser's wet dream' (these, again, are Simpson's own words). Fashion companies have found it hard to 'penetrate' the male market, particularly now that most labels belong to big groups, they want to target the male consumers. And this is problematic, because it's a stereotype in our societies that fashion is 'a women's thing' and that too much attention to how you look is suspect. It is perhaps since Oscar Wilde scandals that dandies are associated to effemminacy and homosexuality. And the fact that many good designers are gay doesn't help...

RSCG, an advertising/research company, carried out some research about metrosexuals, suggesting that: (i) they really exist; (ii) they are a viable market segment. This of course was self-interested research: they were creating an audience for advertisers. Add Queer eye for the straight guy, the metrosexual episod in South Park's 7th season, the so many press articles, and fashion designers and editors employing themselves the term, and we have a new cultural category to deal with. On the web, now, we even find test to assess 'how metrosexual you are'.

So now we have companies and the media pretending metrosexuals exist, and some people identifying themselves as metrosexuals (while at the same time other refuse to do so)...

 

[goeth314]

I can't think of a male (regardless of the sexual orientation) who is not a metrosexual.

Sure, there are degrees of metrosexuality at the moment.

But like I keep saying, it's just the next step.

 

[kit]

A point just occurred to me , B)

" Where does ' metrosexual ' end , and ' chav ' begin ? "

 

[AlexN]

^I see no relation. Two totally different things usually...in my mind at least.

 

[goeth314]

Some of this has to do with the fact that casual style does not exist.

People who tend to classify themselves as casual are just wrong.
Subconsciously (at the very least), you have thought for 10 minutes what you are going to wear or how you're going to wash your face/hair.

Some people don't mind admitting this, some do.
If you do admit it, then you're automatically labelled as metro, if you don't then you're not.

This reasoning is so flawed.