I just realized today is the Independence Day in the US. So those of you that are out there have a wild time and enjoy the fireworks.
Flipping through a magazine the other day I came across a picture that made me think back to a post I put up a couple of months ago called Trimming The Bushes. I guess somebody heard my prayers and came out with this trimmer that can give your privates a close shave keeping the most important thing in mind… SAFTEY! I really love this add though because it just nudges the idea through. I think the idea of having the kiwi’s sitting next to each other and one is shaved with the fluff lying on the ground around it is a very strong image. There are many of us who can appreciate technological advances like this and we can see that male consumer needs have changed a great deal.
Of course this picture came out of a men’s magazine, FHM if you must know. Information like this was not available when I was a youngster. Now (as my cuz has informed me last year) we have what is commonly known as the metro sexual. The metro sexual is a man who is basically in touch with the more cosmetic and beautifying needs of his body, I guess. At least that is how I define it for now. A man who spends almost as much money and attention on clothes as a lady does. He uses a variety of skin creams and occasionally even make up. Some people have defined David Beckham as the new age metro sexual. I have 2 in my family. You know who you are.
I started to notice how advertising had changed in these men’s magazines over the last five years even. In the publications I buy now, like LOADED, STUFF, RALPH, and FHM, they have more add’s for male cosmetics than they do for power tools and cars. I do not think this is a completely bad thing at all. I mean even I use skin cream on my face at night. I really don’t plan to live that long but I might as well prepare for the worst. I would never have ventured in this direction had I not been educated by the media. But there are places where I draw the line. I could never shave my chest. I have seen loads of brothers who do this now and it creeps me out. Some guys have less hair than others and that is fine but when I see a hairy guy who has shaved his chest, it is just covered with nasty stubble. And loads of it!! Like I have said before, there are woman who like men with hairy chests and others who prefer smooth skin. Find the one that fits you.
Another add I have included a picture of is for is hair removal cream. It reads “Brazilian centre back”… This is kind of like the Brazilian bikini wax for guys I guess. Make your own conclusion. Personally I would be curious to try this although I have heard that if used incorrectly some skin damage can be caused. The lower back is a very sensual area. Most guys do have some hair on the lower back and I guess that is fine too. But then again, I would not know what a chick thinks. The other picture is for Andrex moisture wipes. You should be able to see what they are going for here. As for me, I think a good shower and good wiping are all you need. This is an unnecessary waste of your money. But the add is powerful. As for me, I do not even wear white boxer shorts but that is beside the point. I can see why people who have had bad experiences in this area might be inclined to use this product regularly.
Looking at all this I am thinking about a shit load of stuff. How multinational cosmetic companies have convinced us that we need these products to bag the women of our dreams. And I do mean women and not woman. And also have convinced women that this is the type of man to be attracted to. I guess in a way men are getting a taste of what women have had to put up with being compared to goddesses that plaster the covers of all their magazines. On the other hand I am also thinking that our generation has opened new doors to being open towards sexuality. Can you imagine 10 years ago seeing an add for a product to shave your nut sack in a normal magazine? As for now though, my work is still backed up so once again, just food for thought.
5 comments:
avi... for once you have touched on a topic that allows your readers to opinionate themselves on an issue more objective than the preferable shape of a pizza. i dont think the word originated and people became metrosexuals, i think it was the other way around. i think that towards the millenium, advertisers noticed that there was a large male population who were not the stereotypical beer drinking frat boy type- but a more sensitive and more self interested male. and so was coined the phrase- metrosexual. i also think a lot of guys are hesitant to cross that border into metrosexuality as a lot of the associations can be construed as homosexual. for example, facial bleaching, eye brow trimming, ass crack waxing and the likes. i do think that most important is that you feel comfortable with yourself enough to enjoy the benefits of male pampering without looking over your shoulder to see who is calling you a fruit.
Exceptional comment dude. I know that metrosexual's came to be before the word that defined. Didnt realize I implied otherwise. My writing has been very lazy these days. Too much work yaar.
So should we head out to My Place for some "male pampering" some time this week?
Ash, I think yr comments are misleading for those who arent familiar with metrosexuals. Metro (city) and sexual (sexuality) is how the word was coigned, as a growing trend noted that a large percentage of males in metropolitan cities whether gay or straight were exceptionally comfortable with their sexuality and felt no insecurities subscribing to products and preferences that had in the past stereotypically been positioned only for the female. In fact as pop culture became comfortable with metrosexuality, it was the straight man who had always felt he had to be hard and macho that realized he could come out of the closet and experiment with supposedly femenine passtimes (eg. manicures, hair-styling) and products (eg. face masks and high lights) and see that it was okay to do these things if he enjoyed them too.
Avi, i agree with the chest shaving thing, dunno how that can be comfortable. The most extreme male vanity I know of is when a friend of mine professionally and artistically laser removed the hair on his upper cheek bones so that he could have the perfect GQ five o'clock shadow, how bout that??? (now i've got inu buzzing with ideas)
hi rish. i want to cut and paste something from the net- A metrosexual is a clotheshorse wrapped around a dandy fused with a narcissist. Like soccer star David Beckham, who has been known to paint his fingernails, the metrosexual is not afraid to embrace his feminine side. Why "metrosexual"? The metro- (city) prefix indicates this man's purely urban lifestyle, while the -sexual suffix comes from "homosexual," meaning that this man, although he is usually straight, embodies the heightened aesthetic sense often associated with certain types of gay men.
Mark Simpson invented this term in 1994 (see the earliest citation, below), and it drifted slowly from one media source to another throughout the rest of 1990s and early 2000s. Then Simpson wrote another article about metrosexuals in the online magazine Salon.com on July 22, 2002, and the term took off. Since then it has been picked up by thousands of media outlets, has made numerous TV appearances, has spawned at least a couple of books, and has been dropped in untold numbers of cocktail party conversations. There is no escaping the metrosexual.
also from the same site, it mentions that magazines such as GQ promote metrosexuality. interestingly, it used to be nicknamed 'Gay Quarterly'.
Personally, i dont have any issue with most of the metrosexual lifestyle. on a scale of 1-10 i would give myself a 4, but still dont see anything wrong with taking care of yourself. the laser hair removal does sound a little extreme, but whatever floats your boat, innit! no urban male can say they do not succumb to modern advertising (be it mcdonalds or gillette) and man towards the end of the last century was an advertisers wet dream- an untapped market with spending power... making many products which traditionally men have done just fine without in the last however many million years, suddenly must- haves.
here is a consideration- i have a goatee which i keep trimmed. say i spend 15 minutes 3 times a week shaving. in my life i will spend approximately half a year shaving. is that a waste of life avi? how long does it take to get the look of the kiwi on the left? and to put it into deeper perspective- our good friend never ready, never sure, spends approximately an hour a day powdering his nose. thats about 5 years in the toilet in his life! 5 years buddy!
at the end of the day, we are all metrosexuals. its just to what extent. and it has become so much an integral part of society today that the ladies prefer clean smelling, hair gelling, poem telling men. inu- do i smell a shopping spree?
Metro sexual or not I would still like to try some of that hair removal cream. And I want that damn nut shaver.
Poor Inny, why are you all harrassing my vecharo metrosexual cousin. Dont mind them lah In, Ill take you for facial when you come back okay!!!
I am like a 2 on Ashwyns scale. I just grew a beard because I am so lazy to shave.
Post a Comment