The metrosexual man
Well-dressed. Well-groomed. Young professionals in the urban community. Generally a member of the upper-to-middle class, and upwardly mobile. Attentive to fashion and not afraid to prove it. And, most importantly, blatantly heterosexual.
Meet the metrosexual.
Metrosexuality was a term first coined in 1994 by British journalist Mark Simpson, who used it to refer to “the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are).” The term didn’t take off in mainstream media until the late ’90s and early 2000s, but once it did, it became a staple of pop culture — primarily because the metrosexual is by definition a creation and prisoner of a consumer-focused economy.
Ramon Hinojosa, assistant professor of sociology who specializes in men, masculinity and gender studies, said an integral part of metrosexuality is their consumer-oriented lifestyle. Metrosexuals put an emphasis on fashion, spa treatments and shopping to a degree that is normally associated with women or homosexual men.
“The metrosexual is always making a statement via fashion,” Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa says that metrosexuals retain what he calls “hegemonic masculinity,” a stereotype of masculinity that has access to social power, but also are able to embrace traits that have been traditionally restricted from them in the modern era.
Hinojosa puts it simply: “Metrosexuality is masculinity with aspects of femininity.”
According to Hinojosa, there is little difference, behavior-wise, between the stereotypical gay male and the metrosexual. As a result, metrosexuals are always very openly heterosexual, so there is no question of their sexual orientation. This is a trait that he says can be most clearly seen in the case of metrosexual celebrities like David Beckham or Jesse Ventura.
“These men are very, very heterosexually active,” Hinojosa said.
Because metrosexuality is a way of being masculine rather than an alternative to masculinity, Hinojosa says it should be categorized as a different “narrative” to describe what being masculine is, not a third gender. Partly because of this, metrosexual men don’t always define themselves specifically as metrosexual, or identify with other metrosexuals in the way that other groups based on gender practices do.
“You probably won’t find groups of metrosexuals hanging out together,” Hinojosa said.
Metrosexuality is thought of in mostly the same terms by Cassie Duckert, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences. In describing a metrosexual as someone who pays attention to his appearance beyond the traditional man, she suggests a friend she had in high school as a model for the average metrosexual.
“My girlfriends and I would always take him shopping with us because he’d honestly tell us what he thought of the outfits we’d try on,” said Duckert, who emphasized this fashion-conscious aspect of the metrosexual over other traits.
Other students, like Jill Davis, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, emphasize the feminine traits of the metrosexual over others.
“He (a metrosexual) is a guy who is very in touch with his feminine side,” Davis said.
Davis describes her boyfriend as metrosexual, saying he exemplifies her definition of the term.
“He cares about what he looks like and tries to follow the trends of fashion,” said Davis. “He doesn’t just get out of bed and put on whatever smells clean.”
Despite his feminine aspects, however, Davis agrees metrosexuals are decidedly masculine.
“Just because a guy is in touch with his feminine side doesn’t mean he turns into a girl. Metrosexual men are guys, … they just care a bit more about what they look like and read a fashion magazine once in a while.”
Tags: appearance, character, fashion, men's fashion, metro, metrosexual
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