When I went to the bank the other day, my teller was a man who had the most sculpted eyebrows I had ever seen.
He had clearly gotten them waxed, but I couldn’t stop staring at them. Not because I’d never seen a guy with nice eyebrows before, but because they looked so good.
If this guy is any indication, it has become more acceptable for men to be “metrosexual” nowadays.
What is metro, we ask? It sounds like a sexual man in a city.
It may be, but according to Merriam-Webster, he is “a usually urban heterosexual male given to enhancing his personal appearance by fastidious grooming, beauty treatments and fashionable clothes.” It comes from a mix of the words metropolitan and heterosexual.
Men are participating in supposedly feminine activities under the guise of metrosexuality. And I think it’s great; I’m all for sharing my supposedly feminine stereotypes with the male gender.
I mean, really ““ what’s the big deal if a guy wants to wear a little eyeliner or a nice shirt once in a while? Metrosexuals are not becoming more effeminate, but rather re-masculating themselves in an attractive way.
Metrosexuals are re-dressing preconceived ideas about femininity and masculinity and changing the ways men and women can act. Suddenly we have a lot more in common ““ we’re on an even playing field, so to speak.
After being a resident of Santa Cruz for two years of college, I am well-versed in many concepts of “feminine identity.”
Once or twice I even walked around sans mascara with all my leg hair showing.
Since then, I’ve decided that I’m all for equality, but that the other gender can meet me halfway.
To me, metrosexuals are the new gender equality. Maybe not in every social context, but it’s a step toward equivalence where appearances are concerned. (Now if only we could start a national trend for equality in every other sense … ).
Men have started to be more concerned with their hair, their weight, their skin and their clothing ““ the things that, in general, women focus on more than men do.
It’s not new, really, because men’s fashion, even in the 1970s, included short basketball shorts and long hippie hair. Though admittedly, they weren’t getting manicures in the ’70s.
But these days, an increasing number of guys I know are wearing tight pants, more fitted shirts, and partaking of high-maintenance hair. They too use flat irons, nail files and even sometimes eyeliner.
Walk into any convenience store and you will see men’s hair and grooming products aptly named and packaged.
This, I must admit, is not so new, but never was it so OK for men to get manicures (The name has “man” in it. Relax, guys).
But who knows? Fashion could just be a re-creation of itself; an ever-circling spiral like a knit sock.
King Henry the VIII wore tights. Powdered wigs were in style for men until the time of Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the revolutionary bigwigs to stop wearing wigs.
Men could be as concerned about how they look in T-shirts and jeans, but now they have a social excuse to do something more about their appearance. Masculine has taken on a whole new, more attractive, groomed meaning.
Looking at history, it has happened before and could happen again. The sexes are growing insecure, together!
We could reach a point where men are just as self-conscious about their appearance as women, indulging in time-consuming, appearance-changing activities.
Hopefully, though, one day both genders can work with each other until we can accept ourselves the way we are, together, and fight body image stereotypes and insecurities.
But until then, let’s get self-conscious together.
I’m all for it, because maybe I don’t like your armpit hair, either.
For armpit shaving tips, e-mail Rood at drood@media.ucla.edu.