Men Are Too Complex to Be "Metrosexuals"

When I entered my friend’s apartment for dinner, she complimented my outfit and said my clothes always matched. “I’m supposed to match,” I said. “I’m a 21-year-old man.” She then called me a “metrosexual.” “A what?” I asked. She said that a metrosexual is a man who takes better care of himself than a woman does.

After consulting my peers and reading fashion magazines such as Gentleman’s Quarterly and Details, I compiled the following list of metrosexual characteristics:

1. They get manicures, pedicures and facials.

2. They enjoy shopping and overly match their clothing.

3. They take a longer time to get ready for a date than their girlfriends.

4. They are often caught looking in mirrors more than women who check their makeup.

5. They get their eyebrows arched.

6. They own an abundance of skin- and hair-care products.

7. They own an 'N Sync, Britney Spears or Madonna album.

8. They wear pink.

9. They dye their hair or have a weave, and

10. They read GQ, Details or Men’s Health magazines.

Fashion writer Mark Simpson coined the term in 1994. He said in an article in Independent last year that, “Gay men provided the early prototype for metrosexuality. Decidedly single, definitely urban, dreadfully uncertain of their identity and socially emasculated, gay men pioneered the business of accessorizing -– and combining -– masculinity and desirability. And straight men began to adopt the neurotic strategies of gay men.”

Metrosexuals seem to distort the attraction element toward the opposite sex because most women do not desire men who are “prettier” than they are. “That is a turnoff,” said Gina Lewis, a sophomore at Tennessee State University. “I can’t imagine going to a beauty shop or nail parlor with my man. That’s just like having another girlfriend.”

Reggie Moore, a sophomore sociology major at Tennessee State from Memphis, said, “The roles of men and women are constantly changing. Women are becoming more independent these days. They open up doors for themselves. They treat guys out to eat, walk up to guys and initiate conversation. But there is no new word for that.”

Too many times, society generalizes and invents gender standards that individuals follow without knowing why. It is time for men to define who they are for themselves instead of adapting to gender traditions that limit men from being who they really are. For centuries, men have been expected not to cry or show much emotion, among several other unwritten rules.

Fifty years ago, if a man wore an earring he would be considered a homosexual.

Today, men such as Michael Jordan, Ed Bradley and Jay-Z all wear earrings and are held in high masculine regard. Men are wearing diamond earrings and diamond watches, when diamonds, according to the cliché, are “a girl’s best friend.”

Many men have found themselves in the midst of an evolutionary process.

Ultimately, that has given birth to the metrosexual phenomenon.

But the term lessens the strength of the heterosexual orientation, and simplifies the complexity of the male identity.

Jamarran E'mil Moss, a student at Tennessee State University, is arts and entertainment editor of The Meter.

Posted Feb. 16, 2004