Metrosexuality - My Thoughts!
Metrosexuality has seeped into Indian men to the core. The term metrosexual has been a recent coinage and has been derived from metropolitan and heterosexuality –metrosexuality, coined by Mark Simpson in the year 1994. To those of who are still not aware what metrosexuality entails, let me give you a short description. A guy irrespective of his age, who spend quite a bit on grooming products and on shopping which better his appearance and who is quite particular about his looks and appearance is termed as a metrosexual man/guy.
Few men are of the opinion that metrosexuality has got nothing to do with investing huge amount of money on looks and products that help you groom yourself. This section of men believes that they belong to a category that want to look good and don’t mind taking steps to achieve good looks.
Also, often people use metrosexuality with being gay or bi-sexual, but the term metrosexual can be applied for heterosexual men, gays, and for bi-sexual alike, and has got nothing with the sexual orientation of a person.
Earlier metrosexuality was limited to the male members who belonged to the fashion industry or people who were considered as gay. But over the years the boy next door who has a regular source of income and who doesn’t mind lavishing himself with good clothes, perfume, cologne, plucking eyebrows, going for a nose job and one who regularly gets a facial, bleach done, all the things that we associate with ladies are now open and readily accepted by men irrespective of their sexual orientation. Gone are the days when metrosexual - this very word brought all the gay men we knew in our mind. Looking good, grooming oneself, wearing a perfect pair of glasses that goes well with one’s personality, doing numerous rounds to a mall to get those matching pair of shoes which goes well with the shirt you picked last week have now become common place. It has all become the order of the day with perfectly heterosexual men. Our society is reading accepting the metrosexual culture and that with open arms. Women don’t find it annoying if their boyfriend/husband/partner would like to go ahead with waxing their chest hair or arms or even legs.
Various products are now specially designed and made for men alike, such as face wash for men, fairness cream, bleach, facial products and what not and the list goes on. This is nothing but paving way or has already paved way for more consumerism. To generate more revenue and business out of metrosexuality, markets and retail shops have been flooded with such products which are easy to grab. Also, we have the famous advertisements that make it look demeaning to use products that women use, make it look as if men are committing crime by using the products that women use.
I am neither for metrosexual men nor against them per se. I am just concerned how much looking perfect can affect the psyche of people around the world. How much this can affect us later to the point that soon cosmetic surgery will become a common place thing. Because I believe looking perfect is a subjective term. What looks perfect to me may look slightly dented to you. Irrespective of one’s sexual orientation, metrosexuality has thinned out the demarcation between sexes- male and female. We certainly don’t know if this is going to prove useful or otherwise in the near future.
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