Marsha West -- Fake Male Syndrome is on the way out

FAKE MALE SYNDROME IS ON THE WAY OUT

By Marsha West

October 19, 2007

NewsWithViews.com

There's good news within the popular and consumer culture. "Metrosexual" is out "menergy" is in. For those who aren't familiar with the term "metrosexual" it applies to testosterone challenged, narcissistic, heterosexual males whose primary focus is on their physical appearance.

British journalist Mark Simpson is credited with coining the term "metrosexual." Metrosexuals are men who are softer at the edges. They display many of the tendencies of the stereotypical "gay" male who enjoys fashion and shopping. "He loves Armani, is seen just as often near a catwalk as competing in sport, confesses an adulation for Kylie Minogue, even designs his own jewellery [in America jewelry]. But he's not gay."[1]

Mark Simpson opines:

"The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis � because that's where all the best shopps, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere. For some time now, old-fashioned (re)productive, repressed, unmoisturized heterosexuality has been given the pink slip by consumer capitalism. The stoic, self-denying, modest straight male didn't shop enough (his role was to earn money for his wife to spend), and so he had to be replaced by a new kind of man, one less certain of his identity and much more interested in his image � that's to say, one who was much more interested in being looked at (because that's the only way you can be certain you actually exist)."

Less certain of his identity? More interested in his image? Desiring to be looked at? Maybe it's just me, but it would seem that Mr. Shop-til-you-drop is afflicted with Fake Male Syndrome.

As advertisers are in the business of selling their products they were obliged to create a new kind of man. A softer, gentler man, one who enjoys indulging in assorted vanity products and doesn't fret over having his nails buffed. "Marketers are spurring on the change, dropping the macho element from products that target men. Gone are the tough male images, even from beer and car ads."[2]

Soccer player David Beckham, who has been tagged the "ultimate metrosexual," has helped break masculine codes.

"Beckham may be captain of the English soccer team [currently captains the Los Angeles Galaxy], but he wears sarongs and nail polish, and has even posed for gay magazines. As the American online magazine Salon said, he has admitted that he likes to be admired, and does not care if it's by women or by men."[3]

David Beckham seems to be more like the "ultimate weirdo." Beckham is a prime example of how advertising execs have succeeded in turning males into self-absorbed girlie men.

The latest fashion trend is a return to the macho man. During Milan Fashion Week Horacio Silva of the New York Times coined the term "menergy" to describe what he called "a campy contraction of 'men-and-energy' that sounds like the name of a congenital bachelors' bar but encapsulates the anti-metrosexual, hypermasculine vigor coursing through men's wear, 'Praise the gym gods: the menergy crisis is over,' or, 'Seriously, the menergy at Dolce & Gabbana was palpable'"[4]

In other words, John Wayne is making a comeback. (You remember movie legend John Wayne. He was called Duke by his friends and was the "absolute all-time movie star." It's been said that he was as much a hero in real life as he ever was on-screen. John Wayne was the epitome of the man's man.)

"Menergy" is a gnarly look. The "menergy" will balk at tweezing his bushy brows and spends little time trying to get his hair just so. Men primping and dressing better than women is so yesterday! "The testosterone meter is set on high," says Silva, "and the 'man's-man' is here to stay."

Welcome back, Duke!

According to Silva, "Menergy is trickling into advertising, where gender ambiguity is losing its appeal to bona fide fellas. Take Dolce & Gabbana model David Gandy. He's the hard-bodied hunk seen reclining in a Speedo the size of an eye patch to hawk the brand's new fragrance, Light Blue."

Gender ambiguity losing its appeal? Now that's good news!

But not for everyone. The return of the man's man is bad news for radical feminists and militant homosexual groups who have spent decades promoting gender confusion to our youth. Well-funded radical feminist and homosexual groups are behind the assault on schoolchildren. They've made tremendous inroads in indoctrinating them into "alternative" sexual lifestyles. Case in point. On the afternoon of October 12 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger caved in to radical homosexuals and signed a bill that could force government run schools to accommodate children with "gender identity" issues by permitting them to use the boys' and girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, depending on which gender they choose to identify with at that time. Does this not make you want to homeschool your kids? If you live in Sodomfornia you'd better start now, before your child is robbed of his or her innocence. Remember, those who control the schools control the future.

Advertisers have had a hand in causing gender confusion in young and old alike. To sell their products marketers devised a plan to woo the straight guy off the couch and into the mall because guys were notorious for shying away from shopping malls. To that end marketers began promoting the idea of a "sensitive guy who went to malls, bought magazines and spent freely to improve his personal appearance."

If the "menergy" trend catches on the fashion pendulum may swing back to a time not so long ago when there were clear distinctions between male and female. When men were easily identified as men. Before male testosterone was something to be smirked at.

We might easily laugh off "menergy" as just another fashion trend -- and perhaps that's all it is. But for now anyway "menergy" is all about fashion and products created for the rugged he-man. This new trend won't trigger gender confusion and angst the way the "metrosexual" trend did. Instead "menergy" will reintroduce the ideal of the manly man. Moreover, this trend will distinguish men from women.

In 2003 it was said that the definition of what it means to be male was changing. In 2007 the definition of what it means to be male has taken on another change � this time the change is for the better.

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Now, please don't get all defensive. I have nothing against the well-groomed man. Clean and neat is good. Body odor is bad. And no one wants to see dirty fingernails, or worse yet hair jutting out of someone's nose or ears. However, I'd be mortified if my husband painted his nails and donned a sarong. As a girlie girl I want a manly man by my side, and I don't mind saying it. The fact of the matter is that most women are not drawn to girlie men. So three cheers for menergy!

Footnotes:

1, The Rise of the Metrosexual � The Sydney Morning Herald
2, Ibid
3, Ibid
4, Goodbye Metrosexual, Hello 'Menergy' By Lauren Messiah

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Marsha West is the Founder and Editor of the E-Mail Brigade News Report, an online news report for conservative people of faith. Marsha is a freelance writer specializing in Christian worldview. She is a regular contributor to NewsWithViews.com, Alainsnewsletter.com, CapitolHillCoffeeHouse.com, plus her commentaries appear in MichNews.com and bibleteacher.org.

Marsha is also designer and webmaster of a Christian apologetics website, On Solid Rock Resources. She is currently writing a series of children's books for homeschoolers. Marsha and her husband reside in historic Jacksonville Oregon.

E-mail:�EMbrigade@aol.com

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If the "menergy" trend catches on the fashion pendulum may swing back to a time not so long ago when there were clear distinctions between male and female. When men were easily identified as men.