What do you think of the word "metrosexual"?

[La_Serpiente]

Cnn recently wrote an article here:
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The evolution of 'queer'
Wednesday, November 5, 2003 Posted: 4:10 PM EST (2110 GMT)

James Cross describes himself as a "metrosexual" -- a straight man who is into designer clothes, art, fashion and shopping.

CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- Something queer is happening to the word "queer."

Originally a synonym for "odd" or "unusual," the word evolved into an anti-gay insult in the last century, only to be reclaimed by defiant gay and lesbian activists who chanted: "We're here, we're queer, get used to it."

Now "queer" is sneaking into the mainstream -- and taking on a hipster edge as a way to describe any sexual orientation beyond straight.

Jay Edwards, a 28-year-old gay man from Houston, has noticed it.

"Hey Jay," a straight co-worker recently said. "Have you met the new guy? He's really cute and queer, too. Just your type!"

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/11/05/offbeat.queer.evolution.ap/index.htm
l
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As a gay person, I do not mind it when "straight" men and women have an interest in fashoin and other things. However, I hope they are not pigeonholing gay and lesbians as people who are only interested in fashion, interior design, and home economcis.

OK, I am not going to say that there are not a lot of gay men in Hollywood, fashion, and other related areas. I mean, it is understood that they are there or are on Broadway. Also, there are gays that have a lisp or high voice.

I mean, it is good for gay people. The possibility of having ugly slurs thrown at gays decreases as this becomes more mainstream.

However, I know gay men that are athletic themselves and are active in martial arts and also surf. This is only my main concern because I do not want them just to see gays as people who are only interested in fashion and other related fields.

So I guess what I am saying is that I hope that they don't think that gay men shop at Ambercrombie and Fitch (I don't) and have closets full of GAP clothing (I only have two things from GAP).

I mean, look at Chip and Reichen on the Amazing Race. Reichen graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Both were very athletic as well.

Maybe it's programs like that on TV that will debunk the supposed stereotype that gay men are just les femmes .

I just wanted to bring this up because I think it warranted attention.

[tedoll78]

1. As a gay person..

I think it's a word made-up to sell magazine issues, clothing lines, and accessories.

[incapsulated]

2. "Metrosexual"

Whatever happened to "sophisticated"? bleh. It's stupid. Calling a straight guy "queer" is just, well...queer. ;)

God knows I know plenty of gay men who don't know how to dress and don't care and even a few lesbians who wear more make-up than I do. I also know that some gay guys cringe at the queenish behaviour on shows like "queer eye". People like to sterotype, unfortunately.

[Sapphocrat]

3. At the risk of offending hets...

I find the whole issue half-amusing, half-annoying. I never know when being gay -- or possessed of a "gay sensibility" -- is supposed to be "in" or "out" ... and frankly, I'm tired of my life being a "fashion statement" that goes in and out of style every few years at the whim of those who think it's some sort of fad.

On the other hand, I guess I'm in favor of anything that makes them get used to us in their midst, and (one hopes) stop hating us so much.

"Metrosexual"? Until recently, I had no idea what it meant. It sounded like it was related to "pansexuality." In my day, a straight guy who was in touch with his feminine side (and didn't go into some sort of "gay panic" over it) was called a "feminist."

Silly, really. But, as I said, whatever makes them get used to us...

[Prodemsouth]

8. This is a fad- "Queer Eye" "Metrosexual." In America there is always

a negative reaction to a fad - esp fads that try to change men- I am old enough to remember- "the sensitive man," "androgynous" in early 80s. Each time this has happened there has been a over macho backlash and anti gay backlash. I have tried to point out to gays that this sort of stuff is not good for them in the long run-that there will be a negative reaction. If we have to high tell it in Iraq- the blame will come:we were "not man enough" That was the theme in the Rambo movies- and that is why more than a few American men think we lost in Vietnam. There is always a backlash-whenever we try or are told "to get in touch with our feminine side."

[Sapphocrat]

13. That's something I've never understood...

...telling a man to "get in touch with his feminine side." I'd like to see the reaction if the "men's movement" told women they need to "get in touch with their masculine side." ("Quit your whining, Linda Evangelista! You're such a girl!")

Perhaps the intention was sincere, but the marketing was all wrong. Instead of telling men to get in touch with their feminine side, they should have been told that getting comfortable with whoever and whatever they are would make them happier, healthier, sexier, and less prone to heart attacks or kicking the dog. Which is all true. (Not, of course, to imply that all men kick dogs.)

As much as I regret the current anti-gay backlash, I understand it; it's human nature to rebel when you feel forced into a package that isn't you. Pressure me to put on a dress and act like Audrey Hepburn because that's what females are "supposed" to do, and I turn into the most rebellious butch you've ever seen.

What's sad is that's not my true nature (over-the-top butch-ness, I mean). And I expect ultra-machismo is not the true nature of men who feel most threatened by the latest queer phenom, either.

But just as I spent my youth railing against being told I wasn't feminine enough, I suppose most straight men are hypersensitive to anything that stings of being called "a little faggot."

You want to know what's funny? When I came out in the 1970s, there was a very strict set of expectations for lesbians; anything else was suspect. My girlfriend, for instead, was an extremely feminine "lipstick lesbian" before there was such a term -- and that was simply not acceptable at the time. (Good for her -- she was the rebel!)

Lesbians like me, who are neither femmey-femme nor terribly butch felt a lot of pressure to be butch-er than we actually were. (And bear in mind that this was in and around San Francisco; you couldn't ask for a more liberal place in the country -- but the dyke scene certainly wasn't very liberal in its own social norms.)

It's changed. Thank God (or Goddess). And we have to thank the young queers -- the ones who refused to be defined by their sexuality -- of the 1990s for that. What's really funny, to me at least, is that I felt almost as threatened by these kids as I suppose straight men do by the whole "feminine side" thing -- even though I was indescribably relieved that the pointless, restrictive "norms" were being shattered.

So, there was something of a backlash within the lesbian community, because the idea of being who you were really were was just "different." But because of those young queers, I'm finally comfortable in my own skin; I don't feel pressured to be or do anything I'm not. And I feel much happier, healthier, sexier, and less prone to heart attacks or yelling at the cat. (Not, of course, to imply that all lesbians own cats. :D)

I'd like to think that sort of evolution is possible in straight society. And maybe it is -- although, by virtue of the sheer volume of straight folks (and the dire warnings of doom from Limbaugh and Savage about the left-wing conspiracy to "feminize" straight men), the change will be much, much slower.

[Newsjock]

4. It's dangerous

"Metrosexuality" is obviously, as they say, a "lifestyle choice," so it's only one tiny sashay for Fox News and the rest of 'em to start saying the same thing about homosexuality.

Beware.

And I won't even echo all the other good complaints that the whole "phenomenon" has been cooked up in a feeble attempt to sell stuff.

[FrenchieCat]

5. My husband is a metrosexual....

and I am damm proud of it. Looks good in clothes and good in the sack....which is a perfect combo!

[MartinAmbroseForan]

6. I think it means sex in a large, urban area.

[Sapphocrat]

14. Does doing it...

...in the balcony at Radio City Music Hall count?

:D

[Lexingtonian]

7. I think it used to be

"dandy" back in the days of English English.

"Metrosexual" is, well, 'pretty boy' for jocks. I think I first saw the word used as typological description of Derek Jeter on ESPN.com.

[Davo Dinkum]

9. Don't concern yourself.

This is just an obnoxious buzzword. It is putting a name to something that can't be put in a box. I believe people put these kinds of fashionable names to things that don't really deserve them. For example, why do we call it 'road rage'? I think it glamourizes something that really can be described another way and doesn't really deserve publicity and hype.

[JHB]

10. I admit it...

...The Paris Subway gets me hot!

Oh, *ahem*, you mean that new buzzword? It's the linguistic equivalent of the Macarena. Here today, gone (and good riddance) tomorrow. :thumbsdown:


"A great nation is not saved by wars, it is saved by acts without external picturesqueness; by speaking, writing, voting reasonably; by smiting corruption swiftly; by good temper between parties; by the people knowing true men when they see them, and preferring them as leaders to rabid partisans or empty quacks."
---William James (1842-1910), American Philosopher

[Dogmudgeon]

11. Good news in a bad wrapper

In a perverse (as opposed to perverted) way, this is good news. It indicates that Gay people are finally being recognized as human beings by the "mainstream" of society.

America was among the last of the major countries to ban slavery and to "allow" women to vote, so it's no surprise that we're just a little behind the times when it comes to the queer folk.

Better late than never, I guess.

--bkl
Lord Love a Queer Duck!

[Fall_No_Further]

12. Ridiculous.

A bunch of straight guys who don't think it's "cool" to be aware of fashion and proper grooming because it's "gaaay" make up a new little buzzword to describe their behavior. *In a sarcastic tone* Oh No, don't be secure in who you are and just _enjoy_ looking nice, someone might think you're....GAY! NO! RUN AWAY! IT MIGHT BE CONTAGIOUS!

Foolishness from insecure people. Jeeezuuuuuus.

[Bertha Venation]

15. "Metrosexual" is a word? eom

[Character Assassin]

16. I vastly prefer 'Retrosexual', myself.

I believe it means fucking cave-people, or something along those lines.

[kmla]

17. It's just the latest catch phrase to get people all atwitter....

.... probably with it's origination in some average, middle of the Bell curve ad agency staffed by a few baby boomers that want to make themselves feel "special".

The people labeled by the term "metrosexual" have existed for many years. THEY are not new, the term is. In a few years, it will be tossed on the trash heap of out-of-date slang terms, surrounded by other has-been catch phrases, like "extreme", "bling-bling", "at the end of the day", and "weapons of mass destruction".

My prediction: in a few years, using the term 'metrosexual' will get you odd stares and annoying feedback, kinda like if you were to use expressions like 'swell' and 'groovy'.

If you are straight, but effiminate and in touch with your feminine side, and have a sense of style - who cares? What people should care about is that you are honest, and whether or not they should like you for who you are, not what you look like. Likewise, if you wear ratty Chuck Taylors, and have mutiple piercings and a few tattoos, who cares? It's the person inside we should be concerned with.

That's my 1/50th of a dollar's worth...

[mitchum]

18. stupid marketing term devised by stupid marketing asses

has nothing to do with tolerance, but everything to do with convincing you to buy buy buy