''Metrosexual'' is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsmetropolitan'' and ''

sexual Sex is the biological distinction of an organism between male and female. Sex or SEX may also refer to: Biology and behaviour *Animal sexual behaviour **Copulation (zoology) **Human sexual activity **Non-penetrative sex, or sexual outercourse ** ...

'' coined in 1994, describing a man of ambiguous sexuality, (especially one living in an

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

, post-industrial,

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

culture) who is especially meticulous about his grooming and appearance, typically spending a significant amount of time and money on shopping as part of this. The term references uncertainty as to whether a metrosexual is heterosexual,

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

or a

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

man.

Origin

The term ''metrosexual'' originated in an article by Mark Simpson published on November 15, 1994, in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''. Simpson wrote: David Beckham 2009

However, it was not until the early 2000s when Simpson returned to the subject that the term became globally popular. In 2002,

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

published an article by Simpson, which described

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

as "the biggest metrosexual in Britain" and offered this updated definition: The advertising agency

Euro RSCG Worldwide Havas Creative, formerly known as Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG, is a French advertising agency. It is one of the largest integrated marketing communications agencies in the world, made up of 316 offices located in 75 countries. The firm provid ...

adopted the term shortly thereafter for a

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

study. Sydney's daily newspaper, ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', ran a major feature in March 2003 titled "The Rise of the Metrosexual" (also syndicated in its sister paper ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''). A couple of months later, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Sunday Styles section ran a story, "Metrosexuals Come Out". The term and its connotations continued to roll steadily into more news outlets around the world. Though it did represent a complex and gradual change in the shopping and self-presentation habits of both men and women, the idea of metrosexuality was often distilled in the media down to a few men and a short checklist of vanities, like skin care products, scented candles and costly, colorful dress shirts and pricey designer jeans. It was this image of the metrosexual—that of a straight young man who got pedicures and facials, practiced aromatherapy and spent freely on clothes—that contributed to a backlash against the term from men who merely wanted to feel free to take more care with their appearance than had been the norm in the 1990s, when companies abandoned dress codes, Dockers khakis became a popular brand, and XL, or extra-large, became the one size that fit all. A ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' story on 1960s–70s pro footballer

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college foot ...

suggested he was "perhaps, America's first metrosexual" after filming his most famous ad sporting Beautymist pantyhose. When the word first became popular, various sources attributed its origin to trendspotter

Marian Salzman Marian Salzman (born February 15, 1959) is a Jewish American advertising and public relations executive. She is Senior Vice President, Global Communications for Philip Morris International, a tobacco company. She was formerly CEO of Havas PR No ...

, but Salzman has credited Simpson as the original source for her usage of the word.

Related terms

Over the course of the following years, other terms countering or substituting for "metrosexual" appeared. Perhaps the most widely used was "retrosexual", which in its anti- or pre-metrosexual sense was also first used by Simpson. However, in later years, the term was used by some to describe men who subscribed to what they affected to be the grooming and dress standards of a previous era, such as the handsome, impeccably turned-out fictional character of

Donald Draper Donald Francis Draper, born Richard “Dick” Whitman, is a fictional character and the protagonist of the AMC television series ''Mad Men'' (2007–2015), portrayed by Jon Hamm. Up to the Season 3 finale, Draper was creative director of fict ...

in the television series ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its fict ...

'', itself set in an idealised version of the early 1960s New York advertising world. Another example was the short-lived "übersexual", which was coined by

executives and authors of ''The Future of Men'', and was perhaps inspired by Simpson's use of the term "uber-metrosexual" to describe David Beckham. Simpson's original definition of the metrosexual was sexually ambiguous, or at least went beyond the straight/gay dichotomy. Marketers, in contrast, insisted that the metrosexual was always "straight" – they even tried to pretend that he was not vain. However, they failed to convince the public, hence, says Simpson, their attempt to create the uber-straight ubersexual. In 2016, Simpson coined the term that combines sport and porn: "spornosexual". Simpson, who highlighted footballer

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

as a "spornosexual" said that "(Spornosexual is) a fusion of sport and porn ..Cultivating an athletic body as an object of desire, and showing it off on social networks, accumulating sexual partners. It’s a tendency with young men." In 2016, the "

lumbersexual Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

" term circulated in media, fashion, and online outlets, describing a type of male aesthetics that use outdoor gear for urban aesthetics rather than function.

Narcissism

In 2002, this idea was further explored in the book ''Media Sport Stars: Masculinities and Moralities'', (Routledge) when Gary Whannel described Beckham's: "narcissistic self-absorption", seeing it as a break from the prevailing masculine codes.

Female metrosexuality

Female metrosexuality is a concept that Simpson explored with American writer Caroline Hagood. They employed the female characters from the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...

'' in order to illustrate examples of ''wo-metrosexuality'', a term Hagood coined to refer to the feminine form of metrosexuality. The piece implied that, although this phenomenon would not necessarily empower women, the fact that the metrosexual lifestyle de-emphasizes traditional male and female

gender role A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...

s could help women out in the long run. However, it is debatable whether the characters made famous by ''Sex and the City'' truly de-emphasized female gender roles, given that the series focused a high amount of attention on stereotypically feminine interests like clothing, appearance, and romantic entanglements.

Changing masculinity

William Rast fashion show for New York Fashion Week

Traditional masculine norms, as described in psychologist Ronald F. Levant's ''Masculinity Reconstructed'' are: "avoidance of femininity; restricted emotions; sex disconnected from intimacy; pursuit of achievement and status; self-reliance; strength; aggression and

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitude (psychology), attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, h ...

". Various studies, including market research by

Euro RSCG Havas Creative, formerly known as Havas Worldwide and Euro RSCG, is a French advertising agency. It is one of the largest integrated marketing communications agencies in the world, made up of 316 offices located in 75 countries. The firm provid ...

, have suggested that the pursuit of achievement and status is not as important to men as it used to be; and neither is, to a degree, the restriction of emotions or the disconnection of sex from intimacy. Another norm change supported by research is that men "no longer find sexual freedom universally enthralling". Lillian Alzheimer noted less avoidance of femininity and the "emergence of a segment of men who have embraced customs and attitudes once deemed the province of women". Men's fashion magazines – such as ''

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

'', ''

Men's Vogue ''Men's Vogue'' was a monthly men's magazine that covered fashion, design, art, culture, sports and technology. The premier issue was August 2005. On 30 October 2008 Condé Nast announced that they intended to fold the magazine into ''Vogue'' prope ...

'', and the defunct ''

Cargo Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including trans ...

'' – targeted what one ''Details'' editor called "men who moisturize and read a lot of magazines". Changes in culture and attitudes toward masculinity, visible in the media through television shows such as ''

Queer Eye for the Straight Guy ''Queer Eye'' is an American reality television series that premiered on the cable television network Bravo in July 2003. Originally ''Queer Eye for the Straight Guy'', the title was later shortened to broaden the overall scope. The series was cr ...

'', '' Queer as Folk'', and ''

Will & Grace ''Will & Grace'' is an American television sitcom created by Max Mutchnick and David Kohan. Set in New York City, the show focuses on the friendship between best friends Will Truman (Eric McCormack), a gay lawyer, and Grace Adler (Debra Messing), ...

'', have changed these traditional masculine norms. Metrosexuals only made their appearance after

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...

changes in the environment and changes in views on masculinity. Simpson said in his article "Metrosexual? That rings a bell..." that "Gay men provided the early prototype for metrosexuality. Decidedly single, definitely

, dreadfully uncertain of their identity (hence the emphasis on pride and the susceptibility to the latest label) and socially

emasculate Emasculation is the removal of both the penis and the testicles, the external male sex organs. It differs from castration, which is the removal of the testicles only, although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The potential medical ...

d, gay men pioneered the business of accessorising—and combining—masculinity and desirability." Shopping! (3155147413)

But such probing analyses into various shoppers' psyches may have ignored other significant factors affecting men's shopping habits, foremost among them women's shopping habits. As the retail analyst Marshal Cohen explained in a 2005 article in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' entitled, "Gay or Straight? Hard to Tell", the fact that women buy less of men's clothing than they used to has, more than any other factor, propelled men into stores to shop for themselves. "In 1985 only 25 percent of all men's apparel was bought by men, he said; 75 percent was bought by women for men. By 1998 men were buying 52 percent of apparel; in 2004 that number grew to 69 percent and shows no sign of slowing." One result of this shift was the revelation that men cared more about how they look than the women shopping for them had. However, despite changes in masculinity, research has suggested men still feel social pressure to endorse traditional masculine male models in advertising. Martin and Gnoth (2009) found that

feminine men Effeminacy is the embodiment of traits and/or expressions in those who are not of the female sex (e.g. boys and men) that are often associated with what is generally perceived to be feminine behaviours, mannerisms, styles, or gender roles, rathe ...

preferred feminine models in private, but stated a preference for the traditional masculine models when their collective self was salient. In other words, feminine men endorsed traditional masculine models when they were concerned about being classified by other men as feminine. The authors suggested this result reflected the social pressure on men to endorse traditional masculine norms.

In popular culture

In its soundbite diffusion through the channels of marketeers and popular

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

, who eagerly and constantly reminded their audience that the metrosexual was straight, the metrosexual has congealed into something more digestible for

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. T ...

s: a

heterosexual Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between people of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to ...

male who is in touch with his feminine side — he color-coordinates, cares deeply about exfoliation, and has perhaps

manscaped Manscaped is a male grooming company based in San Diego, California, US. It was founded in 2016 by Paul Tran and produces and distributes male grooming tools and hygiene products under the Manscaped brand. History Manscaped was established in ...

. Men did not go to

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

s, so consumer culture promoted the idea of a sensitive man who went to malls, bought magazines and spent freely to improve his personal appearance. As Simpson put it: In contrast, there is also the view that metrosexuality is at least partly a naturally occurring phenomenon, much like the

Aesthetic Movement Aestheticism (also the Aesthetic movement) was an art movement in the late 19th century which privileged the aesthetic value of literature, music and the arts over their socio-political functions. According to Aestheticism, art should be prod ...

of the 19th century, and that the metrosexual is a modern incarnation of a

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle desp ...

. Fashion designer

Tom Ford Thomas Carlyle Ford (born August 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer and filmmaker. He launched his eponymous luxury brand in 2005, having previously served as the creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent. Ford wrote and direct ...

drew parallels when he described David Beckham as a: "total modern dandy". Ford suggested that "macho" sporting role models who also care about fashion and appearance influence masculine norms in wider society.

References

External links

'Metrodaddy Speaks!'
Mark Simpson answers questions from the global media in 2004
2005 reassessment by Simpson

Article exploring the commercial and sociological sides of the metrosexual

''The Metrosexual: Gender, Sexuality, and Sport'' by David Coad. Albany, New York: SUNY Press, 2008
''Media Sport Stars: Masculinities and Moralities'', Gary Whannel, Jstor, 2002
{{Narcissism Popular culture neologisms LGBT and society Narcissism Fashion Stereotypes Stereotypes of men Stereotypes of urban people Terms for men Subcultures 2000s fads and trends 1990s neologisms Heterosexuality