Metrosexual

David Beckham in 2014, considered by Mark Simpson as the largest metrosexual in England.

The term metrosexual describes a male from urban post-industrial society, characterized by a developed interest in personal care, appearance and a sophisticated lifestyle, strongly marked by the consumer culture and targeted marketing. The term was coined in 1994 by journalist Mark Simpson to describe a growing trend of physical culture and vanity in heterosexual men who appropriated aspects stereotypically associated with homosexual culture for some time, although this definition has lost its validity, according to the author of the term, due to the separation of the metrosexual tendency from the person's sexual orientation, becoming a longer term that does not distinguish sexual orientation.

Etymology

The term metrosexual is a linguistic composition of the word metropolitan and the word sexual. first appears in the article "Here Come the Mirror Men" by fashion journalist Mark Simpson, published in 1994 in the British newspaper The Independent. The term was originally coined to describe the emerging consumer culture of urban heterosexual men, characterized by a lavish lifestyle and appreciation of male grooming and physical culture, a style that Simpson describes as typical of gay culture. Although the original term that appeared in 1994 suggested that metrosexuality necessarily implied heterosexuality, Simpson reformulated the term in 2002 for the article Meet the Metrosexual for the online magazine Salon.com , an article in which he redefines the metrosexual as the urban man (homosexual, bisexual or heterosexual) whose interests lie in consumption and personal care. In the same article, Simpson describes David Beckham as a banner of the metrosexuality, giving rise to the popularity of the term in later years.

In 2003, journalist Alexa Hackbarth described the metrosexual as a straight man who behaved "stereotypically gay". In the same year, the newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald publishes an article on the subject under the title The Rise of the Metrosexual, and months later the newspaper The New York Times publishes an article on the subject under the title Metrosexuals Come Out. The concept appeared for a long time in the media, but was reduced to a pejorative misconception defined by traits associated with femininity, identified in men with certain vanities and tastes such as skin and hair products, scented candles and designer clothing in the camp style or in bright, variegated colors. It was these definitions that produced some rejection of the term by men who simply wanted the freedom to pursue their physical appearance and style of clothing. clothing.

Terminology

Within the popularity and cultural investigation of metrosexuality, a diversity of terms have appeared that replace the term metrosexuality, or that derive from it. These terms intend to subcategorize metrosexuality according to common characteristics or origins, based on the standards of beauty and care that each of these categories possesses. Each of these terms has originated in various newspaper articles over the years that analyze new trends in metrosexuality, through observations about "new masculinities".

Retrosexual

The term retrosexual, also coined by journalist Mark Simpson, describes men who do not completely identify with the tendencies proposed by metrosexuality, thus describing heterosexual men who have an aesthetic sense undeveloped and do not base their lifestyle on consumption. Simpson uses the term to describe what he considers to be an antonym of "uber-metrosexual", a term he uses to define David Beckham in the year 2003. Simpson describes uber-sexual as a heterocentric-style marketing strategy that sought to sell a new lifestyle to the undertapped market of heterosexual men whose interests were not based on self-care or physical appearance (retrosexuals)..

The term retrosexual has reappeared on several occasions with various meanings that are close to or completely removed from the original concept. The term reappeared around the year 2008 to describe metrosexual men who govern their beauty habits according to rules from previous decades. The series Mad Men is considered an icon of retrosexuality due to the costume design and the impeccable hairstyle in his male characters, based on the business world of the 1960s. In this sense, a nascent culture of retro-masculinity begins to appear (notions of masculinity belonging to previous decades, adapted to the current life of men modern). Derived from this current, a bohemian culture begins to emerge that revalues the consumption of implements that lost popularity between the 1970s and the 2000s, such as barbershops, styling waxes, and masculinity manuals based on the Book for Men format. (1953) by Bert Bacharach. Another definition for this term refers to a synonym for what in gay culture was already known as silver fox or daddy, referring to attractive men of mature age.

Ubersexual

The term uber-sexual is used by Mark Simpson to describe the marketing strategy behind metrosexuality, defining the term as "mispackaged metrosexuality". Simpson suggests that uber-sexuality was a failed attempt to disentangle metrosexuality from its homosexual roots in order to make it unpalatable to non-metrosexual (retrosexual) heterosexual men, and to become a new ideal of heterosexual masculinity. Simpson considers David Beckham an icon of metrosexuality due to his heterocentric characteristics as a heterosexual male dedicated to a masculine sport, whose metrosexuality had resonance with fans of association football.

With the rise of metrosexuality in the 1980s and 1990s, cosmetics and beauty product companies see an opportunity to sell two different versions of the same product, one for women and one for men, which are often only They differed in the type of perfume and in the packaging. Products intended for men's consumption typically have bitter or sweet fragrances and are packaged in gray or black colored containers, while feminine products regularly have sweet or floral fragrances and are packaged in light colored or pink colored containers. >Übersexual appears as a reformulated term in the book The Future of Men: The Rise of the Übersexual and What He Means for Marketing Today by Marian Salzman, Ira Matathia and Ann O' Reilly, based on the term proposed by Mark Simpson. The book describes the nascent male consumer culture and explores the possibilities of marketing to the male gender.

Pornosexual

The term spornosexual is a contraction of the term sportman (Spanish: deportante), the term porno and the term sexual. The term is introduced by Mark Simpson in the article Sporno (2006), originally published in OUT magazine, a term he uses to describe the homoeroticism of sports culture through of its heterosexual protagonists who sell their image to underwear firms and fashion houses that mainly target the pink market. Simpson describes the spornosexual as a heterosexual man with the body of a high-performance athlete or gay pornography star who has a "homoprovocative" intent, that is, he seeks homosexual worship (a marketing technique known as gaybaiting). The term experienced a resurgence as a new metrosexuality in 2014 to describe men with exercised bodies, interest in grooming, and occasionally with beards, lightly waxed hair, shaved hair, and tattoos, alluding to to a slightly unkempt appearance, aspects that were typical of the actors of the golden age of gay pornography in the 1970s and 1980s.

Technosexual

The term technosexual (English: technosexual) is a contraction of the term technophile and the term sexual. In its meaning related to metrosexuality, it refers to a concept introduced in the mid-2000s used to describe a marketing strategy to sell electronics to metrosexual men. In the 1990s, electronics companies such as televisions, sound systems and video games began to focus their markets on male consumption with "big and powerful" electronics, introducing technological updating as a masculine ideal, thus, many men's magazines such as GQ become advertising platforms for electronics companies. The term is copyrighted by Calvin Klein. The term experiences a resurgence in the 2010s due to the popularity of portable electronic devices and the disposable cell phone.

Lumbersexual

The term lumbersexual is a contraction of the term lumberjack (Spanish: leñador) and the term sexual. The term describes the use of the lumberjack's appearance, such as a beard, boots, and flannel shirt, for aesthetics rather than function. Like the metrosexual, the lumbersexual is described as a straight male who embraces the aesthetics of lumberjack to represent masculine values of rural settings. The lumbersexual aesthetic is similar to, but not identical to, the aesthetic of bear culture, a gay culture that appreciates men with stocky or stocky bodies with abundant facial and body hair. This current of metrosexuality bases its style on a seemingly but not quite unkempt look that stems from the clichés of gay bear pornography in the 1980s, which involved sex scenes between lumberjacks in wooded scenes. The term arose in the 2010s due to the popularity of the Movember movement and applications such as Scruff.

Gastrosexual

The term gastrosexual comes from the prefix gastro originating from the Greek word gastē (γαστηρ), which means 'stomach' and appears in words associated with food and meals (for example, gastric, gastronomic) and from Latin sexuālis-, "sexual.

Gastrosexual is a term used to describe a person, especially a man, who uses cooking skills to impress friends and potential partners.