Are The Men In Our Society Getting Too Feminine For Our Liking?

Are The Men In Our Society Getting Too Feminine For Our Liking?
By Emma Miller

The traditional man: strong, uncaring, funny, and vigorous. Is this the twentieth century’s idea of a ‘real’ man?

The only cosmetics a middle aged man would generally have in his cupboard is deodorant and toothpaste, compared to a twenty year old who might have moisturiser, aftershave, deodorant, concealers, eye make up and even lip balm!

Over the last twenty years there has been a dramatic rise in the amount of money men spend on cosmetics and hair products, as men have begun to spend more and more time on their appearance. Most boys in my class admitted to spending between 5 to 15 minutes on their hair in the morning, compared to twenty years ago when most boys would spend no time on their hair unless it was long, in which case they might have brushed it.

In secondary schools today, you can see the change in attitude towards being feminine. Boys are still afraid to cry in public, and most still want to be “big”, but at the same time many of the boys considered cool and big are the most girly of them all. My friend, for instance, is considered one of the most popular boys in the year. He spends nearly an hour every morning on his appearance and often shops at places that are targeted at a female market. His favourite colour is pink, and he wears big pink diamond ear-rings in both his ears. If a teenage boy acted like that forty years ago, he would have certainly been considered quite strange, possibly homosexual, but in today’s society, this boy is admired by his peers, and respected.

If you walk into Topman or H&M, you can see the men’s range. The clothes around today are much more colourful and tight fitting than they were twenty years ago. My parent’s generation apparently never wore pink or any other colours associated with being feminine, whereas now pink is a popular colour for boys.

Role models in society are men such as David Beckham, well known for spending a lot of time and money on his hair and clothes, and shaving his legs. More manly figures such as George Best are not as popular as they once were. Most male celebrities look as though they spend a lot of time on their appearance, and the majority get sponsored to advertise products to influence the public.

My dad said that when he was my age, the boys never used to hang around with the girls but now boys and girls hang around together all the time. Boys and girls have the same style; bags, shoes, jeans and even tops. From the back, it is often quite hard to tell the sex of someone because most teens dress in the same way – jeans, trainers and a hoodie. Boys have started growing long hair, using concealers, buying jewellery, wearing pink and even putting on lip gloss! We are beginning to wonder; is the traditional man changing or is this just a case of boys wanting to be girls!