I remember that time when I was in grade school and I happened to be in my parent's room while my Dad was changing clothes. I turned to look at him and amusingly asked why he was wearing my Mom's panties. He tried to make an excuse and said something like he was rushing earlier and that was the first undergarment he picked in the closet. I started to wonder, why didn't he look harder enough for his briefs, or why didn't he ask our househelp, or if he asked permission from my Mom, or if that's what he really wears all the time and the white briefs in his closet are just props.
Several years after that day, I found out that a number of men or husbands or sons or boyfriends actually prefer panties to briefs, regardless of how skimpy they may be. They have varying reasons from funny ones to extremely strange. But most cite the thin and silky fabric used in making panties which make them more comfortable.
So looking back now, my Dad is not alone. He's just one of the increasingly growing number of straight men who have increasingly become more in-touch with their feminine side.
They are called metrosexuals, a term first used around ten years ago to refer to a particular segment in the male consumer market comprising of straight men who are so confident and secure about their sexuality and sexual preferences that it doesn't bother them to occasionally behave in a manner that may be considered feminine by most. These men largely live in urban areas, hence the word metro.
I'm sure you've chanced upon one at one time --- your dad, brother, nephew, current boyfriend, ex-boyfriend, parish priest, your boss. These particular type of men are oftentimes branded or misread as gays primarily because they prefer gym to outdoor sports (because they don't like excessive sun exposure? I don't know), classical music and arias to Eminem (because that makes them more cultured? I don't know), reading biographies and self-help books to Mills and Boons-type of novels (because they're thicker? I don't know), pink or peach polo to boring blacks for a Saturday night-out attire (because they catch more attention? I don't know).
I am particularly delighted and amused with this development, not because my Dad has long been a Renaissance man than most that we find today, but more because this concept of metrosexuals is redefining and challenging standards we have. Gone are the days when men who opt to explore their feminine sides are forsaken. The stupid equation that gay = feminine-acting, vain bahaviors doesn't hold water anymore. The myth that straight men only like rough and tough plays seem funny now.
Here's what I fear now: It would be doubly hard now for single women to spot these unique creations from the crowd and pursue them. The lines are blurred and overlapping. I wonder how my younger sister will do it. I think this time she'll read self-help books. And if that won't help, I think she'll just give up men and refuse to be confused by them. I have a feeling she'll convert our house into a mini-school for single women and put up a Metrosexuals 101 class, "How to correctly segregate the chaff Metrosexuals from the grain Metrosexuals."
And for sure, my sister will make millions.
No comments:
Post a Comment