Are You A Metrosexual?

What the heck is a metrosexual anyway?  

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I've been referred to as a metrosexual here and there!  Every time I hear that I'm unsure of how that makes me feel.  So this got me thinking a bit and led me to do some "major" digging around... where else does a man turn to when he needs an answer?  Wikipedia! 

According to Wikipedia -

Metrosexual is a neologism, derived from metropolitan and heterosexual, coined in 1994 describing a man (especially one living in an urban, post-industrial, capitalist 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 originated in an article by Mark Simpson published on November 15, 1994, in The Independent. Simpson wrote:

Metrosexual man, the single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city (because that’s where all the best shops are), is perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the Eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as GQ. In the Nineties, he’s everywhere and he’s going shopping. [Today, perhaps it's defined as ManPossible men!!!].

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

In 2002, Salon.com published an article by Simpson, which identified David Beckham as the metrosexual poster boy and offered this updated, succinct definition:

The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis — because that’s where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. 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—David Beckham, Sam Romano, and Brad Pitt were frequently mentioned—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.

So it's official, I am indeed, all of us indeed, are metrosexuals.  Be proud, gents!

by ManPossible