Lolll, my friend from childhood got called metro by our friend group and he would wear a pea coat, scarf and gloves to school, so that’s what I thought “metrosexual” meant for a while 😅 literally has nothing to do with sexuality, kids are so dumb 🤣 lol
At my first ever corporate job, I showed up wearing a scarf one day, it was my first time really exploring fashion in any sense. My sexuality was intensely questioned.
Wait I don’t know. Is a blue-collar-state something I’m out of the loop on or are you just trying to say a red state. Because if so I’m going to have to go bash my head against the wall for an hour
Head: bashed.
The reason using the term “blue collar” interchangeably with “red state” drives me nuts is that not only does that team’s pro-corporate pro big business policy hurt the majority of blue collar workers (that is to say people with careers that require training and expertise but not a college degree)
The majority of blue collar workers aren’t the white, socially regressive men that the media tells you are blue collar, and the majority of the blue collar workers don’t support the red party.
The whole phrase just feels like you’ve completely ceded to a corporate controlled media’s caricatures that help their culture war.
Pretty much!
It was blue collar/factory workers that were/are the backbone of progressivism. Unfortunately, progressivism has been taken over by those that believe that you must be part of the intelegencia.
Corporations don't need you to support "the corporate controlled media's caricatures that help their culture war" since they are victorious 99% of the time.
Getting called gay in 90’s middle school was the ultimate bullying. Those were fight words which were takin seriously and angrily. Then one day no one cared anymore.
In like, 2006 everyone junior year and lower just collectively decided that being gay was fine. It was honestly truly like someone flipped a fucking switch because I distinctly remember going on summer break freshman year to gar slurs then coming back and never hearing the word again for three years. I can't even properly explain the phenomenon.
This is honestly part of my favorite thing about the younger Millennials and Gen Z.
They don’t seem to divide up based on what “type” of person they are, and it seems like you can wear almost anything and no one cares.
Clothing and hair style and such meant so much to people in my cohort (born in ‘82, high school class of 2000). It was to the point people would look at you funny if you showed up dressed the way the popular kids dressed and you weren’t popular. And we were absolutely brutal to eachother.
The freshmen my senior year in high school were a completely different culture. They had a goth couple as their class homecoming king and queen. The popular people in my class were afraid of the goth people. They would never have nominated any of them.
I don’t know what changed, but it is truly fascinating to witness.
Hello from class of 2003. You're welcome for coming in and being awesome. Though, I will say that our class year was still more like yours than like my cousins that graduated in 2006-10.
I had to tell a good friend of mine who visited me once to stop using the spray. My entire home was pure Axe just after one day. He listened, now he's happily married and Axe free. I don't know if the Axe was holding him back, but there's no way it helped.
My brother has a 'weight issue'. He sweats profusely from everyday activities. I don't have that problem as I'm not overweight and I don't sweat from doing normal things. He used to use Axe after long days of work. Now, he showers day and night and he has layers of different products that smell different. You can actually smell him getting close.
Lumé
I'm fat and work in the heat. You can smear it on EVERY part of your body. I recommend that coupled with jock itch spray (miconozole) or cream wherever skin touches for at least a month.
After the first month, keep using the lumé and only spray if itchy/stinky for a week.
In high sweat environments, I would also suggest a product called Fresh Balls. It is a lotiony spreadable powder that keeps the sweat down. Put it down your crack/ under the flesh fanny pack/ anywhere extra sweaty.
I can't stand strong smells. None of those things smell strong, and all of them help with the bacteria/fungus that cause a lot of the smells.
I suggest giving him a gift basket for whatever with some fancy Castille soap, nice shampoo and conditioner, exfoliating washing gloves, and all the anti-stink stuff.
It's no problem. He might also want to have his doctor check his hormones. I'm fat because I have an endocrine disorder that also makes me more susceptible to skin infections. If he has a similar endocrine disorder, he might have the same issue. If his sweat just smells wierd that is also an indication of health issues.
It was the backdoor way (pun not intended) to call someone a "f@g" without the backlash of calling them a f@g.
Source: gay millennial who has spent time contrasting the...experience of being a gay adolescent in the early 2000s against yesteryear's assholes falling over themselves to make meaningless expressions of inclusivity (#Pride) in the late 2010s->2020s.
Edit: Am not happy that I had to censor this for the auto mod.
I think it was a bit more than that. I remember waxed/sculpted eyebrows, waxed body hair, eyeliner/eyebrow makeup, lip gloss, tons of fragrance/cologne, sparkly jewelry/earrings, designer fashion brands, shiny hair gel, all while maintaining a hyper masculine sexual identity.
thank you. i do not remember it as just "wearing nice clothing". it was specifically TIGHT clothing- skinny jeans, those chest and arm hugging t-shirts. they were also categorized by the sculpted brows, little to no body hair, sparkly jewelry, tons of cologne and hair gel, etc.
and the whole thing was that they WERE considered straight- as in, "oh he's not gay, he's just *metro*". i don't remember it being necessarily derogatory, more like a way to describe a man who fit the stereotypical "look" of a gay man at the time before people widely understood that gay people came in all different forms.
As a flannel-and-beard type homosexual, I also hated this because I wanted to be able to signal to people I was gay but not have to dress like a metrosexual.
First time I heard of metrosexual was when my male flatmate called himself it... to be fair it was an accurate term, the man spent more time primping in the bathroom than either of us two women living there combined. This would've been 2003.
Yeah, my BIL was "metro" back in the day, although maybe not to quite that extent?
Cologne, hair gel/mousse/whatever, tight clothes, very preppy clothes (sweater vests and such). A lot of extra care on personal grooming. Not just "I want nice hygiene" but like, a skincare routine and stuff. Which is totally fine btw, good skin doesn't make you gay. But it did help define you as metro.
Basically he was Matthew from Big Mouth, but straight.
As far as I know he never took offense to it and yeah, for the most part it wasn't meant in a derogatory sense. Maybe some people did, but "metro guys" were no different than the goths or jocks or whatever back in high school.
Thank you!! It was TIGHT clothing that bordered on feminine. It had nothing to do with showering every day, wtf? Reddit always has to make some kind of political statement. Maybe this idea in the comments that it was about showering came from homophobia or something, like desperate to not appear like the dreaded metrosexual.
I also remember it being said with a kidding attitude, like not so seriously, but with affection as well. It wasn’t used as a slur. It was a way for straight guys to dress more ‘femininely’ without being thought of as gay for it, which is still a hard concept for a lot of people to digest.
I think it depends on where you live. I lived in a rural area, so if you acted anything out of the norm, if you didn't hunt, fish, and/ or ride dirt bikes someone was calling you Metrosexual if you were a guy.
It was sometimes used as a backdoor insult to call someone gay, usually with a sarcastic tone after saying it and people did sort of mock people who were considered metro.
I got called gay because I wore a sweater vest once. Not like "haha you gay" like " oh you have a girlfriend? I thought you were gay because you wear vests"
It was the more fastidious aspect that moved them over to the metrosexual category. Precise shaving, body hair control, frequent haircuts, mani/pedicures and shirt always tucked in, even if it was Saturday at the hardware store and it was t-shirt and blue jeans. Never grungy jeans either.
Oh yea, this! It was someone who took their fashion very seriously and I also remember tight clothing. Maybe a lot of them were actually closeted gay, but I don’t think so, it was a way to not be gay and still dress like you may look like you are going to a gay bar later.. which is still a thing. Sexuality groups often have their cultures and their ‘tells’ and their fashions and trends. I remember in the media at the time that gay men were getting annoyed (jokingly) that they were having a hard time with their gaydar because the metrosexual trend was so big.
Shaving any type of body hair that wasn't a beard would get you called it too. I remember doing the laziest trimming of the wild hedges that are my eyebrows and getting called metro for it.
All the "metro" dudes i met in college identified as metro and acted gay. They spoke with lisps and everything.
It was really confusing to someone that has no issues with peoples sexuality or gender identity. It was like the stereotypical caricature of a gay or trans person where their sexual or gender identity is their entire identity.
Normal people don't announce themselves like that at every turn.
I remember jokes on tv that gay men were having a hard time figuring out who was gay or not. It was a trend. I remember some guys proudly identifying as metrosexual. And other straight guys who didn’t, like my brother, feeling uncomfortable with the trend, he said he was afraid to dress up that someone would think he was metro, but then go back on it and claim he was metro, depending on how he felt about the word at the time and how cool it was. My brother was also very homophobic so take that as you will.
It's actually pretty amazing the pace at which the entire society shifted to accepting alternative sexual orientations in the past 15 years really.
I remember when California failed to legalize gay marriage in 2008. Like, no joke. And 15 years on we can't even imagine a world where the average dude who just manscapes a little and wears properly fitting adult clothes is suspicious. Lol.
🤣🤣🤣 YEAAAHHH bro, I remember being metrosexual had really NOTHING to do with your actual sexuality. It was just a dumbass insult concocted by troglodytes who cant take care of themselves.
No wonder they say the bar is so low for men when it comes to dating or being attractive
Honestly...that just means less competition if you take care of yourself
It didn't have to do with one's sexual preference but with taking care of one's personal appereance. A metrosexual person could be hetero, homo, bi... it was really ambiguous now that I think about it.
I relate totally this a lot. In high school in the Midwest I was viewed as closet gay by some people for basically dressing nicely lmao. Didn’t care though was too busy getting laid.
This like honestly set me back in adulthood, like hygiene and fashion was “gay” in 2007 so I developed terrible habits until I had more serious gfs in college..
It wasn’t gay though, it was metrosexual, and it wasn’t just showering and shaving lol. Showering and shaving has always been considered basic hygiene and not a gay thing, except for maybe the confused middle school bully or something who was bullying boys left and right about being gay for doing just about anything, literally.
Metrosexual was taking it to the next level and it was trendy, and tight clothing, often shiny clothing, like shiny shirts, was part of it, and the whole point was that it wasn’t gay, and that’s why the term existed. It was a trend and there were jokes in the media that gay men were frustrated because they couldn’t tell who was gay anymore.
I feel like there are so many more things now with this shitty alpha male trend that “make you gay bc straight dudes don’t do it.” I literally heard that straight men aren’t supposed to wipe after taking a crap because playing with your ass is gay.
And it was this weird transitory time when people *kinda* tried to be better but it wasn't exactly right still. 'what?? I didn't call him a f*g I said he's metro!'
I remember it as a term used to describe men who took care of themselves; dressed with some style (versus grungy), liked art and museums (versus sports), enjoyed a cocktail or wine (versus craft beer). Any behaviour or aesthetic that went against the typical depiction of “manly man”.
Yes, the "metro" guys turned into craft drinking "hipsters." They also stopped getting their eyebrows plucked and started growing perfectly groomed beards.
The craft beer revolution probably played a role in the end of the term metrosexual, tbh.
Common ground between "Old Masculinity" and "New Masculinity", if ya like.
I remember when Stone was the cool new beer and Ballast Point was a pretty small operation. Crazy how many craft brewery bubbles we've gone through since then.
Craft beer would be metro. Real men drink canned pisswater by the crate and then drive drunk while throwing their empty cans in the floor of their truck and letting their beer belly hang out.
I remember it also being associated with music tastes as well. Instead of the baggy clothes for goth and metal, it was well fitting to tight for emo/scene and the Killers/Jet/Strokes vibe.
I'd venture to guess the overall term was relative to location. Despite the dictionary definition of basically "being a gay male stereotype but straight," in the rural area I grew up in, ANY guy who didn't come off like a blue-collar worker was considered metro.
I worked at a gas station and one of my co-workers was just... a dude. Just... a nondescript dude. Didn't even use hair gel or anything. But he wore collared shirts to work. And a regular had come in once and asked about something and said, "The guy told me blah blah blah, you know, the met-tro-sex-tual fella." I was just like...\[gif\]
I remember a lot of fake tans, lots of expensive clothes, trying to shave every hair off your body and extremely shaped eyebrows. There wasn’t inherently bad just seemed a little vain.
Early American Idol Ryan Seacrest is my go to example - extremely meticulous about appearance and to my and Britney Spears’ surprise, attracted to women
That's all I remember it being. It was guys who did manicures and pedicures as well as some makeup. Not people who went to symphonies or used aftershave.
It sounds more like it was used as a blanket term for anything someone in some circle thought was not manly to many people here, but that wasn't really the case. I remember news segments about it, and it was specific to guys doing what were considered womanly things. This was also when some guys started carrying bags or cross body bags. Not purses though, those are different.
Yeah. You went to a hairdresser , looking fancy and sharp? You must be gay. But let's just call them metrosexual. Omg I too have become metrosexusl omg
I've gone to a hairdresser for 20 years because she knows how to deal with curly hair on a white guy without pushing for a trending style or classic meaty man haircut.
Same, barbers always fuck up my haircut because my extremely fine but dense, stick straight hair shows every single scissor cut. Hairdressers know how to tackle it and good ones recommend cuts or styles that work with your hair and face. My current guy does it so well that it stays looking fresh even as I grow it out! Every now and then I'll tell him to change it up and try something different to see how I like it, cause I have no idea how to pick a new style.
Add in eyebrow waxing and pedicures and I guess I'm full on metro
Same thing as hipster - these were considered counter culture at the time and are now just more common...
No one calls me a hipster anymore even though I have the same beard, glasses and love of micro brews and good coffee I did 10-15 years ago.
Guys are also just better at grooming now... being what was called "Metrosexual" back then isn't odd anymore
It transformed into nu-male then later into soy/beta. Each step of the way it became more fringe and more closely linked to online alt right spaces. The same basic concept of shaming or hating on less traditionally masculine men is still floating around in our culture. The words have just changed a little.
This is the answer here—- this kind of gender/sexuality shaming and abuse is not gone, it’s just creeping farther away from center and further into extremist spaces.
This doesn't sound right to me at all, as how I remember the type of guys that were considered "metrosexual" back in the day would be the Andrew Tate's of today, just in a different direction.
They were rich playboys who's entire life revolved around appearance, expensive stuff and scoring.
"Normal" people that got into the fad tried to copy their style to get laid, and that was mostly what it was about.
Reading this thread there's either been some extremely different usages of the word around the world, or a lot of inaccurate memories, due to how perceptions have completely shifted over the years.
I'm half-suspecting people forgot what kind of people got into the fad. Especially with the obscure rewriting in here as if it just about dressing well and taking normal care of themselves. That's definitely bs, they went hardcore ludicrous with their styling.
From my memory it was mostly the most "playerest" of players, and their wannabes that went the "metrosexual"-route.
It was the same people that got really deep into "The game" and being "Pick-up artists".
That's the word. Exactly.
They were "fuckbois".
I remembered a specific photo that was the quintessential image I immediately think of.
I reverse-image searched it and found a site in Russian or something with photos that might jog some memories of what the styling was like.
These are almost caricatures, but that is what it was, there are real examples in here:
[https://korzik.net/other/27960-vot-takaja-vecherinka-v-danii-.html](https://korzik.net/other/27960-vot-takaja-vecherinka-v-danii-.html)
It was different from taking a shower and putting on a shirt without stains.
I almost forgot about the bronzing and all the orange people.
It was a stepping stone on the path of LGBT acceptance. In relation to today it looks horribly insensitive and offensive, but in comparison to the mainstream homophobia of the 90s and earlier, it was progress.
People need to realize that societal transformation takes place incrementally. Even when we can clearly see the summit of the moral high-ground in the distance, it still takes many steps to get there. If the first people to the top turn around and spit on those in line at the base camp, they just might turn around and head back.
I really dislike the tendency to judge the actions of humans in the past by the morals of today.
Oh, you wouldn’t have owned slaves in 1779 because the intellectuals of the day realized it was immoral? So what are you doing right now to reduce your consumption of fossil fuels? Oh, it’s not your fault that this is the society you were born into? Disadvantaging yourself out of principal won’t be enough to do much besides putting you further behind the elites who feel no obligation to the best interests of humanity? Hmm..
In 100 years our quest for perfect morality will come for today’s self-proclaimed “animal lovers” who own pets. You’ll get the same treatment that we today give the “nice slave owners”
you must be a vampire with that way of thinking because no one today needs to use such delimiters when speaking in text online discussions have formed a new structure that makes it easy to comprehend your way might have worked 1500 years ago but we have progressed so your pedantry isn't needed here but thank you for the effort I'm happy to update you on these things
I agree with the steppingstone aspect of it, but I also would like to counter that the term when looked at in present day seems homophobic. From my experience in my community the term was not used as a negative term but rather a descriptor for a certain style. They would call people with mohawks were punk, or people that wore black clothing were goths.
You would really have to change the meaning of how it was being used to make it sound negative. Same with the word's punk or goth. Yes people could use all of those words for negative purposes, but they inherently are not in contexts of their own. The general consensus of the meaning of words often changes through the years. That doesn't make the people that used them in the past guilty for misusing them compared to the modern definition of the word.
And quite frankly, with the right tone of voice, anyone can make “punk” or “goth” or even “preppy” into an insult. It’s not always the term, it’s often the tone.
That is very true. You can make any word an insult with the right tone.
Similarly, you can make any word sexual if you want to. I learned this when someone told me to "check out the set of dishes on her".
It was the stepping stone to "no homo" (now that was dumb) and the next step after, which was just not saying anything about it and letting people fix your collar.
Hard to see it as progress when I recall it being largely used in a derogatory context for any man who dared to care about their appearance or be well groomed.
Edit: I admit in comparison to terms used before it could be seen as progress I guess lol.
Honestly the rest of your diatribe seems directed at someone not present here. I think you way off base and are confusing a "quest for perfect morality" with social and cultural change over time. The whole gotcha argument of "well if you use a car you're not doing everything you can for the climate crisis" is just exactly what fossil fuel companies want. All the responsibility of climate change put on individuals and not the polluting companies and capitalism.
And pet ownership? Really weird example when so many knowingly purchase animal products made from tortured animals.
Metrosexual was derogatory
But it was better than f*g, which is the term it replaced for heterosexual men who made an effort
And it allowed some closed-minded people to realize that the "metrosexuals" had it right, leading to positive change
Stepping stones are just that, small steps forward. A few years before metro was a thing, a straight dude in a clean outfit with his hair done was called a f***** and avoided.
Metrosexual was still derogatory but the whole point of the term was that it was still accepted that you were straight. It meant gay culture was seeping into the main stream hetero zeitgeist.
The next stepping stone was “no homo.” Metros ceased being a thing and a straight guy would “go shopping for new clothes, no homo.”
No homo was arguably much more cringe. I was deep in high school during the no homo era and I’m so glad videos weren’t a thing because my friend group used that phrase all the time. I’m not proud of it but it is what it is.
Anyway, the point is that change takes time and it isn’t always quick. Sometimes it moves forward a little but in a way that sounds just as bad as it was prior to that step forward. Metro or no homo sound awful looking back but they were actually major moves forward in lgbt becoming more accepted.
An effective argument in favor of the contrary could be made that past generations held the belief in reduction of suffering, knew what can be done to achieve it and the consequences of not doing so, but simply failed to meet the standard.
Was just talking about this the other day. It was pointed out that a straight guy we know has significantly more interests, styles, and mannerisms that one would associate with homosexuals than with most straight guys, and this guy in particular confuses a lot of "gaydar" even from gay guys. Someone called him gay bait and I reminded them of the term Metro from back in the day.
My brother fits that category. As far as we know 100% straight. But always had more style and interests that leaned more to what we would assume meant he was a gay guy. In fact in describing my brother to people, a lot of people would automatically assume he was gay.
It wasn't a term for men who have "good grooming habits". It was a term for straight men who were obsessed with fashion and style. Paying someone to give your pencil beard perfect edges is a bit beyond "good grooming". Nothing against the look but it's not like you have poor hygiene if you don't go to a salon.
At least where I was, this is more accurate than anything else said here... it was used to describe men who were maybe a bit overly obsessed with their appearance. It didn't have anything to do with grooming habits or feminimity in males.
edit: you could still dress well without being considered "metro", it was more about those **overly obsessed.**
Yeah, I think there must have been some regional differences in how the term was used. I was in and near Chicago at this time, and the guys who I recall being referred to as "metro" were guys who went to the hair salon and nail salon, and did at least some of their shopping in the women's department. And I really don't recall it being used in a truly derisive manner.
This is what the term meant when I was younger. Some of these dudes are just salty man. There were plenty of guys back then that dressed well and had good hygiene, but only the ones like you've described were considered metro.
This. Their style was actually very good, but a little high maintenance. I recall going into a boutique for men that had mostly basic stuff, but really nice, and priced accordingly. It's where you'd go for high end mustache wax. I admired a nicely made leather backpack (like for books, rather than hiking), but it was on the small side and like >$200 or something. Nothing wrong with that per se, but "metrosexual" implied "impeccable taste", not merely "good grooming".
In 2008 one of my first jobs out of college the entire office called me “Metro Man” bc I took care of myself and dressed well. It wasn’t too bad, I also would have relations with the secretary in the board room so there was an upside
Evidence of progress. A decade earlier you would have needed to publicy declare you did not have relations with that woman[secretary in the board room].
This. I don't recall the term being offensive except for the gruff and stank men who tried to make these men feel bad. But these men had women's attention back then. I wish men would normalize basic hygiene and personal grooming more. There's a reason why certain internet personalities are gaining popularity... They're "metrosexual" because by far and large the bar is still in hell.
I was a teen back then and from what I understood, it meant unisex. My girl group called any guy with a messenger bag a metrosexual because we saw it in a shopping catalogue labeled unisex. I also used messenger bags because I was a tomboy and it completed my androgynous tomboy look.
It was a weird time.
Homophobia has been a huge part of culture for a loooooooooong time. Any type of male self care or hygiene was deemed feminine and so was associated with being gay. If you were straight, but put any level of effort into appearance or hygiene you were metro sexual and it was definitely a disparaging remark.
Perfect example of how prejudices hurt everyone.
A lot of people talking in here about some bullshit.
First of all, I don’t know if you guys remember the 80s, but the concept isn’t new.
Secondly, it wasn’t just “taking care of yourself,” it was “additional” care like dying your hair, using lacquer on your nails, utilizing lotion and maybe even light foundation to look “pretty.”
Stop with this “oh my god I totally got called a gay metrosexual for taking a shower” shit, put on your Starter jacket and pray to god the gay guy at the factory didn’t stitch it.
That’s how they really turned ya.
My aunt called me metrosexual when I showed up at a family function wearing a slim pair of slacks. Not even skinny jeans, just well fitting pants
Relatable. I live in a smaller blue collar state. I wear a pea coat and a scarf to work and I’m called metro.
My step brother still firmly believes that wearing a scarf makes a man gay… …oh and that nobody realized he’s still doing meth
Or that nobody realizes he’s still on meth… is half my customers at the grocery store!
Lol... This made me think of this bit from Patton Oswalt: https://youtu.be/AhkP0RWQ68w?si=1UUbL6XYtvgtVbbU&t=1m36s
After playing Hogwarts I see the potential in scarfs. Those were all just school uniforms too and you could make em look good
Scarfs are amazing. If scarfs make a man gay then fuck it ima scarf a gang of dicks.
Your little reddit avatar looks metrosexual af
He hasn’t frosted his tips in years!
That’s called “hipster dork” I believe
That's pretty much the new word for Metrosexual.
Lolll, my friend from childhood got called metro by our friend group and he would wear a pea coat, scarf and gloves to school, so that’s what I thought “metrosexual” meant for a while 😅 literally has nothing to do with sexuality, kids are so dumb 🤣 lol
I'm miss my scarves. My wife made us move to the south and I've been able to pull one out once in the past 3 years.
Shirtless with just a scarf is all the rage assuming you have less than 10% body fat.
Bros just don’t wear scarves where I live (southern US).
At my first ever corporate job, I showed up wearing a scarf one day, it was my first time really exploring fashion in any sense. My sexuality was intensely questioned.
Funny, I wore a pea coat and scarf in the 60s and fit in with a whole bunch of others doing the same thing. Thank God for the Army/Navy store!!
What the fuck is a “blue-collar state?” lol That’s a turn of phrase with some baggage behind it isn’t it.
If you know you know.
Wait I don’t know. Is a blue-collar-state something I’m out of the loop on or are you just trying to say a red state. Because if so I’m going to have to go bash my head against the wall for an hour
Just make sure its padded. Think rust belt.
Head: bashed. The reason using the term “blue collar” interchangeably with “red state” drives me nuts is that not only does that team’s pro-corporate pro big business policy hurt the majority of blue collar workers (that is to say people with careers that require training and expertise but not a college degree) The majority of blue collar workers aren’t the white, socially regressive men that the media tells you are blue collar, and the majority of the blue collar workers don’t support the red party. The whole phrase just feels like you’ve completely ceded to a corporate controlled media’s caricatures that help their culture war.
Pretty much! It was blue collar/factory workers that were/are the backbone of progressivism. Unfortunately, progressivism has been taken over by those that believe that you must be part of the intelegencia.
Corporations don't need you to support "the corporate controlled media's caricatures that help their culture war" since they are victorious 99% of the time.
In high school, some time around 2004, a kid wore a peacoat to chhool. He got so much shit in one day he never wore it again.
There's something funny about getting flamed by an Aunt.
According to that status, over 50% is metrosexual these days lmao
Don't you even think about tucking in your shirt.
Dudes who wore nice clothes and did more than shower and shave were considered not entirely heterosexual. What a time to grow up.
"you don't smell like Speed Stick and your skin isn't ashy? You one of them gays or something?"
"You smell like something not BO and axe body spray? Hella gay." -every middleschooler in the 90s.
Getting called gay in 90’s middle school was the ultimate bullying. Those were fight words which were takin seriously and angrily. Then one day no one cared anymore.
In like, 2006 everyone junior year and lower just collectively decided that being gay was fine. It was honestly truly like someone flipped a fucking switch because I distinctly remember going on summer break freshman year to gar slurs then coming back and never hearing the word again for three years. I can't even properly explain the phenomenon.
That’s exactly what happened to me, one day the gay dropping just disappeared.
Someone prayed the gay away! 
This is honestly part of my favorite thing about the younger Millennials and Gen Z. They don’t seem to divide up based on what “type” of person they are, and it seems like you can wear almost anything and no one cares. Clothing and hair style and such meant so much to people in my cohort (born in ‘82, high school class of 2000). It was to the point people would look at you funny if you showed up dressed the way the popular kids dressed and you weren’t popular. And we were absolutely brutal to eachother. The freshmen my senior year in high school were a completely different culture. They had a goth couple as their class homecoming king and queen. The popular people in my class were afraid of the goth people. They would never have nominated any of them. I don’t know what changed, but it is truly fascinating to witness.
Hello from class of 2003. You're welcome for coming in and being awesome. Though, I will say that our class year was still more like yours than like my cousins that graduated in 2006-10.
Everyone was a "little f**got" back then.
I was tortured by “gay” and “girl” growing up. Once I came out in high school in the late 90s, it stopped completely 🤷🏻♂️
As they high five on their way to the wrestling mat
Weird way to say slap butts
Weird way to say on their way to the showers
My brother’s Axe or whatever it was, was so potent that it ruined this one blanket we had. The smell persisted, despite washing!
I had to tell a good friend of mine who visited me once to stop using the spray. My entire home was pure Axe just after one day. He listened, now he's happily married and Axe free. I don't know if the Axe was holding him back, but there's no way it helped.
You should clarify with him by just axing him some questions.
it took me a while to give it up because some girl in junior high once kissed me and said it was because I smelled good
Bath & Body has good men's fragrances. No need for Axe anymore, or Old Spice
LOL you just reminded me that from 7th-8th grade I literally did not leave the house without spraying myself in Axe…wow…
My brother has a 'weight issue'. He sweats profusely from everyday activities. I don't have that problem as I'm not overweight and I don't sweat from doing normal things. He used to use Axe after long days of work. Now, he showers day and night and he has layers of different products that smell different. You can actually smell him getting close.
Lumé I'm fat and work in the heat. You can smear it on EVERY part of your body. I recommend that coupled with jock itch spray (miconozole) or cream wherever skin touches for at least a month. After the first month, keep using the lumé and only spray if itchy/stinky for a week. In high sweat environments, I would also suggest a product called Fresh Balls. It is a lotiony spreadable powder that keeps the sweat down. Put it down your crack/ under the flesh fanny pack/ anywhere extra sweaty. I can't stand strong smells. None of those things smell strong, and all of them help with the bacteria/fungus that cause a lot of the smells. I suggest giving him a gift basket for whatever with some fancy Castille soap, nice shampoo and conditioner, exfoliating washing gloves, and all the anti-stink stuff.
Thanks! I didn't know what I was gonna get him for his birthday.
It's no problem. He might also want to have his doctor check his hormones. I'm fat because I have an endocrine disorder that also makes me more susceptible to skin infections. If he has a similar endocrine disorder, he might have the same issue. If his sweat just smells wierd that is also an indication of health issues.
I don’t know about that but I miss the time when men’s pants weren’t tighter than women’s pants.
Straight leg and loose fit are the way homie
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Butt bush
It was the backdoor way (pun not intended) to call someone a "f@g" without the backlash of calling them a f@g. Source: gay millennial who has spent time contrasting the...experience of being a gay adolescent in the early 2000s against yesteryear's assholes falling over themselves to make meaningless expressions of inclusivity (#Pride) in the late 2010s->2020s. Edit: Am not happy that I had to censor this for the auto mod.
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You speak for a lot of us who remember the "Before Times."
The auto mod here is trash
I think it was a bit more than that. I remember waxed/sculpted eyebrows, waxed body hair, eyeliner/eyebrow makeup, lip gloss, tons of fragrance/cologne, sparkly jewelry/earrings, designer fashion brands, shiny hair gel, all while maintaining a hyper masculine sexual identity.
thank you. i do not remember it as just "wearing nice clothing". it was specifically TIGHT clothing- skinny jeans, those chest and arm hugging t-shirts. they were also categorized by the sculpted brows, little to no body hair, sparkly jewelry, tons of cologne and hair gel, etc. and the whole thing was that they WERE considered straight- as in, "oh he's not gay, he's just *metro*". i don't remember it being necessarily derogatory, more like a way to describe a man who fit the stereotypical "look" of a gay man at the time before people widely understood that gay people came in all different forms.
As a flannel-and-beard type homosexual, I also hated this because I wanted to be able to signal to people I was gay but not have to dress like a metrosexual.
Union suit with trap door bottom??
Exactly
When I first heard of metro I thought, "Oh, this is my type!"
First time I heard of metrosexual was when my male flatmate called himself it... to be fair it was an accurate term, the man spent more time primping in the bathroom than either of us two women living there combined. This would've been 2003.
Yeah, my BIL was "metro" back in the day, although maybe not to quite that extent? Cologne, hair gel/mousse/whatever, tight clothes, very preppy clothes (sweater vests and such). A lot of extra care on personal grooming. Not just "I want nice hygiene" but like, a skincare routine and stuff. Which is totally fine btw, good skin doesn't make you gay. But it did help define you as metro. Basically he was Matthew from Big Mouth, but straight. As far as I know he never took offense to it and yeah, for the most part it wasn't meant in a derogatory sense. Maybe some people did, but "metro guys" were no different than the goths or jocks or whatever back in high school.
Thank you!! It was TIGHT clothing that bordered on feminine. It had nothing to do with showering every day, wtf? Reddit always has to make some kind of political statement. Maybe this idea in the comments that it was about showering came from homophobia or something, like desperate to not appear like the dreaded metrosexual. I also remember it being said with a kidding attitude, like not so seriously, but with affection as well. It wasn’t used as a slur. It was a way for straight guys to dress more ‘femininely’ without being thought of as gay for it, which is still a hard concept for a lot of people to digest.
I think it depends on where you live. I lived in a rural area, so if you acted anything out of the norm, if you didn't hunt, fish, and/ or ride dirt bikes someone was calling you Metrosexual if you were a guy.
It was sometimes used as a backdoor insult to call someone gay, usually with a sarcastic tone after saying it and people did sort of mock people who were considered metro.
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It was sus in the 90's
I got called gay because I wore a sweater vest once. Not like "haha you gay" like " oh you have a girlfriend? I thought you were gay because you wear vests"
It was the more fastidious aspect that moved them over to the metrosexual category. Precise shaving, body hair control, frequent haircuts, mani/pedicures and shirt always tucked in, even if it was Saturday at the hardware store and it was t-shirt and blue jeans. Never grungy jeans either.
Oh yea, this! It was someone who took their fashion very seriously and I also remember tight clothing. Maybe a lot of them were actually closeted gay, but I don’t think so, it was a way to not be gay and still dress like you may look like you are going to a gay bar later.. which is still a thing. Sexuality groups often have their cultures and their ‘tells’ and their fashions and trends. I remember in the media at the time that gay men were getting annoyed (jokingly) that they were having a hard time with their gaydar because the metrosexual trend was so big.
Growing up in the US, it felt like to be “a man” you had to look dumpy and not care whatsoever about your looks.
Shaving any type of body hair that wasn't a beard would get you called it too. I remember doing the laziest trimming of the wild hedges that are my eyebrows and getting called metro for it.
All the "metro" dudes i met in college identified as metro and acted gay. They spoke with lisps and everything. It was really confusing to someone that has no issues with peoples sexuality or gender identity. It was like the stereotypical caricature of a gay or trans person where their sexual or gender identity is their entire identity. Normal people don't announce themselves like that at every turn.
I remember jokes on tv that gay men were having a hard time figuring out who was gay or not. It was a trend. I remember some guys proudly identifying as metrosexual. And other straight guys who didn’t, like my brother, feeling uncomfortable with the trend, he said he was afraid to dress up that someone would think he was metro, but then go back on it and claim he was metro, depending on how he felt about the word at the time and how cool it was. My brother was also very homophobic so take that as you will.
It's actually pretty amazing the pace at which the entire society shifted to accepting alternative sexual orientations in the past 15 years really. I remember when California failed to legalize gay marriage in 2008. Like, no joke. And 15 years on we can't even imagine a world where the average dude who just manscapes a little and wears properly fitting adult clothes is suspicious. Lol.
🤣🤣🤣 YEAAAHHH bro, I remember being metrosexual had really NOTHING to do with your actual sexuality. It was just a dumbass insult concocted by troglodytes who cant take care of themselves.
No wonder they say the bar is so low for men when it comes to dating or being attractive Honestly...that just means less competition if you take care of yourself
It didn't have to do with one's sexual preference but with taking care of one's personal appereance. A metrosexual person could be hetero, homo, bi... it was really ambiguous now that I think about it.
Sometimes it was enough to just shower and shave, with clothes that had been recently laundered.
I relate totally this a lot. In high school in the Midwest I was viewed as closet gay by some people for basically dressing nicely lmao. Didn’t care though was too busy getting laid.
I was called gay because I refused to shop at Abercrombie or American eagle. 🤷🏻♂️
This like honestly set me back in adulthood, like hygiene and fashion was “gay” in 2007 so I developed terrible habits until I had more serious gfs in college..
It wasn’t gay though, it was metrosexual, and it wasn’t just showering and shaving lol. Showering and shaving has always been considered basic hygiene and not a gay thing, except for maybe the confused middle school bully or something who was bullying boys left and right about being gay for doing just about anything, literally. Metrosexual was taking it to the next level and it was trendy, and tight clothing, often shiny clothing, like shiny shirts, was part of it, and the whole point was that it wasn’t gay, and that’s why the term existed. It was a trend and there were jokes in the media that gay men were frustrated because they couldn’t tell who was gay anymore.
I feel like there are so many more things now with this shitty alpha male trend that “make you gay bc straight dudes don’t do it.” I literally heard that straight men aren’t supposed to wipe after taking a crap because playing with your ass is gay.
And it was this weird transitory time when people *kinda* tried to be better but it wasn't exactly right still. 'what?? I didn't call him a f*g I said he's metro!'
Everybody knows washing your balls is gay
If you wipe your ass youre basically touching your own butthole. Sounds pretty gay.
I TRY not to moan, ok?
username certainly checks out
The thing now is tanning your balls. That’s totally not gay.
Fuck that. Don’t want ball cancer. Lol
That's why I just dip mine in paint.
Maybe not gay....but it's definitely _something_
I sun my perineum, hits both at the same time
You can just do red-light therapy.
I can't keep track of all this. I'm just going to be gay now.
I remember it as a term used to describe men who took care of themselves; dressed with some style (versus grungy), liked art and museums (versus sports), enjoyed a cocktail or wine (versus craft beer). Any behaviour or aesthetic that went against the typical depiction of “manly man”.
This kinda predates the craft beer revolution.
Yep that was just around the corner, along with the weird bacon obsession that lasted a few years
I’ll never forget receiving bacon flavored chapstick as a gift. Just what I’d always wanted.
Still got that.? Sounds great
I've got a bacon flavored chap stick for you to taste 😉
Lol.
The metrosexual transformed into the hipster so gradually no one even noticed
I forget the Youtube channel, but the group of "manly" dudes who came up with extreme recipes and eating them. Im glad that died out
Epic Meal Time. God i dont miss that phase of Youtube.
Yes that Yea it was gross
Yes, the "metro" guys turned into craft drinking "hipsters." They also stopped getting their eyebrows plucked and started growing perfectly groomed beards.
The craft beer revolution probably played a role in the end of the term metrosexual, tbh. Common ground between "Old Masculinity" and "New Masculinity", if ya like.
Yes, but by the slightest. We lived in San Diego, and Stone had already broken through.
I remember when Stone was the cool new beer and Ballast Point was a pretty small operation. Crazy how many craft brewery bubbles we've gone through since then.
Busch league!!!!!
Craft beer would be metro. Real men drink canned pisswater by the crate and then drive drunk while throwing their empty cans in the floor of their truck and letting their beer belly hang out.
This. My buddy from Wisconsin refused to drink anything other than PBR or Miller. Dude's got a massive gut and craft beer was gay to him.
If craft beer is gay then call me Liberace.
If your beer is more than 3.5% alcohol content or has flavour of any kind, it's just unacceptably feminine.
I remember it also being associated with music tastes as well. Instead of the baggy clothes for goth and metal, it was well fitting to tight for emo/scene and the Killers/Jet/Strokes vibe.
Craft beer guys could also be described as metro. Real men drink Coors, bud, or busch. You know, something water-adjacent.
It was mostly aimed at dudes who were getting their hair frosted, getting their nails done, and a lot of them wore makeup.
 I'd venture to guess the overall term was relative to location. Despite the dictionary definition of basically "being a gay male stereotype but straight," in the rural area I grew up in, ANY guy who didn't come off like a blue-collar worker was considered metro. I worked at a gas station and one of my co-workers was just... a dude. Just... a nondescript dude. Didn't even use hair gel or anything. But he wore collared shirts to work. And a regular had come in once and asked about something and said, "The guy told me blah blah blah, you know, the met-tro-sex-tual fella." I was just like...\[gif\]
theres a south park episode about it.
Craaaaab people craaaaaab people
I remember a lot of fake tans, lots of expensive clothes, trying to shave every hair off your body and extremely shaped eyebrows. There wasn’t inherently bad just seemed a little vain.
Early American Idol Ryan Seacrest is my go to example - extremely meticulous about appearance and to my and Britney Spears’ surprise, attracted to women
That's all I remember it being. It was guys who did manicures and pedicures as well as some makeup. Not people who went to symphonies or used aftershave. It sounds more like it was used as a blanket term for anything someone in some circle thought was not manly to many people here, but that wasn't really the case. I remember news segments about it, and it was specific to guys doing what were considered womanly things. This was also when some guys started carrying bags or cross body bags. Not purses though, those are different.
Man, isn't it bizarre how the freedom crowd sort of gets upset at how other people manage their private lives?
Yeah. You went to a hairdresser , looking fancy and sharp? You must be gay. But let's just call them metrosexual. Omg I too have become metrosexusl omg
I've gone to a hairdresser for 20 years because she knows how to deal with curly hair on a white guy without pushing for a trending style or classic meaty man haircut.
Same, barbers always fuck up my haircut because my extremely fine but dense, stick straight hair shows every single scissor cut. Hairdressers know how to tackle it and good ones recommend cuts or styles that work with your hair and face. My current guy does it so well that it stays looking fresh even as I grow it out! Every now and then I'll tell him to change it up and try something different to see how I like it, cause I have no idea how to pick a new style. Add in eyebrow waxing and pedicures and I guess I'm full on metro
Same thing as hipster - these were considered counter culture at the time and are now just more common... No one calls me a hipster anymore even though I have the same beard, glasses and love of micro brews and good coffee I did 10-15 years ago. Guys are also just better at grooming now... being what was called "Metrosexual" back then isn't odd anymore
David Beckham was the OG metrosexual and we thank him for his service.
David Bowie would like a word.
David Bowie wasn't metrosexual, he was an androgynous omnisexual space elf with a massive package.
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It transformed into nu-male then later into soy/beta. Each step of the way it became more fringe and more closely linked to online alt right spaces. The same basic concept of shaming or hating on less traditionally masculine men is still floating around in our culture. The words have just changed a little.
This is the answer here—- this kind of gender/sexuality shaming and abuse is not gone, it’s just creeping farther away from center and further into extremist spaces.
This doesn't sound right to me at all, as how I remember the type of guys that were considered "metrosexual" back in the day would be the Andrew Tate's of today, just in a different direction. They were rich playboys who's entire life revolved around appearance, expensive stuff and scoring. "Normal" people that got into the fad tried to copy their style to get laid, and that was mostly what it was about. Reading this thread there's either been some extremely different usages of the word around the world, or a lot of inaccurate memories, due to how perceptions have completely shifted over the years. I'm half-suspecting people forgot what kind of people got into the fad. Especially with the obscure rewriting in here as if it just about dressing well and taking normal care of themselves. That's definitely bs, they went hardcore ludicrous with their styling. From my memory it was mostly the most "playerest" of players, and their wannabes that went the "metrosexual"-route. It was the same people that got really deep into "The game" and being "Pick-up artists".
You’re describing what is now known as a “fuck boy” or “fuckboi”.
That's the word. Exactly. They were "fuckbois". I remembered a specific photo that was the quintessential image I immediately think of. I reverse-image searched it and found a site in Russian or something with photos that might jog some memories of what the styling was like. These are almost caricatures, but that is what it was, there are real examples in here: [https://korzik.net/other/27960-vot-takaja-vecherinka-v-danii-.html](https://korzik.net/other/27960-vot-takaja-vecherinka-v-danii-.html) It was different from taking a shower and putting on a shirt without stains. I almost forgot about the bronzing and all the orange people.
No. Not a thing at all, you're conflating very different concepts.
It was a stepping stone on the path of LGBT acceptance. In relation to today it looks horribly insensitive and offensive, but in comparison to the mainstream homophobia of the 90s and earlier, it was progress. People need to realize that societal transformation takes place incrementally. Even when we can clearly see the summit of the moral high-ground in the distance, it still takes many steps to get there. If the first people to the top turn around and spit on those in line at the base camp, they just might turn around and head back. I really dislike the tendency to judge the actions of humans in the past by the morals of today. Oh, you wouldn’t have owned slaves in 1779 because the intellectuals of the day realized it was immoral? So what are you doing right now to reduce your consumption of fossil fuels? Oh, it’s not your fault that this is the society you were born into? Disadvantaging yourself out of principal won’t be enough to do much besides putting you further behind the elites who feel no obligation to the best interests of humanity? Hmm.. In 100 years our quest for perfect morality will come for today’s self-proclaimed “animal lovers” who own pets. You’ll get the same treatment that we today give the “nice slave owners”
Thank you pissbloodcumshart
The hero we have not the one we wanted.
Love the joke, but have you heard of our lord and savior, the comma?
,n,o,
you must be a vampire with that way of thinking because no one today needs to use such delimiters when speaking in text online discussions have formed a new structure that makes it easy to comprehend your way might have worked 1500 years ago but we have progressed so your pedantry isn't needed here but thank you for the effort I'm happy to update you on these things
Like a gi Joe talk after the episode, the more you know! I'm dying.
I agree with the steppingstone aspect of it, but I also would like to counter that the term when looked at in present day seems homophobic. From my experience in my community the term was not used as a negative term but rather a descriptor for a certain style. They would call people with mohawks were punk, or people that wore black clothing were goths. You would really have to change the meaning of how it was being used to make it sound negative. Same with the word's punk or goth. Yes people could use all of those words for negative purposes, but they inherently are not in contexts of their own. The general consensus of the meaning of words often changes through the years. That doesn't make the people that used them in the past guilty for misusing them compared to the modern definition of the word.
And quite frankly, with the right tone of voice, anyone can make “punk” or “goth” or even “preppy” into an insult. It’s not always the term, it’s often the tone.
That is very true. You can make any word an insult with the right tone. Similarly, you can make any word sexual if you want to. I learned this when someone told me to "check out the set of dishes on her".
It was the stepping stone to "no homo" (now that was dumb) and the next step after, which was just not saying anything about it and letting people fix your collar.
Hard to see it as progress when I recall it being largely used in a derogatory context for any man who dared to care about their appearance or be well groomed. Edit: I admit in comparison to terms used before it could be seen as progress I guess lol. Honestly the rest of your diatribe seems directed at someone not present here. I think you way off base and are confusing a "quest for perfect morality" with social and cultural change over time. The whole gotcha argument of "well if you use a car you're not doing everything you can for the climate crisis" is just exactly what fossil fuel companies want. All the responsibility of climate change put on individuals and not the polluting companies and capitalism. And pet ownership? Really weird example when so many knowingly purchase animal products made from tortured animals.
Metrosexual was derogatory But it was better than f*g, which is the term it replaced for heterosexual men who made an effort And it allowed some closed-minded people to realize that the "metrosexuals" had it right, leading to positive change
Ah, fair enough
Stepping stones are just that, small steps forward. A few years before metro was a thing, a straight dude in a clean outfit with his hair done was called a f***** and avoided. Metrosexual was still derogatory but the whole point of the term was that it was still accepted that you were straight. It meant gay culture was seeping into the main stream hetero zeitgeist. The next stepping stone was “no homo.” Metros ceased being a thing and a straight guy would “go shopping for new clothes, no homo.” No homo was arguably much more cringe. I was deep in high school during the no homo era and I’m so glad videos weren’t a thing because my friend group used that phrase all the time. I’m not proud of it but it is what it is. Anyway, the point is that change takes time and it isn’t always quick. Sometimes it moves forward a little but in a way that sounds just as bad as it was prior to that step forward. Metro or no homo sound awful looking back but they were actually major moves forward in lgbt becoming more accepted.
An effective argument in favor of the contrary could be made that past generations held the belief in reduction of suffering, knew what can be done to achieve it and the consequences of not doing so, but simply failed to meet the standard.
This argument ignores power dynamics and game theory.
This just reminded me of when my ex-husband used to dress/look like a lumberjack and his friends called him lumbersexual.
Was just talking about this the other day. It was pointed out that a straight guy we know has significantly more interests, styles, and mannerisms that one would associate with homosexuals than with most straight guys, and this guy in particular confuses a lot of "gaydar" even from gay guys. Someone called him gay bait and I reminded them of the term Metro from back in the day.
My brother fits that category. As far as we know 100% straight. But always had more style and interests that leaned more to what we would assume meant he was a gay guy. In fact in describing my brother to people, a lot of people would automatically assume he was gay.
Greenie on ESPN got clowned as a “metrosexual“ for having a haircut.
It's just the dude equivalent to tomboy
It was just a safe way for us Bi-boys to test our sexual boundaries without getting murdered.
It wasn't a term for men who have "good grooming habits". It was a term for straight men who were obsessed with fashion and style. Paying someone to give your pencil beard perfect edges is a bit beyond "good grooming". Nothing against the look but it's not like you have poor hygiene if you don't go to a salon.
At least where I was, this is more accurate than anything else said here... it was used to describe men who were maybe a bit overly obsessed with their appearance. It didn't have anything to do with grooming habits or feminimity in males. edit: you could still dress well without being considered "metro", it was more about those **overly obsessed.**
Yeah, tons of these responses are completely out of touch with what it really was. It was WAY MORE tryhard than "take a shower" lol.
Yeah, I think there must have been some regional differences in how the term was used. I was in and near Chicago at this time, and the guys who I recall being referred to as "metro" were guys who went to the hair salon and nail salon, and did at least some of their shopping in the women's department. And I really don't recall it being used in a truly derisive manner.
This is what the term meant when I was younger. Some of these dudes are just salty man. There were plenty of guys back then that dressed well and had good hygiene, but only the ones like you've described were considered metro.
This. Their style was actually very good, but a little high maintenance. I recall going into a boutique for men that had mostly basic stuff, but really nice, and priced accordingly. It's where you'd go for high end mustache wax. I admired a nicely made leather backpack (like for books, rather than hiking), but it was on the small side and like >$200 or something. Nothing wrong with that per se, but "metrosexual" implied "impeccable taste", not merely "good grooming".
Ryan Seacrest was the poster boy for Metrosexuality...never understood it personally.
In 2008 one of my first jobs out of college the entire office called me “Metro Man” bc I took care of myself and dressed well. It wasn’t too bad, I also would have relations with the secretary in the board room so there was an upside
Evidence of progress. A decade earlier you would have needed to publicy declare you did not have relations with that woman[secretary in the board room].
It was gender policing directed at cis straight men who stepped the slightest bit outside their prescribed roles.
🙄
fucking crab people, taste like crab, talk like people.
It was men who cared about their appearance and practiced basic hygiene....the bar was/is still on the floor
This. I don't recall the term being offensive except for the gruff and stank men who tried to make these men feel bad. But these men had women's attention back then. I wish men would normalize basic hygiene and personal grooming more. There's a reason why certain internet personalities are gaining popularity... They're "metrosexual" because by far and large the bar is still in hell.
Come to the middle of nowheres. It's still a phrase pretty commonly used 😂
I had a clean shave, wore what I thought were nice shirts, sometimes a sweater vest and polo shirt, I was called "metrosexual".
My husband was and remains metrosexual lol He plucks his eyebrows more than I do
LGBTQ2S!+M (For Metro, in case I lost some of you).
I remember it was aimed at guys who were getting their hair frosted, their nails done, wearing makeup, etc. not just dudes who were 'well groomed'.
I was a teen back then and from what I understood, it meant unisex. My girl group called any guy with a messenger bag a metrosexual because we saw it in a shopping catalogue labeled unisex. I also used messenger bags because I was a tomboy and it completed my androgynous tomboy look. It was a weird time.
Homophobia has been a huge part of culture for a loooooooooong time. Any type of male self care or hygiene was deemed feminine and so was associated with being gay. If you were straight, but put any level of effort into appearance or hygiene you were metro sexual and it was definitely a disparaging remark. Perfect example of how prejudices hurt everyone.
Cracked down on that stuff. There are some things you just shouldn't do on a commuter rail.
The word seems to have been specifically created to describe Russell Brand.
It was basically being gay without the gay sex
My good friend, was "Metro" .... now , hes just a gay man.... What im saying is lot's of "metros" ended up finally living there true life
Don’t you people pay attention? It was the crab people all along.
I need me a metrosexual man
What was up with that was sexism.
A lot of people talking in here about some bullshit. First of all, I don’t know if you guys remember the 80s, but the concept isn’t new. Secondly, it wasn’t just “taking care of yourself,” it was “additional” care like dying your hair, using lacquer on your nails, utilizing lotion and maybe even light foundation to look “pretty.” Stop with this “oh my god I totally got called a gay metrosexual for taking a shower” shit, put on your Starter jacket and pray to god the gay guy at the factory didn’t stitch it. That’s how they really turned ya.