The guy next door who has appointments for manicures, pedicures and eyebrow waxes might be a metrosexual.
That's right. It's the new term to describe men who have an array of styling products lining their bathroom counters. They might own moisturizers and maybe even a dab of makeup.
To stay in shape, metrosexuals prefer to work out at a fitness club rather than playing sports, and they get their hair cut by stylists -- not barbers.
This term hasn't yet made its way into the everyday lingo of Ball State students, but once they learn what a metrosexual is, they immediately can name someone who fits the category.
"I think it's really hard for them (metrosexuals)," sophomore Megan Peppers said. "It's hard for them to avoid stereotypes because people look at them and think they're gay. I would date one if I liked him well enough."
Brad Stuck, a fifth-year senior, fits the metrosexual definition perfectly, according to several of his friends. Stuck said he wasn't sure what the term meant at first, but when several of his antics matched the definition of the word, he saw that he fit the criteria well.
Stuck shops at Banana Republic, uses Bed Head gel and hair spray, tans once a week and gets his hair cut every 10 days.
"I prefer to go out to nicer, trendy restaurants," he said. "I get a lot of slack from my friends about being overdressed when we go out to a bar. I get teased about taking forever to get ready."
Stuck insists that he only takes 30 minutes to get ready each morning, including his shower (where he washes with body wash, not bar soap).
"I've never really heard the term until now, so I have no feelings toward it," he said. "It's a little scary because I'm not sure it's such a positive thing."
In the current issue of "Details" magazine, Augusten Burroughs has written an article titled "Are Metrosexuals Fake Fags?" from the homosexual standpoint. Burroughs addresses how it's now harder to "tell a homo at a glance." To Burroughs that increases the embarrassing risk of flirting with a male that he thinks is gay, but later learns is a metrosexual, or a "fake fag." He states that the new breed of men is "enough to make me wish I were a big hairy dyke."
Freshman Brian Fullen said metrosexuals are "just being who they are. It probably would embarrass me if I approached someone thinking they were gay and they ended up being straight."
Others welcome the new classification.
"I think gay people are fabulous," sophomore Erik Wentz said. "It doesn't bother me that men are caring more about their appearances. It's their prerogative, so if they want to dress nice, it's a compliment to me as a gay man that they want to look good.
"There would be a lot less stereotyping of gay men and more acceptance of them if society could see more and more straight men caring about their appearances like gay men do."
If he mistook a metrosexual for a gay male, Wentz said. "I don't think I'd be embarrassed. I go up to people and talk to them all the time. Whenever I've approached someone in the past, they just have told me that they aren't gay, and I usually make a new friend from the experience."**2|x-»y
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