Nothing queer for 'metrosexual' men in pink
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-09 15:46

The arrival of "metrosexual" man has some women worried that their men lack fashion sense when choosing colors, especially when the color is "shocking pink."

"According to the experts, this guy lives near the city of Shanghai, uses beauty products, fancies Kylie Minogue but would never cheat on his partner.

A young man receives a facial treatment in a promotional event held by a Hangzhou beauty salon Jan. 17, 2003. Chinese men begin to pay more and more attention to their appearances. [newsphoto]

How do you spot this paragon of virtue? The metrosexual will, they say, possess at least one salmon-pink shirt." - London Daily Mirror, June 19, 2003

When the US television series "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" first hit the screens, I remember being shocked.

Not by the fact that gay men were assailing their slobbish straight counterparts with manicures and makeovers but by the fact that these straight men's partners had called for such interventions.

Thus the term "metrosexual" became used widely to describe the straight man who cares about his appearance and isn't afraid to pamper himself with spa treatments, hand creams and facials.

I was all for the idea and smiled at the fact men would be joining women in undergoing hours of painstaking (and often painful) processes of beauty care. Why shouldn't men suffer the same miseries as women?

This was until the other day when I got an e-mail from my own "metrosexual" partner, in which he had included pictures of himself wearing a "shocking pink" shirt. So bright was this pink that he himself described it as "nearly fluorescent" and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in horror.

"Well, I've never been able to wear the pink shirt your mum bought me for Christmas. Sometimes I put it on but can never bring myself to leave the house. You should be proud of him, he's making a stand against gendered colors," was my brother-in-law's reaction over MSN when I first started polling for thoughts on the subject.

I had to agree the move was as bold as the shirt itself, but I couldn't help but squirm looking at the picture before me. All of a sudden I was conflicted between wanting to be proud of him and wanting it to be someone else's boyfriend making such a stand.

Another friend said he had no problem with the color pink, and would happily wear it at home but never dream of leaving the house in it.

"I'd rather walk around naked!" he exclaimed.

The brother-in-law, after much pressing, decided that his problem with the color is that it draws too much attention to a man rather than any outright objection to the color or what it says about his masculinity. He claims he avoids pink because he is shy, not because he is scared.

A third friend said while he didn't think there was anything wrong with wearing pink, he wouldn't do so for the fact it didn't match his skin tones.

"If I had a tan I might wear it. I don't care if other guys wear it, although if it was a friend I might give them a bit of stick about it just for laughs," he said.

But the man in question couldn't see what all the　　 fuss was about.

"What's wrong with my shirt? I think it's super cool," he replied when I politely inquired whether he was trying to make a statement by wearing it.

"I think it's a great shirt, very stylish indeed. But who chose it for you?" I asked, suddenly finding myself suspicious that some other woman was behind his "metrosexual" look.

"I chose it myself in a really funky store in New York," he told me proudly.

This admission left me even more shocked, as well as quietly relieved. Modern man has reached a point where he no longer feels his clothes must reflect his masculinity.

The unkempt look has been stylized to the extent that products have been invented to help attain it, like "Bedhead" hair wax to rub on the head to achieve a "just-woken-up" mop. And there is now no longer any shame in a man admitting that he carefully selects his clothes. So it looks like us girls will just have to get used to sharing when it comes to the color pink.

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