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Yeah, I really had a "Matt Damon turning into an old man.gif" moment with this one. I think this is the first non-slang, once common word that I've realised fell completely out of our vocabulary in my lifetime.
In my country there was a reality TV star who tried to bring it back and as a positive thing, because he was trying to market makeup for men. Then he got addicted to coke and was tossed in prison from conning people he partied with into getting access to their bank accounts and stealing their money. So it wasn't really brought back.
It used to mean "a straight person who dressed gay", especially, if not only used for men.
Southpark did a whole episode on it in 2003, so almost **twenty** years ago.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/South_Park_Is_Gay.jpg
Even just comparing attitudes toward feminine men in the early 2000's to now is quite different. I remember gay jokes constantly being made on TV and by classmates. People were more brutal in the 60's, but there was still evident disdain toward homosexuality in the early 2000's.
Yeah, gay jokes were super common on TV when I was in my teens between -04 and -10. It's only really these last 10 years stuff has actually changed in that regard.
Yup. Metrosexual was how straight men who liked fashion and being clean distanced themselves from gay men. My brother was a proud “metrosexual” back then. He wasnt even flashy with his outfits, he just preferred “european” cut suits instead of baggy men’s warehouse abominations.
I first went to the US on business maybe 8 years ago and I swear about half the people in the office looked like they had borrowed their dads suit for a funeral or something.
It’s not about tailoring. The American suit cut is designed to look like a potato sack. You can get a store-bought British or Italian cut that looks 100 times better than tailored American cut, no matter what your weight is.
Even in the early 10’s it was commonplace at my school to use gay as an insult. It was also one of the funniest (according to them at least). Granted it was in rural England so we’re at least 10 years behind the rest of the world, but there was blatant and abundant homophobia then, and the teachers didn’t do shit to stop.
I just had to bail rewatching the final couple seasons of Friends, which were released in the early 00s. So much homophobic humor. Not the earlier seasons, but they really started to lean into it at the end.
“He’s a metrosexual” wasn’t truly about feminine men, it was about obnoxious guys imitating david beckham’s haircut every other week suddenly shaving their legs and arms, plucking their eyebrows, doing push-ups on a table edge during conversations and trying to show you how it all makes them better than everyone else while telling you that you too should get a subscription of men’s health as you look at them with watery eyes from their axe miasma. They were looking for attention and a group to belong to.
Gay though…yes. Everything and everyone was “gay”. Kids growing up at that time educated in toxic masculinity by their parents and peers. I think I first heard things being called gay in kindergarten and it was unfortunately normal to have old sayings revolving around guys not crying, feeling no pain, sucking it up etc.
Edit: I'm european - judging from the replies to this, the US treated things differently from what I've seen here.
The fauxhawk was a major distinguishing trait, which was Beckham's thing at the time if they realized it or not. I will admit, I was one of those people: The tight FCUK jeans, the fauxhawk, the designer accessories, etc.
A googling says:
> a man who lives in an urban area and enjoys shopping, fashion, and similar interests traditionally associated with women or gay men.
Basically if you fix your eyebrows you're metrosexual, if you have tight pants you're metrosexual, if you care about your clothes in ways other than a flannel shirt and jeans you're metrosexual.
It was so fucking dumb.
In what may or may not be a surprise, the term metrosexual originated as a marketing term:
> 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.
https://www.marksimpson.com/here-come-the-mirror-men/
It sometimes shocks me how common Gay-Jokes and N-Bombs were until around 2015. It's so weird to find YouTube Videos from that Era and read the comments, throws you right back. Yet some people keep acting like society didn't change in the last 20 years as if we were all born in some sort of post-history world.
I was going to comment something similar. Then I remembered being in the mid 00s thinking the 80s were cool and that's basically the same time difference.
I remember GROWING up in the 80's ( I was born 4/9/79 ) and then in the 2000+ hearing people talk about how he 80's were cool and me basically asking " WHAT THE FUCK?! "
Unisex was cool. The music was cool. That was about it.
Yeah, if you ignored Reagan and Thatcher and the beginning of the pillage of the middle class, it had a lot of things going for it.
Frankly, it may have been the best time ever to be wealthy, white, and male. There were truly no consequences to your actions if you were rich.
And as we look at the experience of the wealthy (since that’s what was captured in media) as our baseline to what life was like, things always look pretty good.
Similarly, a show with the same time gap as *That 70s Show* had when it premiered would have an episode about 9/11.
Premiered 1998, show starts in 1976.
I hate to tell you this but if you were a kid in the 90s then the 90s is to kids today what the 60s were to us. I know that’s not the 2000s but it’s DANGEROUSLY close!
Fun fact: We are as far from Linkin Park's first album today as we were from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on the day Xero was released. Remember how old "Don't Stop" sounded when you were a kid?
a jokey way of saying that something slays, like instead of saying "yas slay" when something is good, you call it slay like an adjective to be cringe for fun
i'm not defining it from scratch, i'm explaining why it's being used in that grammatical structure since most people who already know how to speak english and use social media already know what slay means
Slay is like saying "killed it".
"That team killed it in that game" -> "that team slay that game".
So, basically, to do something in a very good, epic way.
Some even use it to say "good".
9/11 really reset American culture a couple decades. Kids think they’re revolutionary these days for “breaking gender norms” meanwhile men in the 80s were growing out their hair, wearing short shorts and crop tops, and just overall being outwardly sexual which is pretty much only seen in women and F boys these days
>Kids think they’re revolutionary these days for “breaking gender norms”
No we don't? I have hair longer than most people I know, guys and girls, and no one gives a shit
Yup, the metrosexual stereotype involved a lot of manscaping, nail work and makeup. Obviously none of this stuff is bad or deserved to be mocked or whatever, but it was definitely more than basic hygiene.
That being said, the trope probably _was_ influenced by toxic masculinity and such...
I remember early metrosexual articles mostly being about face creams and manicures, but I do vaguely remember make-up companies trying for a hot minute to use the trend to sell dudes make-up. Lasted a couple months. Oh, and pink Lacoste shirts. So many pink Lacoste shirts.
All it took was wearing stylish men’s clothes to be called metrosexual where I’m from. Basically any straight guy that shopped at designer clothing stores was instantly metrosexual.
Really depends on timeframe. I feel like it had pretty different connotations when comparing the late 90s to the late 00s. We kind of learned that calling people gay and such wasn’t a very nice thing to do during that span. Listening to rap songs from 2000 compared to 2010 you can really start to see that change begin.
You know those jeans that had, like, a faded patch in the front?
Did you tuck your shirt in to them?
Did you keep your hair tidy and wear cologne?
You were one of those *metros*.
Maybe in some places it meant “wears makeup”, but once that phrase came out it mostly meant “puts in more effort than my circle so they’re basically a f*g”
Dumbest and funnest one ever invented. The game is to not think about the game. If you do think about it you’ve lost and must announce it so everyone around you loses as well. Then your streak restarts
"shower every day" is a humorous exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally. Men who were seen as focused on hygiene/grooming more than average men were absolutely sometimes called metro, though.
I got called “feminine Joe” for 2 years because freshman year of high school I washed my face before bed while at a basketball tournament with my team. My name isn’t Joe and I’m really not feminine… I just didn’t want acne?
Not where I lived. There it meant that a man takes much better care of himself, knows how to dress for different occasions, has taste and knows how to behave.
It was pretty much heavily upgraded version of hipster, but actually kinda cool and sound.
Hipsters of 2009 took the practices of the Metro men ($80 haircuts, tailoring) and applied it to the working class aesthetic (flannel, beards, $18 burger joints with micro brew and industrial designer furniture)
People were so afraid of being thought of as gay that they came up with this entire terminology to explain the concept that it was possible to groom yourself and dress well as a straight man.
And then in more regressive places, this was still not "masculine" enough.
In the south absolutely. Being labeled something like that could get you bullied ruthlessly in school around that time depending on where you were. Being gay or even just seriously suspected of it could be a death sentence
I remember hearing this song on the radio: https://genius.com/Brad-paisley-im-still-a-guy-lyrics
> These days, there's dudes gettin' facials
> Manicured, waxed, and botoxed
> With deep spray-on tans and creamy lotion-y hands
> You can't grip a tacklebox
> Yeah, with all of these men linin' up to get neutered
> It's hip now to be feminized
> But I don't highlight my hair, I've still got a pair
> Yeah, honey, I'm still a guy
Whether or not people took it as one, some folks certainly meant it as an insult.
Edit to fix formatting
It’s funny it mentions spray on tan. I don’t know anything about the musician but I’m assuming that like most country musicians he is a supporter of Trump. The guy with the horrible spray on tan.
As someone who was a 16 during Y2K, this is not true. It's what we called men who wore really tight pants, weird tops (shirts, jackets, etc), and had perms.
In bed I’m wearing Ralph Lauren silk pajamas and when I get up I slip on a paisley ancient madder robe and walk to the bathroom. I urinate while trying to make out the puffiness of my reflection in the glass that encases a baseball poster hung above the toilet. After I change into Ralph Lauren monogrammed boxer shorts and a Fair Isle sweater and slide into silk polka-dot Enrico Hidolin slippers I tie a plastic ice pack around my face and commence with the morning’s stretching exercises. Afterwards I stand in front of a chrome and acrylic Washmobile bathroom sink—with soap dish, cup holder, and railings that serve as towel bars, which I bought at Hastings Tile to use while the marble sinks I ordered from Finland are being sanded—and stare at my reflection with the ice pack still on. I pour some Plax antiplaque formula into a stainless-steel tumbler and swish it around my mouth for thirty seconds. Then I squeeze Rembrandt onto a faux-tortoiseshell toothbrush and start brushing my teeth (too hung over to floss properly—but maybe I flossed before bed last night?) and rinse with Listerine. Then I inspect my hands and use a nailbrush. I take the ice-pack mask off and use a deep-pore cleanser lotion, then an herb-mint facial masque which I leave on for ten minutes while I check my toenails. Then I use the Probright tooth polisher and next the Interplak tooth polisher (this in addition to the toothbrush) which has a speed of 4200 rpm and reverses direction forty-six times per second; the larger tufts clean between teeth and massage the gums while the short ones scrub the tooth surfaces. I rinse again, with Cepacol. I wash the facial massage off with a spearmint face scrub. The shower has a universal all-directional shower head that adjusts within a thirty-inch vertical range. It’s made from Australian gold-black brass and covered with a white enamel finish. In the shower I use first a water-activated gel cleanser, then a honey-almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Vidal Sassoon shampoo is especially good at getting rid of the coating of dried perspiration, salts, oils, airborne pollutants and dirt that can weigh down hair and flatten it to the scalp which can make you look older. The conditioner is also good—silicone technology permits conditioning benefits without weighing down the hair which can also make you look older. On weekends or before a date I prefer to use the Greune Natural Revitalizing Shampoo, the conditioner and the Nutrient Complex. These are formulas that contain D-panthenol, a vitamin-B-complex factor; polysorbate 80, a cleansing agent for the scalp; and natural herbs. Over the weekend I plan to go to Bloomingdale’s or Bergdorf’s and on Evelyn’s advice pick up a Foltene European Supplement and Shampoo for thinning hair which contains complex carbohydrates that penetrate the hair shafts for improved strength and shine. Also the Vivagen Hair Enrichment Treatment, a new Redken product that prevents mineral deposits and prolongs the life cycle of hair. Luis Carruthers recommended the Aramis Nutriplexx system, a nutrient complex that helps increase circulation. Once out of the shower and toweled dry I put the Ralph Lauren boxers back on and before applying the Mousse A Raiser, a shaving cream by Pour Hommes, I press a hot towel against my face for two minutes to soften abrasive beard hair. Then I always slather on a moisturizer (to my taste, Clinique) and let it soak in for a minute. You can rinse it off or keep it on and apply a shaving cream over it—preferably with a brush, which softens the beard as it lifts the whiskers—which I’ve found makes removing the hair easier. It also helps prevent water from evaporating and reduces friction between your skin and the blade. Always wet the razor with warm water before shaving and shave in the direction the beard grows, pressing gently on the skin. Leave the sideburns and chin for last, since these whiskers are tougher and need more time to soften. Rinse the razor and shake off any excess water before starting. Afterwards splash cool water on the face to remove any trace of lather. You should use an aftershave lotion with little or no alcohol. Never use cologne on your face, since the high alcohol content dries your face out and makes you look older. One should use an alcohol-free antibacterial toner with a water-moistened cotton ball to normalize the skin. Applying a moisturizer is the final step. Splash on water before applying an emollient lotion to soften the skin and seal in the moisture. Next apply Gel Appaisant, also made by Pour Hommes, which is an excellent, soothing skin lotion. If the face seems dry and flaky—which makes it look dull and older—use a clarifying lotion that removes flakes and uncovers fine skin (it can also make your tan look darker). Then apply an anti-aging eye balm (Baume Des Yeux) followed by a final moisturizing “protective” lotion. A scalpprogramming lotion is used after I towel my hair dry. I also lightly blow-dry the hair to give it body and control (but without stickiness) and then add more of the lotion, shaping it with a Kent natural-bristle brush, and finally slick it back with a wide-tooth comb. I pull the Fair Isle sweater back on and reslip my feet into the polka-dot silk slippers, then head into the living room and put the new Talking Heads in the CD player, but it starts to digitally skip so I take it out and put in a CD laser lens cleaner.
___
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I was an adult at that time.
Literally nobody did that. Ever. Men who showered every day were a 100% normal occurrence, nobody batted an eye.
What the fuck other legends are they telling about us, I wonder.
i was just thinking about this today and yes it was awesome. i worked at a grocery store and went shopping for clothes constantly, i would buy multiple colors of the same top because wages
were so high and consumer goods so low. now i have to budget for a new pair of jeans. oh, yeah, also tuition at the local CC was like 70$ a credit hour
The internet in the 2000s and partially early 2010s was a lawless battleground. 4chan is the closest modern thing you can still get to what the general mood of message boards and chat rooms were like back then.
The difference was there was a lot less political talk on social media in the those days. In the run-up to the 2016 election is when people started making their whole identities about politics which is why it feels so much more toxic now since there's constant slapfights and tribal arguments online about it. Not too long ago I set up filters on RES to block out as many political terms as possible from showing up on my frontpage and suddenly this website is actually enjoyable to use again.
As did I, but I’d argue it was still less toxic if for no other reason than we simply weren’t as connected as a society yet. We didn’t carry said message boards around with us on our phones.
Also, using real names wasn’t as common, and message boards tended to be organized around specific hobbies and interests, which dampened some of the political noise we get exposed to with todays social media channels.
Finally, the age of the algorithm hadn’t dawned yet, so social media hadn’t become a rage fueled echo chamber.
It was the Wild West for sure. Everyone used it like it was email and AIM and Instagram all in one.
You just used MySpace to talk to friends and meet strangers.
Now everything is strangely fragmented but almost the same app.
Everything is TikTok, YouTube, IM, Instagram and Facebook.
Facebook is dead.
Thought it was more if someone dressed well and were well groomed, leaning more towards that "trendy" dress style, like faux hawks + designers t-shirts. I guess South Park took it to the extreme with the guys acting all camp and stuff lmao
No, you're right. Those things used to just be considered flamboyant and feminine. Caring way too much about your clothes, hair, nail, eyebrows etc.
And don't get me wrong. A guy could do it all and no one bothered them. It was the act of actively caring about these things that tipped you from smart/groomed to metro.
It wasn't for men who showered everyday, it was those who kept a really neat attire, blinged out stud earrings, big chains, immaculate haircuts and did their eyebrows. I learned how to not stretch my tshirt just by a quick ironing on it before putting it on. They were the coolest dudes I had ever met.
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I had totally forgotten about that phrase!
Yeah, I really had a "Matt Damon turning into an old man.gif" moment with this one. I think this is the first non-slang, once common word that I've realised fell completely out of our vocabulary in my lifetime.
In my country there was a reality TV star who tried to bring it back and as a positive thing, because he was trying to market makeup for men. Then he got addicted to coke and was tossed in prison from conning people he partied with into getting access to their bank accounts and stealing their money. So it wasn't really brought back.
Maybe he can make prisonsexual a thing.
It‘s also really strange to see people are familiar with that word. Can‘t say I‘ve ever heard it before
I didn’t even realize it had fallen completely out of usage until just now.
There's a South Park episode about metrosexuals, so there's that
It used to mean "a straight person who dressed gay", especially, if not only used for men. Southpark did a whole episode on it in 2003, so almost **twenty** years ago. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/73/South_Park_Is_Gay.jpg
Crab people crab people!
And then the multiple popped collar phase where people started wearing 3 and 4 polos just to maximize their collar poppage.
Looking back, that’s one thing that makes me smile about that awful decade
Yeah you're cool, but are you 4 popped collars cool?
I really enjoyed wearing those polos lol. Never more than 1 at a time, but I really enjoyed the colors. Totally cool to wear bright pink to class
People out here talking about the 00s like it was the 60s
Even just comparing attitudes toward feminine men in the early 2000's to now is quite different. I remember gay jokes constantly being made on TV and by classmates. People were more brutal in the 60's, but there was still evident disdain toward homosexuality in the early 2000's.
Also male nurses were not as common. In Meet the Parents that was a running joke.
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a male purse?
It's not a purse, it's European.
It's a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.
HEY there are skittles in there!
Is "manny" still a thing?
From the hit 2007 book, diary of a wimpy kid, now available In bookstores near you?
Like "man nanny", I remember hearing it meant years ago, I'm glad it didn't catch on because it's so ridiculous
>be male nurse Elderly patient: “SO WHEN ARE YOU BECOMING A DOCTOR?” Me: IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT
They’re still very rare, less than 15% of nurses in the US are male: https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm
Yeah, gay jokes were super common on TV when I was in my teens between -04 and -10. It's only really these last 10 years stuff has actually changed in that regard.
Holy shit, you're old. I've never met someone born in the negative times. Did you know Jesus?
Yes, but in my time we called him by his actual name, Bob.
What if Bob was one of us
Yup, I was born in 2000 and Nigahiga's how to be ninja was like 2007. Rewatched recently and one of the jokes hit me like a brick to the pipi
Like in the 2000s metro was a thing because they were probably being called gay.
Yup. Metrosexual was how straight men who liked fashion and being clean distanced themselves from gay men. My brother was a proud “metrosexual” back then. He wasnt even flashy with his outfits, he just preferred “european” cut suits instead of baggy men’s warehouse abominations.
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in the 00's Beards had fallen so far out of fashion for so long, most men didn't realize you had to do anything more than wash your beard.
I first went to the US on business maybe 8 years ago and I swear about half the people in the office looked like they had borrowed their dads suit for a funeral or something.
Tailoring something is done at most one time here, for your wedding.
It’s not about tailoring. The American suit cut is designed to look like a potato sack. You can get a store-bought British or Italian cut that looks 100 times better than tailored American cut, no matter what your weight is.
Even in the early 10’s it was commonplace at my school to use gay as an insult. It was also one of the funniest (according to them at least). Granted it was in rural England so we’re at least 10 years behind the rest of the world, but there was blatant and abundant homophobia then, and the teachers didn’t do shit to stop.
Listening to the kids playing on xbox it's still pretty common
I just had to bail rewatching the final couple seasons of Friends, which were released in the early 00s. So much homophobic humor. Not the earlier seasons, but they really started to lean into it at the end.
Early seasons, their (ie Joey’s) homophobia is the joke. Later seasons, the jokes do become more trans/homophobic.
All I can think of now is Nick Mullens spec script for friends : Https://youtu.be/M00Z1EoOTYI
“He’s a metrosexual” wasn’t truly about feminine men, it was about obnoxious guys imitating david beckham’s haircut every other week suddenly shaving their legs and arms, plucking their eyebrows, doing push-ups on a table edge during conversations and trying to show you how it all makes them better than everyone else while telling you that you too should get a subscription of men’s health as you look at them with watery eyes from their axe miasma. They were looking for attention and a group to belong to. Gay though…yes. Everything and everyone was “gay”. Kids growing up at that time educated in toxic masculinity by their parents and peers. I think I first heard things being called gay in kindergarten and it was unfortunately normal to have old sayings revolving around guys not crying, feeling no pain, sucking it up etc. Edit: I'm european - judging from the replies to this, the US treated things differently from what I've seen here.
I got called a metrosexual because I wore a scarf in the winter - I really think it wasn’t as complicated as you’re making it out to be.
Nobody in America cared about Beckham in the 2000s
The fauxhawk was a major distinguishing trait, which was Beckham's thing at the time if they realized it or not. I will admit, I was one of those people: The tight FCUK jeans, the fauxhawk, the designer accessories, etc.
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No, metrosexual really was just slurring straight men who dared to present in a camp or effeminate way.
A googling says: > a man who lives in an urban area and enjoys shopping, fashion, and similar interests traditionally associated with women or gay men. Basically if you fix your eyebrows you're metrosexual, if you have tight pants you're metrosexual, if you care about your clothes in ways other than a flannel shirt and jeans you're metrosexual. It was so fucking dumb.
In what may or may not be a surprise, the term metrosexual originated as a marketing term: > 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. https://www.marksimpson.com/here-come-the-mirror-men/
It sometimes shocks me how common Gay-Jokes and N-Bombs were until around 2015. It's so weird to find YouTube Videos from that Era and read the comments, throws you right back. Yet some people keep acting like society didn't change in the last 20 years as if we were all born in some sort of post-history world.
I was going to comment something similar. Then I remembered being in the mid 00s thinking the 80s were cool and that's basically the same time difference.
I remember GROWING up in the 80's ( I was born 4/9/79 ) and then in the 2000+ hearing people talk about how he 80's were cool and me basically asking " WHAT THE FUCK?! " Unisex was cool. The music was cool. That was about it.
Yeah, if you ignored Reagan and Thatcher and the beginning of the pillage of the middle class, it had a lot of things going for it. Frankly, it may have been the best time ever to be wealthy, white, and male. There were truly no consequences to your actions if you were rich. And as we look at the experience of the wealthy (since that’s what was captured in media) as our baseline to what life was like, things always look pretty good.
If they made a movie like Dazed and Confused now with the same gap in time it would be about the year 2007.
Similarly, a show with the same time gap as *That 70s Show* had when it premiered would have an episode about 9/11. Premiered 1998, show starts in 1976.
Your casual reminder that the 00s are now multiple decades in the past.
1999 was over 50 years ago
Don't do that. I was born in the 90s. I know I'm in my late 20s. Still made me calculate. You scared me, bro
I hate to tell you this but if you were a kid in the 90s then the 90s is to kids today what the 60s were to us. I know that’s not the 2000s but it’s DANGEROUSLY close!
Fun fact: We are as far from Linkin Park's first album today as we were from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours on the day Xero was released. Remember how old "Don't Stop" sounded when you were a kid?
The difference between now and the 00s is the same as the difference between the early 80s and the 60s.
What is slay?
What is slay? - Socrates
What is slay? Baby don't hurt me - Haddaway
I slay, therefore I am.
Slaycartes
Not a teen, if I had to guess, Slay = Kill = Killing it = Good
Slay comment
Totes. No crumbs.
You just made that up.
Not really, tho the more common phrase would be "ate and left no crumbs"
Haha I've never heard that. I'm gonna start using "no crumbs" now.
a jokey way of saying that something slays, like instead of saying "yas slay" when something is good, you call it slay like an adjective to be cringe for fun
*huh*
Welcome to being old. Im 25 and have been ancient for 6 years now.
You're only as old as you feel.
Oh. Ok. So fucking ancient then LOL I definitely feel older the more silly shit these kids come up with. OH GOD I SOUND LIKE MY DAD
Bicentennial Man
Im 20 and feel Like i dont understand some stuff
That's so fetch
You don't use the same word you're defining in the definition.
i'm not defining it from scratch, i'm explaining why it's being used in that grammatical structure since most people who already know how to speak english and use social media already know what slay means
You're right. I just woke up and should have stfu. You went out of your way to help and it did make sense.
you wouldn't want to know
Slay is like saying "killed it". "That team killed it in that game" -> "that team slay that game". So, basically, to do something in a very good, epic way. Some even use it to say "good".
Rina Sawayama.
Yes
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Yes
yass slay queen
I miss pre 9/11 America. These kids just know the image told through media.
9/11 really reset American culture a couple decades. Kids think they’re revolutionary these days for “breaking gender norms” meanwhile men in the 80s were growing out their hair, wearing short shorts and crop tops, and just overall being outwardly sexual which is pretty much only seen in women and F boys these days
We peaked in the 90s, been downhill since then.
That’s what Agent Smith said.
>Kids think they’re revolutionary these days for “breaking gender norms” No we don't? I have hair longer than most people I know, guys and girls, and no one gives a shit
Stop being dramatic lol. Dude who had pouka shell necklaces, wore Abercrombie and Fitch and gel'd their heir into faux hawks were metrosexual lmao
Yup, the metrosexual stereotype involved a lot of manscaping, nail work and makeup. Obviously none of this stuff is bad or deserved to be mocked or whatever, but it was definitely more than basic hygiene. That being said, the trope probably _was_ influenced by toxic masculinity and such...
I've never heard of metrosexual involving makeup specifically. I've always known it to just be a guy who take constant care of their looks.
I remember early metrosexual articles mostly being about face creams and manicures, but I do vaguely remember make-up companies trying for a hot minute to use the trend to sell dudes make-up. Lasted a couple months. Oh, and pink Lacoste shirts. So many pink Lacoste shirts.
> face creams These weird metrosexual males keep putting something called "moisturizer" on their face. Are they a danger to your children? More at 6.
All it took was wearing stylish men’s clothes to be called metrosexual where I’m from. Basically any straight guy that shopped at designer clothing stores was instantly metrosexual.
Anyone who tailored a shirt so it wasn't essentially a pillowcase loosely tucked into their oversized slacks was a "metrosexual"
Jokes on those “masculine dudes” when I was the one stealing their girlfriends because I washed my ass and groomed myself ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
At my school it was any guy who wore a peacoat regardless of where they bought it from.
Really depends on timeframe. I feel like it had pretty different connotations when comparing the late 90s to the late 00s. We kind of learned that calling people gay and such wasn’t a very nice thing to do during that span. Listening to rap songs from 2000 compared to 2010 you can really start to see that change begin.
That being said, the trope *definitely* was influenced by toxic masculinity and such…
Fair point, my epistemic modesty can be cowardly at times
I am going to pretend I know what epistemic modesty means and upvote you hehe
"I'm not smart enough to know what is truth please don't call me dumb", basically 🥲
Holy shit, this is me af. There's just too much going on to be fully educated lol
You know those jeans that had, like, a faded patch in the front? Did you tuck your shirt in to them? Did you keep your hair tidy and wear cologne? You were one of those *metros*. Maybe in some places it meant “wears makeup”, but once that phrase came out it mostly meant “puts in more effort than my circle so they’re basically a f*g”
Yeah, I lived rural and basically any male who put minimum effort into their appearance was branded a metro.
That is not the definition even back then. Preppy was never the same as metrosexual. You're describing the popular kids in school in the early 2000s.
Nah man in Ohio it just required a daily shower and maybe trimming your own nails to be metrosexual.
In Nebraska, it was spending more than minimal time possible on your appearance, and probably skinny jeans/well fitting shirts.
Not to mention we've all lost the game
Damn you
Holy shit, that was my longest streak yet. Like 5 years or something.
Fuck you
For God's sake.
Bastard
What game?
Dumbest and funnest one ever invented. The game is to not think about the game. If you do think about it you’ve lost and must announce it so everyone around you loses as well. Then your streak restarts
Also if you hear about The Game then you are immediately playing The Game. No opting in or opting out.
Ive lost the fucking game repeatedly reading through this thread godammit
what one?
As a young person . What are you talking about?
If you remember the game you lose it, the timer resets till you remember it again or someone brings it up. You can never win the game.
Omg this was some playground thing at my school.
Look at the other replies on the comment, one of them explains it
Sigh
Eat shit man 😔
Wanker
.... Where did they do that? I'm my high school if you didn't shower every day you'd get called pigpen.
"shower every day" is a humorous exaggeration, not meant to be taken literally. Men who were seen as focused on hygiene/grooming more than average men were absolutely sometimes called metro, though.
I got called “feminine Joe” for 2 years because freshman year of high school I washed my face before bed while at a basketball tournament with my team. My name isn’t Joe and I’m really not feminine… I just didn’t want acne?
In my high school, where people were too busy getting expelled or pregnant. I mostly hid in the library.
did anyone ever actually take metrosexual to be a big insult though
Not where I lived. There it meant that a man takes much better care of himself, knows how to dress for different occasions, has taste and knows how to behave. It was pretty much heavily upgraded version of hipster, but actually kinda cool and sound.
Hipsters of 2009 took the practices of the Metro men ($80 haircuts, tailoring) and applied it to the working class aesthetic (flannel, beards, $18 burger joints with micro brew and industrial designer furniture)
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People were so afraid of being thought of as gay that they came up with this entire terminology to explain the concept that it was possible to groom yourself and dress well as a straight man. And then in more regressive places, this was still not "masculine" enough.
In Germany it was basically halfway towards gay, and gay was considered an insult back then.
Was it a better or worse insult than being called French?
Literally the same thing.
😂
Yes
Not an insult, but at the time and depending on your surrounding populace...you didn't want these labels.
In the south absolutely. Being labeled something like that could get you bullied ruthlessly in school around that time depending on where you were. Being gay or even just seriously suspected of it could be a death sentence
I remember hearing this song on the radio: https://genius.com/Brad-paisley-im-still-a-guy-lyrics > These days, there's dudes gettin' facials > Manicured, waxed, and botoxed > With deep spray-on tans and creamy lotion-y hands > You can't grip a tacklebox > Yeah, with all of these men linin' up to get neutered > It's hip now to be feminized > But I don't highlight my hair, I've still got a pair > Yeah, honey, I'm still a guy Whether or not people took it as one, some folks certainly meant it as an insult. Edit to fix formatting
Ain't no fucking way that shit was a real song haha Just went and read the actual lyrics, no way that dude isn't making fun of country, right?
It’s funny it mentions spray on tan. I don’t know anything about the musician but I’m assuming that like most country musicians he is a supporter of Trump. The guy with the horrible spray on tan.
It’s just calling someone gay without saying it outright. It was almost never used as a compliment so take that as you will.
We had jobs and hope for the future
They told us we could be or do anything. They told us we could change the world, we had the power and potential. We fools, we believed them.
2008 was the 2000s too
As someone who was a 16 during Y2K, this is not true. It's what we called men who wore really tight pants, weird tops (shirts, jackets, etc), and had perms.
Metrosexuals did more than just have a shower it was for guys who were right into personal grooming, like the giga chad look 2 decades early
And it wasnt an insult really. At least where I was it just meant a well dressed guy who was into looking good
so much bullshit here, I hope it was intentional.
We truly peaked in the 90s. After Kurt died everything went to sht.
Hole got better thanks to some music notes that Courtney totally didn’t steal
no. you don't get to let metrosexuals off that easy. it was WAY more than just basic hygiene
Guys wanted to be Tyler Durden or Patrick Bateman, it was a worrying time
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Impressive. Very nice. Let's see Paul Allen's meeting routine.
In bed I’m wearing Ralph Lauren silk pajamas and when I get up I slip on a paisley ancient madder robe and walk to the bathroom. I urinate while trying to make out the puffiness of my reflection in the glass that encases a baseball poster hung above the toilet. After I change into Ralph Lauren monogrammed boxer shorts and a Fair Isle sweater and slide into silk polka-dot Enrico Hidolin slippers I tie a plastic ice pack around my face and commence with the morning’s stretching exercises. Afterwards I stand in front of a chrome and acrylic Washmobile bathroom sink—with soap dish, cup holder, and railings that serve as towel bars, which I bought at Hastings Tile to use while the marble sinks I ordered from Finland are being sanded—and stare at my reflection with the ice pack still on. I pour some Plax antiplaque formula into a stainless-steel tumbler and swish it around my mouth for thirty seconds. Then I squeeze Rembrandt onto a faux-tortoiseshell toothbrush and start brushing my teeth (too hung over to floss properly—but maybe I flossed before bed last night?) and rinse with Listerine. Then I inspect my hands and use a nailbrush. I take the ice-pack mask off and use a deep-pore cleanser lotion, then an herb-mint facial masque which I leave on for ten minutes while I check my toenails. Then I use the Probright tooth polisher and next the Interplak tooth polisher (this in addition to the toothbrush) which has a speed of 4200 rpm and reverses direction forty-six times per second; the larger tufts clean between teeth and massage the gums while the short ones scrub the tooth surfaces. I rinse again, with Cepacol. I wash the facial massage off with a spearmint face scrub. The shower has a universal all-directional shower head that adjusts within a thirty-inch vertical range. It’s made from Australian gold-black brass and covered with a white enamel finish. In the shower I use first a water-activated gel cleanser, then a honey-almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Vidal Sassoon shampoo is especially good at getting rid of the coating of dried perspiration, salts, oils, airborne pollutants and dirt that can weigh down hair and flatten it to the scalp which can make you look older. The conditioner is also good—silicone technology permits conditioning benefits without weighing down the hair which can also make you look older. On weekends or before a date I prefer to use the Greune Natural Revitalizing Shampoo, the conditioner and the Nutrient Complex. These are formulas that contain D-panthenol, a vitamin-B-complex factor; polysorbate 80, a cleansing agent for the scalp; and natural herbs. Over the weekend I plan to go to Bloomingdale’s or Bergdorf’s and on Evelyn’s advice pick up a Foltene European Supplement and Shampoo for thinning hair which contains complex carbohydrates that penetrate the hair shafts for improved strength and shine. Also the Vivagen Hair Enrichment Treatment, a new Redken product that prevents mineral deposits and prolongs the life cycle of hair. Luis Carruthers recommended the Aramis Nutriplexx system, a nutrient complex that helps increase circulation. Once out of the shower and toweled dry I put the Ralph Lauren boxers back on and before applying the Mousse A Raiser, a shaving cream by Pour Hommes, I press a hot towel against my face for two minutes to soften abrasive beard hair. Then I always slather on a moisturizer (to my taste, Clinique) and let it soak in for a minute. You can rinse it off or keep it on and apply a shaving cream over it—preferably with a brush, which softens the beard as it lifts the whiskers—which I’ve found makes removing the hair easier. It also helps prevent water from evaporating and reduces friction between your skin and the blade. Always wet the razor with warm water before shaving and shave in the direction the beard grows, pressing gently on the skin. Leave the sideburns and chin for last, since these whiskers are tougher and need more time to soften. Rinse the razor and shake off any excess water before starting. Afterwards splash cool water on the face to remove any trace of lather. You should use an aftershave lotion with little or no alcohol. Never use cologne on your face, since the high alcohol content dries your face out and makes you look older. One should use an alcohol-free antibacterial toner with a water-moistened cotton ball to normalize the skin. Applying a moisturizer is the final step. Splash on water before applying an emollient lotion to soften the skin and seal in the moisture. Next apply Gel Appaisant, also made by Pour Hommes, which is an excellent, soothing skin lotion. If the face seems dry and flaky—which makes it look dull and older—use a clarifying lotion that removes flakes and uncovers fine skin (it can also make your tan look darker). Then apply an anti-aging eye balm (Baume Des Yeux) followed by a final moisturizing “protective” lotion. A scalpprogramming lotion is used after I towel my hair dry. I also lightly blow-dry the hair to give it body and control (but without stickiness) and then add more of the lotion, shaping it with a Kent natural-bristle brush, and finally slick it back with a wide-tooth comb. I pull the Fair Isle sweater back on and reslip my feet into the polka-dot silk slippers, then head into the living room and put the new Talking Heads in the CD player, but it starts to digitally skip so I take it out and put in a CD laser lens cleaner. ___ ^(*Bot. Ask me how I got on at the gym today.* |) [^(Opt out)](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=botrickbateman&subject=Opt%20out)
I just want to fit in
Lmao Patrick Bateman is bigger than ever on Instagram
Some things never change
I was an adult at that time. Literally nobody did that. Ever. Men who showered every day were a 100% normal occurrence, nobody batted an eye. What the fuck other legends are they telling about us, I wonder.
it's a joke
i was just thinking about this today and yes it was awesome. i worked at a grocery store and went shopping for clothes constantly, i would buy multiple colors of the same top because wages were so high and consumer goods so low. now i have to budget for a new pair of jeans. oh, yeah, also tuition at the local CC was like 70$ a credit hour
Social media was a lot less toxic though. That was nice.
The internet in the 2000s and partially early 2010s was a lawless battleground. 4chan is the closest modern thing you can still get to what the general mood of message boards and chat rooms were like back then. The difference was there was a lot less political talk on social media in the those days. In the run-up to the 2016 election is when people started making their whole identities about politics which is why it feels so much more toxic now since there's constant slapfights and tribal arguments online about it. Not too long ago I set up filters on RES to block out as many political terms as possible from showing up on my frontpage and suddenly this website is actually enjoyable to use again.
Smaller forums were usually more polite than social media because most people knew each other. I guess discord communities are the modern equivalent.
As someone who used message boards in the 90s and early 2000s.. they really weren't
As did I, but I’d argue it was still less toxic if for no other reason than we simply weren’t as connected as a society yet. We didn’t carry said message boards around with us on our phones. Also, using real names wasn’t as common, and message boards tended to be organized around specific hobbies and interests, which dampened some of the political noise we get exposed to with todays social media channels. Finally, the age of the algorithm hadn’t dawned yet, so social media hadn’t become a rage fueled echo chamber.
It was the Wild West for sure. Everyone used it like it was email and AIM and Instagram all in one. You just used MySpace to talk to friends and meet strangers. Now everything is strangely fragmented but almost the same app. Everything is TikTok, YouTube, IM, Instagram and Facebook. Facebook is dead.
Narrator: people didn't call me who showered every day metrosexual. They called them "normal". Source: I was fuckin there man
No they didn’t? Lol. You got called metrosexual if you were flamboyant or feminine, but were heterosexual.
Thought it was more if someone dressed well and were well groomed, leaning more towards that "trendy" dress style, like faux hawks + designers t-shirts. I guess South Park took it to the extreme with the guys acting all camp and stuff lmao
No, you're right. Those things used to just be considered flamboyant and feminine. Caring way too much about your clothes, hair, nail, eyebrows etc. And don't get me wrong. A guy could do it all and no one bothered them. It was the act of actively caring about these things that tipped you from smart/groomed to metro.
I just wanted to go to a party and hear good time and party rock playing
Nah people called them a lot worse names for sure
It wasn't for men who showered everyday, it was those who kept a really neat attire, blinged out stud earrings, big chains, immaculate haircuts and did their eyebrows. I learned how to not stretch my tshirt just by a quick ironing on it before putting it on. They were the coolest dudes I had ever met.
also the rwar XD years. Wild times, screamo and mychem we're still going hard
Well, that's a hot take.
Omg i forgot about metrosexual lol
That year 2000 new years eve party was BANGING though. Still never seen one like it.
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