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entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones ([personal profile] rone) wrote2003-10-29 03:33 pm
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metrostupid

Don't you hate it when the media takes a perfectly derogatory term and sanitizes it by taking the irony out?

The term metrosexual was coined by British journalist Mark Simpson. He developed it in 1994 in a book on male identity and used it in a more recent article published online. He says he meant it as both a "cold observation" and "cheeky satire."

"I used (metrosexual) to describe a kind of narcissistic, insecure masculinity shaped, if not invented, by film, advertising and glossy magazines," said Simpson in an e-mailed response to questions.

The metrosexual, Simpson suggests, is more vain and self-indulgent than he is feminine or sensitive.

Howard Dean calls himself a metrosexual in another attempt in a series to look like he is hip and "with it". Instead, he has revealed his true self: a narcissist and a no-talent ass-clown.

[identity profile] wisn.livejournal.com 2003-10-29 04:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I dunno. I first encountered the term when it was the meme du jour this summer in reference to hip urban men who were comfortable enough in their sexual identity and so on and so forth - in this case, it was being bandied about as the latest target marketing subsegment.

Calling yourself a metrosexual? well, you're either claiming you're vain and self-indulgent etc. or you're declaring your identity in terms of consumer segment. Neither sounds appealing.

"I've heard the term,

[identity profile] vardissakheli.livejournal.com 2003-10-29 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
but I don't know what it means." Could we accomplish this with a word like "squicking"?

[identity profile] lusercop.livejournal.com 2003-10-30 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
If I recall correctly, it was here that I read before about the re-use of the term "blogosphere" and the lack of irony in that term's re-use.

I was having a discussion last night with someone who really should know better, who was insisting that (and I quote) "blog theory as a social phenomenon" was not what I would call "mental masturbation", and saying that the latter was a term she hated. These terms will be coined by people who want to mentally masturbate, without really understanding the irony behind their inception. Pity.