The Metrosexual

Explores the cultural significance of the metrosexual in sports.

The old-fashioned, repressed, un-moisturized man has been banished to the hinterlands and a new breed is taking center stage. He is a man of style, sophistication, and security, just as strong and confident as his predecessor, but far more diverse in his interests, his tastes, and, most importantly, his self-image. He may be seen at an NBA game one night and an art gallery opening the next. Able to navigate any social setting, he is informed, influential, intriguing, and very much in vogue these days. He is the new male ideal: the metrosexual man.So how can the average Joe keep up with this new version of cool? How should he behave, what shoes should he wear, and what CDs should he have in his collection? Answers to these questions and so many other pressing concerns can be found in The Metrosexual Guide to Style. Filled with entertaining anecdotes, famous quotes, helpful hints, dos and don'ts, recommendations and potential pitfalls, this handy guidebook covers everything from dining out to fashion and personal style, home décor to the Metro-mindset. It is the one-stop shop for the impeccably groomed and savvy modern man.

Modern men the world over are becoming increasingly fascinated with their image, spending more of their disposable income on beautification products and services. This book examines 'metrosexuality', highlighting the negotiation and construction of masculinities and sexualities in the twenty-first century.

Who is today’s white-collar man? The world of work has changed radically since The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and other mid-twentieth-century investigations of corporate life and identity. Contemporary jobs are more precarious, casual Friday has become an institution, and telecommuting blurs the divide between workplace and home. Gender expectations have changed, too, with men’s bodies increasingly exposed in the media and scrutinized in everyday interactions. In Buttoned Up, based on interviews with dozens of men in three U.S. cities with distinct local dress cultures—New York, San Francisco, and Cincinnati—Erynn Masi de Casanova asks what it means to wear the white collar now. Despite the expansion of men’s fashion and grooming practices, the decrease in formal dress codes, and the relaxing of traditional ideas about masculinity, white-collar men feel constrained in their choices about how to embody professionalism. They strategically embrace conformity in clothing as a way of maintaining their gender and class privilege. Across categories of race, sexual orientation and occupation, men talk about "blending in" and "looking the part" as they aim to keep their jobs or pursue better ones. These white-collar workers’ accounts show that greater freedom in work dress codes can, ironically, increase men’s anxiety about getting it wrong and discourage them from experimenting with their dress and appearance.

What happens to gender at 120mph? Are Harley-Davidsons more masculine than Yamahas? The Gendered Motorcycle answers such questions through a critical examination of motorcycles in film, advertising and television. Whilst bikers and biker cultures have been explored previously, the motorcycle itself has remained largely under-theorised, especially in relation to gender. Esperanza Miyake reveals how representations of motorcycles can produce different gendered bodies, identities, spaces and practices. This interdisciplinary book offers new and critical ways to think about gender and motorcycles, and will interest scholars and students of gender, technology and visual cultures, as well as motorcycle industry practitioners and motorcycle enthusiasts.

Elwood Watson is Professor of History, African Studies, and Gender Studies at East Tennessee State University. --

The male market is exploding. Thanks to emerging social and cultural trends, men are becoming consumers to reckon with. In 1990 only 4% of men claimed to regularly use a skin care product. By 2015 the figure will have risen to 50%. Branded Male discusses the evolution of the male consumer and the desire of marketers to tap into the still underdeveloped male market. Crammed with facts and anecdotes, it analyzes how to effectively brand products and services for the male market. Using a typical modern male's weekday as a template and examining all the influences affecting him, Branded Male considers his exposure to brands and the ways marketers can exploit these channels, taking you through popular strategies for marketing to men. In his trademark style, Mark Tungate paints a portrait of the male consumer. From razor blades to beer, from aftershave to hotels, he finds out which marketing messages have the most impact on male wallets. Men's bank balances may never be the same again.

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online. Taking a sociological approach, the authors of Appearance as Capital examine physical appearance as a normatively regulated form of capital and explore how it is possible to accumulate and convert capital based on physical appearance.