# "Metrosexual" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 4, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040 "2003-12-04T22:55:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/1 "2003-12-04T22:55:37Z")
Why hasn’t anyone pitted this word yet? I can’t be the only one who thinks it’s stupid! Why the “sexual”? Why the “Metro”? Why does there need to be a whole new word for an old phenomenon? It’s just old-fashioned fopism, and it’s always survived in Europe. Not to mention the braindead stereotypes it implys. “Straight men - trying to look good?! But only gay men do that!!” Who’s that much of a rube to think like that? ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/2 "2003-12-04T22:58:00Z")
I never really understood the word. What does someone’s sexual preferences have to do with how they dress? ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/3 "2003-12-04T23:02:15Z")
I personally like to refer to myself as an H.E.D. - that is, “Highly Evolved Dude!” I know, I know… it’s all a bit of a spoof on these silly terms but my friends reckon I spell it incorrectly - they reckon I should spell it H.E.A.D. for “Highly Evolved ARROGANT Dude!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MrBerious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MrBerious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBerious)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/4 "2003-12-04T23:03:03Z")
People who have sex with subway trains innit? Dirty buggers. ---
**Author:** ![greck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ab992/32.png) [@greck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greck)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/5 "2003-12-04T23:08:06Z")
See, it used to be that if a guy used moisturizer, got manicures, did hair treatments, trimmed his eyebrows, got body waxing (bodybuilders excluded) he was referred to as “nancyboy” or “homo” or “faggot” Nowadays we know that just cause a sissyboy wants to look pretty doesn’t mean he wants to kiss other men. Such an abomination of maleness deserves a ridiculous title, but we know that fag isn’t the right one. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/6 "2003-12-04T23:16:43Z")
Because “countrysexual” sounds dumb, and a little scary. ---
**Author:** ![county](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce7236/32.png) [@county](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/county)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/7 "2003-12-04T23:26:14Z")
I don’t even know aht “metrosexual” means unless it has something to do with sex on the DC mass transit system. That said, what about Butch, Fem, Dom, Gay, Homosexual, Fairy, etc etc etc. I am heterosexual and I want to know just why I don’t have all those types/names of sexuality available to me? (Except for that “countrysexual” thing; which sounds like a description of sex I read about in a Faulkner novel once) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/8 "2003-12-04T23:39:04Z")
Well, it rhymes with Het’rosexual, so it kind of explains itself. I guess someone figures it’s a good way to sell products, or at least magazines. Yuppie, Guppie, Buppie…, Metrosexual. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/9 "2003-12-05T00:53:23Z")
I’d never heard this term until that recent episode of South Park, and I think the only place I’ve seen it since then was in the indie section at the video store. It’s stupid, but it’s not overwhelming, at least not in the fairly limited circles I run in. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/10 "2003-12-05T01:13:53Z")
Well, I happen to think it’s hilarious and spot on. I live in the DC area, but I grew up in small town Arkansas, and I was initially taken aback by the number of straight men that were, um, light in their (very expensive) loafers, so to speak. Hair gel, manicures, massages, expensive clothes…feh! Heck, I never thought I exuded machismo, exactly, but around here, I feel like a lumberjack! Gawd! Sometimes I see guys in the bathroom primping and preening and fussing about like a dang woman…geez, dudes, grow a set! ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/11 "2003-12-05T01:25:34Z")
Has anyone been clothes shopping this winter yet? Almost the entire selection at the nicer department stores (Foleys, Nordstrom, etc.) are “metrosexual” wear. I am 6’3" and 225 lbs and this stuff will _never_ look good on me, assuming that I liked it in the first place. All you guys better have a talk with the wives/girlfriends if you don’t want to be in for a big surprise Christmas morning. Unless, of course, you look like the host of “American Idol”, whathisname. That was the picture that came to mind as I looked at this stuf. ---
**Author:** ![cuauhtemoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecb155/32.png) [@cuauhtemoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuauhtemoc)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/12 "2003-12-05T01:42:40Z")
I absolutely, 100% agree with the OP. It’s just another bullshit stereotype and it’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/13 "2003-12-05T01:55:35Z")
I recently found [a quiz](http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/quiz?event_id=418) that supposedly destermines if you’re a metrosexual. Answered the questions as though I was my brother, and got 0 out of 12… a “lost cause” according to the test. F\_X ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/14 "2003-12-05T02:16:50Z")
Any word that can describe something that used to take 8 words it’s ok in my book. I also don’t consider it a stereotype. ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/15 "2003-12-05T02:27:45Z")
> [@](#): > > - KidCharlemagne\* > > Any word that can describe something that used to take 8 words it’s ok in my book. I also don’t consider it a stereotype. “dandy” - five letters “fop” - three letters both just one word. What eight words are you thinking about? ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/16 "2003-12-05T03:02:06Z")
In the 80’s it was called Yuppie. History occasionally repeats itself. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/17 "2003-12-05T03:39:42Z")
I thought that this was funny (saw it in Fark a while back): [Man Blamed for the ‘Metrosexual’ Says ‘Sorry’ - and Outs Himself As ‘Lesbosexual’](http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/031118/nytu186_1.html) > [@](#): > > British writer Mark Simpson, credited by the New York Times for fathering the ‘metrosexual’ – the moisturised, image-conscious male the global media has gone ga-ga for in recent months – has apologised. > “I had no idea what I was starting,” he said, speaking exclusively from his home in London, England. “If I’d known that metrosexuals would take over the world and make everyone wear fake tan and use glutinous hair care products I would have written about baseball instead.” ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/18 "2003-12-05T04:01:00Z")
I don’t want FOP, god damnit! I’m a Dapper Dan man! ---
**Author:** ![Priam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Priam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Priam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/19 "2003-12-05T04:40:49Z")
Hah! Busting stereotypes from the other way, I scored 0-2 on that quiz thingie although I’ll admit its not ideal in structure. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040/20 "2003-12-05T04:56:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pizzabrat \* > \*\*“dandy” - five letters > “fop” - three letters > > both just one word. > > What eight words are you thinking about? \*\* I don’t think either of those have the same connotation as metrosexual. I have a number of friends I would classify as metrosexual but not foppish or dandyish. IMO, the latter two suggest an effeminacy of manner whereas metrosexual doesn’t. One of my good friends, while well-dressed, doesn’t affect any effeminate mannerisms but if you walk into his bathroom you’ll see 5 different Clinique and Kiehl’s skin cair products and shampoo made from the placenta of albino pandas. You can tell a dandy when you see one but you have to see a man’s bathroom to determine his Kinsey rating on the metrosexual scale. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metrosexual/217040.md?page=2)