Recently, my awesome wife Sandra thought that I would like a subscription or two to men's magazines (no, NOT Playboy, Hustler, or Penthouse. These magazines are something that you can show your pre-Alzheimer's mother; definitely something in short order she will forget but something that would have amused your grandmother). These publications, in my opinion, are short on substance and long on advertisements.
There are plenty of ads for smokeless tobacco, booze, e-cigs, and yes fine cigars. And, sandwiched between some sports articles and stories of manly men doing manly things, there are ads for men's fragrances. These ads have a peel back section that allows you to smell/sample and see the price of the fragrance. You have got to be kidding me; these men's fragrances smell like something that teenage age girls with raging hormones would stand in line for eight hours to purchase. Do men really buy this stuff? Obviously they do or they would not be featured in these men's magazines. What the hell happened to Old Spice and Aqua Velva?
Nothing happened to Old Spice and Aqua Velva; they are still available. However, they have been marginalized by these very feminine fragrances that men are supposed to and now do embrace. Why? Wait for it, here it comes. Political Correctness has brought about the feminization of the American male; the term, it appears, is Metrosexual. True masculinity is out and something between male and female is in, for men. This is sad.
Personally, I cannot imagine real men, masculine men of the past embracing these things; they would have kicked such things to the curb and lost not a moment of sleep in the process. Here is a hint: Don't just try to smell like a man, be a man. As for me, I will stick to my Barbasol, Old Spice, and Aqua Velva.
Copyright@2015 Terry Unger
