Welcoming the Metro Sexual Male and Saying Goodbye to the "Perfect" Woman
Beauty has always been emphasized in popular culture. But currents are pulling in different directions today as the myth of women's perfection is heightened by the exposure of photoshopped pictorials and as female comics like Lena Dunham take the "sexy" out of Sex and the City by portraying realistic womanhood with all its fat, wrinkles, spots and imperfections. As for men, the once rugged masculinity of the John Wayne type has given over to the Bradley Cooper/Tim Gunn type of well-groomed "metro sexuality." In one sense, it appears that the idea of woman as goddess is being, to an extent, displaced (or at least rivaled) by the idea of man as Adonis. In short, beauty -- in terms of manicured nails, good skin, and full-bodied hair -- is no longer just for women.
Evidence for this stunning claim is found in NY Daily News, which reports a 66% increase in the sale of male beauty treatment products from 2011-12, putting men on pace to be at par with women in the purchasing of such products ("Men Spending More to Look Good"). This statistic supports what can readily be observed in the media as iconic male models are more and more frequently noted for their fastidious attention to appearance.
Beauty & the Disney Beast "Beauty and the Beast" was never really about beauty or ugliness. It has always been about admiration; the reaching out and obtaining of a kind of wealth that otherwise seemed beyond comprehension. Not surprisingly, of course, since ugliness cannot be rewarded in its own right -- or at least it couldn't be prior to the advent of reality TV -- the creature gifted with the keys
Beauty & Sadness in Japanese Literature My Dear Friend, I applaud you ambition to visit Japan for a summer session of study, and your focus on the distinct works of literature and art to emerge from Japanese culture is admirable. Having devoted much of my own studies to Japanese literature, both in historical and contemporary form, I can honestly say that you are embarking on a personal quest for knowledge that, while
Baudelaire's poem makes clear that beauty is actually closer to a form of death, acting like a drug that poisons one's mind, creates addiction and finally brings one closer to death. The very title of the book of poems the flowers of Evil which associates the flower, a conventional representation of beauty with "evil," announces a different kind of poetic testimony. Examining Baudelaire's volume of poems, Marcel a Ruff points
While the sisters have to rub their eyes with an onion to make it look like they are crying, the brothers actually shed real tears. Beauty, on the other hand, "did not cry at all, because she did not want to make everyone even sadder" (De Beaumont 71). In addition to serving as another case in which women's self-expression is discouraged, this incident shows the brother's favorable characterization in
Beauty and Life of the Monarch Butterfly This is a paper about the Monarch Butterfly. What animal kingdom is it from? Listed is the life cycle of the butterfly. What are the adaptations of the Monarch Butterfly? THE BEAUTY OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY Many people think butterflies live in a carefree environment, but they are wrong. They seem so peaceful visiting flowers, but they are bound by social conventions and instincts of their
Beauty & Sadness in Japanese Literature A modernization of the story "An Account of a Ten Foot Square Hut" Many, many years ago, it is said that the Buddha went out into the world, seeking to free himself from his cloistered palace -- and saw sickness, old age, and death. Upon seeing this inevitable suffering, he resolved to free the world with his philosophy, and lead us all to Enlightenment. Although our
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