Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Side 54

Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2006, Side 54
52 ONCE WERE MEN have strong value as cultural capital ainong urban youths (Bro and Abegg, 2002: 31; Voss, 2005: 43-44). The boys are not ashamed of using the mirror on the wall, reg- ularly investigating their appearance criti- cally. Controlling the body weight through healthy diet and weekly sport activities is also very common today, even if some At- lantic cowboys argue that it is directly fool- ish and non-masculine to adapt everyday life to the ‘corrupt’ aim of limiting your weight. So-called metrosexual men (concept in- troduced by Mark Simpson in 1994), a widely discussed group within the urban youth category, are quite vain and narcis- sistic and indeed admired by both boys and girls who like these ‘asexual’ men’s image. David Beckham, an English football star, is the most famous person associated to met- rosexuality. He is, it is argued, an incarna- tion (or even prototype) of the curious new phenomenon called metrosexuality. Metro- sexual man is provocative and controversial as he liquefies categorical representations of gender differences and flirts with styles con- sidered homosexual and deviant (Benwell, 2003). Also, metrosexual man experiments courageously with different ethnic mascu- line styles, as when blond David Beckham changed hair-style and, thereafter, thousands of young men around the globe copied him: they got afro-curls (dread-locks). Urban men are in general relatively tolerant regarding people’s sexual and cultural identities, not propagating any rigid masculine identity considered the only ‘authentic’ option. Some of the urban youths are from relatively wealthy families with private enterprises and have therefore much money at hand to finance their expensive urban leisure life and consumption. Many young men have large networks embracing people from many places and with manifold social and cultural backgrounds, making them feel more ‘cos- mopolitan’ and sophisticated than the ‘sim- ple’ cowboys. Urban youth is partly alternative partly mainstream, its cultural subgroups being quite varied, still all of them are more peer group-oriented than family-based, more cul- turally individualized than traditional local. Many young urban men are very ambitious and focused regarding their future career, in- vesting time and resources in higher educa- tion and specialized intellectual formation. They behold pretentious visions concerning future work, leisure and family-life. Some young urban men, associated to marginal un- orthodox lifestyles, are stimulated by ‘post- modern’ youth styles from abroad. They like to travel to unknown destinations, wear colourful hippie-clothes, listen to under- ground music, and don’t care much about mainstream fashion and appearance. They oppose the extreme consumerism and com- mercial cultural globalisation characterizing contemporary western societies. They are a mosaic of urban ‘villagers’ composed of ac- tivists, idealists and other subcultural char- acters. Urban youth is in general closer linked to global trends and movements than the cowboys. Urban men are very conscious about their future and freedom (of choice), about cultural identity formation and taste, and don’t care very much about common gender-difference stereotypes. Their con- struction of masculinity is based on trends from the media as well as reflexive personal
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