marketing of masculinity

this makes me think of some of the things Susan Faludi talks about in her book Stiffed, which is like ten years old now, about how men were the next great unexploited fashion/beauty market.

Aren't Dockers for middle-aged fat-asses?

idk but the point is to feel cool when you buy them

Aren't Dockers for middle-aged fat-asses?

― uninspired girls rejoice!!! (Hoot Smalley), Tuesday, December 8, 2009 7:22 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u are the target audience

"actually -- little known historical fact that, when men were men, prior to disco, khakis were only worny by the ruggedest of bros"

Virtually the same style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6ZAXytvjY

this is the point at which everybody who made "ironic" lol sexism joaks in the 90s & 00s now has to pay for it by gouging their eyes out and dancing on them

ow my eyes

thank god i was an adolescent and actually sexist, whew

that khakis ad is so preposterous i cannot imagine taking it srsly on any level

the real question it poses--when will derisive "latte" comments become passe?

when will it be ok for men to eat salad again? how do you guys live on these all steak diets

just had my 17th heart attack tbh

i had a (bison) steak AND a salad for dinner tonight i will have you know

so you are like 50% man now

killed a man, too

This does remind me of a thread i wanted to start, about how the only time I ever use the phrase "men" or "women" seems to involve marketing pitches for Boomers, or gay bars. It's like "Magazine for Men" or "Bars for Men" I automatically equate to "gay-targeted". I mean, almost all of the males I ever encountered above the age of 18 fall into the category of "dudes," "guys", "fellas", "bros", or "homies".

I worked with a guy who talked about how they'd go on a "men's retreat" every year, which was pretty much just a chance to head out to the Oregon deserts and bro down with buddies with dune buggies.

stole his salad

wait so is driving dune buggies in the OR desert w/yr "bros" a gay thing????

8[

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQlSr9YjLc

here's to young white dudes and maybe firefighters can earn their way in maybe

here's to assholes

lol what is that music?

gbx, what kind of fork did you eat with?

if its plastic you're down to 45% man

being a man is about being a good human being imo

Psshaww I bet you enjoy eating salads

... with a PLASTIC FORK no doubt!

the real question it poses--when will derisive "latte" comments become passe?

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 6:04 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

i guess when derisive salad and disco comments become passe. which if judging by the durability of hairy lesbian comments = never.

ha lol everyone already made that joke i see

xp

wait so is driving dune buggies in the OR desert w/yr "bros" a gay thing????

No, it's a perfectly acceptable bros thing.

that ad at the top is a take-you-aside-and-be-serious version of a bad standup routine

Maybe you're not supposed to use utensils at all.

this IS desert season btw, no better time to throw a few cases of natty ice in the F-150, hook up the dirtbikes and roll out to glamis or gordon's well and fuckin BRO. DOWN. BRODER.

that sounds awesome but i guess i'm not invited

bro if you're heading out pick up some burreets or a double-double for the noshage

It's not the activity I laughed at, it's the description of it as their "Man's Retreat"

i had a (bison) steak AND a salad for dinner tonight i will have you know

― being being kiss-ass fake nice (gbx), Tuesday, December 8, 2009 8:08 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you will pay for your crimes against bison btw

yeah i mean ultimately "males" are going to want to get together every so often and do dumb shit. there will probably never be a good name for this.

lol i almost made a "u ate ilx user m bison joke!" but too meta. glad he is here tho

f-you dockers, I'm never wearing pants again

tbf probably the worst dudes are ppl that wear kilts just like, on the street in the city or whatever

yeah i mean ultimately "males" are going to want to get together every so often and do dumb shit. there will probably never be a good name for this.

politics?

apparently suits and beards are the new masculinity

new punchline:

ILM?

lulz yeah

not really bothered by kilts, girls are allowed to walk around in skirts so y not
probably wouldn't be friends with a kilter though

just don't wear the suit while walking to work

probably wouldn't be friends with a kilter though

right, exactly

http://www.goodmenbook.org/thebook.php

this thing is getting a lot of play atm and from an interview i heard w/ the filmmaker/compiler of stories it promises not to dovetail with most of the reductive trad bs above even though the trailer makes it seem like yes it will

i mean for a lot of western men a large part of 'what is it to be a man?' is going to be a reaction to the image/'era' these ads are advancing but even within that orbit there's more interesting questions than whether to wear brut or aramis, how to make a proper toast etc

I think at times the "be a MAN" schtick is kind of useful as a stand-in for "be an ADULT," -- something that's kind of useful in an era of prolonged childhood. I mean it's really fucking lame when it gets used as an excuse for retrograde attitudes or GQ-type marketing bullshit - where being a man is equated to being some kind of all around great guy with a perfect smile and a cool haircut.

But still, sometimes I find it helpful to say to myself "Be a man. Stop whining and pick yourself up," etc. even if that has hints of retrograde gender attitudes.

sorry, that was a little redundant

and then u put on yr dockers

i guess this shit has been going on for 40 years now, but

'epic fury'

grow up ffs. 'overlord' and 'torch' and 'cartwheel' were good enough for the *warfighters* you idiots fetishize

https://www.metropoliscomics.com/coverimages/gallery/sgt1.149a.jpg

Operation Ep-stein Files is our generation's Operation Iraqui Liberation and I'm here for it

Semi-former ILXor nabisco has a good piece on the rise of 'tactical' as a marketing hook.

There’s a comedian (and former Coast Guardsman) named Jim Tews who does an amusing bit about trying to get his father to drink more water. The trick, he decides, is to buy him a “tactical water bottle,” which he displays for the audience: It’s swaddled in a desert-drab carrier with copious attachment points and, Tews jokes, room for a few magazines of ammunition. Amazon, he points out, is full of products like this. There are tactical pens, a tactical kilt, even tactical dog food. For $56.99, you can purchase a tactical diaper bag, “in case you get deployed on the weekend you have the kids.” The guy in the product photo does indeed look like his nanny bailed on him right when he was supposed to show up for the 1991 Persian Gulf war.

also recently had a piece about 'chud'

My supervisor at work recommended that piece to me, and I was like "oh yeah I know that guy." He thought it was very funny.

(the "tactical" piece, that is)

fun article.

i've been really into this subreddit recently called Men of Purpose, it's kind of a goldmine

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Flife-v0-seqtbnfls50h1.jpeg%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dc68ccadf26647d5b203a7f5d3136ae9bf7b33ad2

https://i.postimg.cc/GmZj3v6B/man.png

i guess it doesn't have anything to do with marketing apart from being a window into the kind of online identity formation that leads people to want to buy tactical diaper bags, although even that's being charitable because i don't think any of the 13 yr old boys on this subreddit are getting laid or having babies

reeeeeeal men of purrrrrpose

lol yes i do that too!

Why 'Ballmaxxing' May Be More Dangerous Than You Think

the year of ballmaxxing dangerously

the irony is a lot of these ballmaxxing dudes are probably anti-vaxxers

I don't know what it is, and I refuse to click on the link.

yer missing out

yer maxxing out

all the maxxing stuff just makes me think of tj maxx and yeah they know about it

forget looksmaxxing, we've been tjmaxxing since 1976 🤭
Instagram · tjmaxx
500+ likes · 3 weeks ago
One thing @tjmaxx is going to do is serve us a good spring / summer staple! You don't need to spend a fortune to look put together, ...

can't believe the photo in op is still functional. kills me the way they had the gall to stick "Shop for Women's" after all that

Cronenberg's next film is about ballmaxxing taken too far

He'll reuse his old title Stereo

https://i.postimg.cc/c1Yc8H6S/gruntstyle.jpg

defending casual wear for 250 years bro

shaving my pits for the summer heck yeah gonna smell less like fat guy sweat

I guess Filson talk was in the other masculinity thread but these are going to be so popular with white guys who own technical gear but haven’t slept outdoors since that Phish show in ‘96.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRwW9CMAQzg

i think whatever that is might be my least favorite aesthetic

It's like they paint matched a '90s Lexus sedan but made it gaudy.

I saw a Filson wool vest at a work wear store last weekend and it was... $260

Their twill briefcases look cool but I've never had enough stuff to carry on a daily basis to need a bag.

Just read that men are now the primary customers of Botox injections in my country.

Gotta keep the balls nice and tight.

Botoxic masculinity