marketing of masculinity

styling a masculine bedroom is a tautological impossibility

hugh hefner disagreed

yeah, i meant that's why i can't take the "fragile masculinity" trope seriously in the masculine bedroom example. even if a fragile masculinity strawman picks out the manliest throw pillows possible, he's still shopping for throw pillows, which presumably he would consider an effete endeavor to be avoided, if he was that paranoid about his own masculinity.

uh a dude just buys the cheapest sheet set at a department store in a neutral color and like two pillows for the bed. I totally did this in my early years of living alone. I don't think I had any throw pillows unless you count the ones that came with my couch.

All pillows can become throw pillows with enough arm force

i'm not talking about how people really behave, i'm mocking the fragile masculinity strawman construction. like the men's tea thing, the strawman who won't buy tea unless it's a MANS tea probably wouldn't be buying any variety of yogi tea anyway because of chakras and crystals and all that.

good lord @ "fragile masculinity" being a meme

― example (crüt), Thursday, June 18, 2015 5:21 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like I know men's products are the dumbest shit ever but after reading the words "masculinity" and "fragile" in close proximity so many times they become meaningless to me

― example (crüt), Thursday, June 18, 2015 5:22 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

let's invert expectations by calling men fragile instead of strong. mind blown

― example (crüt), Thursday, June 18, 2015 5:24 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah. i think 'fragility' can a useful way to frame the anxieties of masculinity, but not because it subverts your expectations and blows your mind. men are weak, DO YOU SEE?

― gwyneth anger (patron sailor), Thursday, June 18, 2015 6:03 AM Bookmark

Huh, I've mostly just seen "fragility" in conjunction with "whiteness" lately although used to describe masculinity it makes more sense tbh

also given the choice between Coke Zero and Diet Coke I will always go with C0 cause DC is some New Coke garbage

How strawmanny is this strawman, though? I don't think that many ppl would be ~consciously~ nervous or angry abt buying "lady" products but I do think that there are a great many ppl for whom it would not even occur that they, like, even have the option of buying these "lady" things, like "oh that's girly, that's not for me", and this sort of OTT "joke"-masculine marketing of masculinity provides sort of arm-around-the-shoulder "HA HA HA exaggerated comical manliness, right guys?? (no but rly fellas, it's safe for you to buy this thing now)"

like I feel like it's maybe used to "humorous" effect just to put ppl at ease

every time i see one of those ironic "masculine" advertisements. (surely old spice and whatever that iteration of dr pepper was are the paradigm for this) i think of the "irony bribe" idea:
http://commstudies.utexas.edu/sites/commstudies.utexas.edu/files/attachments/cloud/ironybribe.pdf

(as in, you can find a salve for your masculine anxiety in this product but of course you don't really suffer from any masculine anxiety it's just a goof you're totally manly the way you are)

there are entire categories of products that some men feel weird about buying. idgi. like men will not buy lotion even if their skin is gross because it's somehow feminine? there was a dude who maintained the warehouse area at my dad's workplace who wouldn't buy toilet paper for the restroom. I guess he'd never bought toilet paper in his life?

I think 2/3 of men's face lotions have to specifically claim they're "after shave" or "after shave lotion" even if it's just normal face lotion because why would men need lotion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPyNEbLnZh0

How strawmanny is this strawman, though?

it's not really so monolithic, imo, i just think there are tons of different varieties of masculinity used to sell to men of various demographics

i think what patron sailor said was otm: there are different ways to be male or masuline-identitied in this culture and marketing largely reflects that. "i'm not a chick" is def one of those demographics, but not the only one by far. the fragile masculinity trope is kinda tone-deaf in that it doesn't differentiate; it just finds anything marketed to men in general and reduces it to a convenient singular stereotype of the brutish mancave dweller. that's just lazy, and it's not smarter than the marketing it supposedly skewers.

can't believe someone marketed something pls hlp

darragh do u even man

irl lol

actually

:)

there was a dude who maintained the warehouse area at my dad's workplace who wouldn't buy toilet paper for the restroom. I guess he'd never bought toilet paper in his life?

didn't realise that using toilet paper was a feminine thing to do but well i guess if i wanna remain masculine i must make sacrifices

just manscape when it gets too clumpy

real men use bidets.

real men don't buy paper products, you mom buys those and then your wife when you move directly from your parents' home

I was listening to broadcast FM radio yesterday and discovered the haircut chain Sportsclips ends with "pick up your manhood and grab your Y chromosome and come to Sportsclips!"

They also had a line to the effect of, "You know those tv shows you watch with your wife about cupcakes and flowers? We don't have those, we have sports all the time"

The phrasing is off, but they really did say "cupcakes and flowers"

As a man, I avoid cupcakes. They go straight to my thighs.

So do sports.

grab both ur y chromosomes

"the only unassailable masculine act is policing masculinity" is a truthbomb once dropped on me

except women do it all the time ofc

brosé
brosé
brosé
brosé
brosé
brosé
brosé
brosé
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brosé
brosé
brosé

Kinda feel like this belongs here: Ed Hardy and Von Dutch designer Christian Audigier dead at 57.

I never pronounced him. :(

http://consumerqueen.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bounce_dryer_sheets.jpg

ah, so that's where "homies" came from.

PURE SPORT

Nothin' *soft* about this fabric softener!

Every 'men's scent' product smells like some bullshit to me. Weirdly atringent or piney or something.

they mostly make me want to throw up. I use an unscented deodorant.

they all smell like a cheapass version of stetson or old spice

Yes, basically.

They smell like someone's dad mowing the lawn. I mean, not literally, but you know what I mean.

you can't get a peppery musk to smell good after being blasted on to dryer sheets, stuck on a shelf, and then baked on to clothing in a dryer

who'd have thought

dudes get wiped out, totally

http://www.amazon.com/Dude-Wipes-Flushable-Singles-Travel/dp/B008LXBZF2

DUDE WIPES: FOR YOUR ASSHOLE

Dude Wipes are the first wipes for Dudes, ever. You use 'em after toilet paper during any duece and the rest is chill. Also great for a quick clean up of your face, hands, armpits, and dude regions. They'll keep ya fresh and stunna anywhere and everywhere. I Guarantee It (Men's Wearhouse Voice)

Saw these at Kroger and just assumed they had already been - ahem - covered on this thread already.

You use 'em after toilet paper during any duece and the rest is chill. Also great for a quick clean up of your face, hands, armpits, and dude regions.

I feel like anyone who actually is going to pay money for these are going to need much more explicit directions than this.

apparently they're also going to need dudelier wipes:

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Simply an individually packaged babywipe
By Evan on January 10, 2014
With the nice modern image and masculine name, I expected a wipe that would have some sort of masculine scent to it. Upon receipt, I was surprised to find out they smell very much like an baby wipe. Not worth it.

packaging looks great but the scent is not manly at all. Its like they repackaged women's wet wipes.

You use 'em after toilet paper during any duece and the rest is chill

dang this is just wonderful

during??