Men And Beauty Culture
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
We're here because your heightened awareness deserves heightened entertainment. The Last Show with David Cooper. Believe it or not, many men are moisturizing, they're toning, they're bulking, they're injecting, all the while insisting it's not working on their beauty. So let's talk about how guys can be deep in beauty appearance culture, but somehow allergic to that word, beauty. They'll call it anything but that. I am joined by Dr. Jordan Foster, a sociology professor at McEwen University in Edmonton, to discuss this. He's done research on this. Jordan, what a pleasure it is having you on the show. Thank you for having me, David. It's great to be here. So when we say men are embracing beauty culture but refusing to call it that, what are they calling it instead?
What is the significance of men embracing beauty culture?
And why does that matter? Yeah.
Well, so two things to take into consideration. One is that across data points, we know men are embracing beauty culture. If it's, as you said, you know, turning to injections or cosmetic surgery, we know this is on the uptick. More sort of everyday or mundane practices like investing in a skincare routine, moisturizers, those are also sort of on the uptick. So men are certainly engaging. But as you've noted, they're really avoiding that language of beauty and beautification.
Why do men avoid the term 'beauty' when discussing their grooming habits?
So they've called it, honestly, everything and anything but beauty. So we've seen, for example, the term looks maxing really trending among men. So silly. But it's a sort of more masculine way of referring to like practices of beautification. We've seen men, you know, talking about self-optimization, taking a sort of entrepreneurial spin toward their beauty practices and investments in appearance and attractiveness. Sometimes we might just be calling this bulking up, right, or becoming more attractive or available, right? You'll sometimes see a sort of sexualized bent on this too. So we might see men, for example, describing this in terms of optimizing appearance for women, for their dates, for making sure that they show up as their best self.
So for the straight men out there, I'm going to disclose something to make it, you know, normalized. I keep a little stick of concealer in my pocket, you know, to cover zits and stuff. And I don't care. But I feel like when I'm at the airport and I toss it in the bin and then people look at me like, why does this guy have a makeup stick? I still feel like it's weird. Somehow... I don't want to be associated with like feminine beauty culture. I mean, I don't care on its surface, but I still feel that like judgment. Is that why this distinction matters? Like men are somehow being judged as being feminine and that's somehow a bad thing. It shouldn't be.
Yeah. And I think that's a big part of it, right? Is that beauty is this deeply feminized subject matter or domain, right?
What alternative terms do men use to describe their beauty practices?
Of practice. So We often associate practices related to beauty as being frivolous, as being superficial. And that sort of is consistent with how we've often treated feminine subjects and femininity more broadly. So it's not surprising in light of that, that men are sort of, as you said, allergic to the term beauty, that they might be critiqued as superficial or vain for having, like you said, a stick of concealer or even using lip chap. Now, on the other hand, there is some I would describe maybe more progressive conversations around beauty online. So there are more men talking about, you know, I do have that stick of concealer or I am using like a CC cream to color correct my face to sort of look a little bit better.
Not often in that language of beauty. It's couched in other spaces and other kinds of vocabularies. But it is, I think, a positive to see more men at least openly beginning to have this dialogue in this conversation around the work that they're doing on their bodies.
And it's so mixed up because there are domains where men are, quote unquote, allowed to care about their look. For example, no one would judge a man for buying like a perfectly tailored suit. But that's aesthetics. That's beauty.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:49
2
What is the significance of men embracing beauty culture?
0:49–1:17
3
Why do men avoid the term 'beauty' when discussing their grooming habits?
1:17–2:45
4
What alternative terms do men use to describe their beauty practices?
2:45–6:15
5
How is masculinity influencing men's engagement with beauty culture?
6:15–10:06
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Last Show with David Cooper
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