Metrosexual is now 20 years old and has given rise to the ‘spornosexual’
Metrosexual is now 20 years old and has given rise to the ‘spornosexual’.
Journalist, Mark Simpson, the man who coined the word ‘metrosexual’ 20 years ago, says that the ‘metrosexual’ men have evolved into a new type of men; a more extreme, sex and body obsessed version has emerged – ‘spornosexual’.
The metrosexual was manly, but was not shy to be vain. He was happy to use makeup, pay for nice clothes and grooming himself constantly. He was clearly not gay, he just sought to bed as many beautiful women as possible.
Throughout the era of the ‘metrosexual’, sport symbols became sex symbols, sex symbols became sports symbols a good example is David Beckham, and that’s how ‘sporno’ came about. Simpson says ‘spornosexual’ are the product of sport getting into bed with porn and the result is men who want to be desired by their bodies. The ‘spornosexual’ is a fit, bulky and ridiculously good looking man.
The ‘spornosexual’ is a man who spends money on cosmetic surgery, hours at the gym honing the ‘perfect body’ and more hours in the bathroom fussing and plucking.
This is how Simpson describes the new modern man:
“With their painstakingly pumped and chiselled bodies, muscle-enhancing tattoos, piercings, adorable beards and plunging necklines it’s eye-catchingly clear that second-generation metrosexuality is less about clothes than it was for the first. Eagerly self-objectifying, second generation metrosexuality is totally tarty. Their own bodies (more than clobber and product) have become the ultimate accessories, fashioning them at the gym into a hot commodity – one that they share and compare in an online marketplace.”
These men you probably find ogling themselves in the mirror, taking more time to get ready than their girlfriends and want to be desired by their bodies, not by the clothes they ear or their brilliant minds.
The pressure is on for the new generation of young men who grew up used to images of men with shiny, chiselled pecs and ripped flat stomach as a norm. It sure sounds like a lot to live up to.
