Madam, - I am sick to death of hearing about the levels of masculinity in modern society. A few months ago, I read a magazine article about the emergence of the "metrosexual" and the superiority of the "ubersexual".
Admittedly, it may be my youth or my naive, teenage ignorance of life, but why is it that femininity is not being called into question or categorised in such a manner?
Why is it that a man cannot be sensitive, caring and emotionally aware without being branded (for want of a better term) as a "raging queer"? If a female roams around sporting men's clothing and displaying a "macho" attitude her sexual orientation is less likely to be queried.
Previously, I would have gladly referred to myself as a metrosexual: I talk about my emotions, I take good care of my physical self and I care about fashion. But lately, with so many terms and categories for us males to be lumped into, with such broad definition of male stereotypes, I am afraid to make any statement whatsoever about the stereotype I belong to, for fear the meaning would have changed in the five minutes since I last had the term defined to me.
Men are men, and women are women. So what is the difficulty in just referring to us by our gender, as opposed to the level of gender which we display. - Yours, etc,
ANTHONY BAILLY, Tralee, Co Kerry.