What a great article! My nephews are young men (17 and 21) and they definitely care about grooming and think overly gendered products are so weird. I suspect it's hard for average people 40 and older to understand how cringey our cultural hyper fixation on gender is to them. I for one am GLAD they see it as bizarre and are bright enough to read ingredient lists. And I'm glad to hear the cosmetic and beauty treats all of us like idiots because as women you know you're a target and it's nice to know men see themselves being treated poorly too and ideally together we can affect change in the industry through spending.
The other side of this ugly coin isn't just that men have be told "keep out." It's that anything coded as feminine is "un-serious" or "frivolous." One need only look at how trans women are treated to know that aspiring toward the feminine is the most contemptable thing a man can do. So instead of bucking that nonsense, the market embraced it. You don't want that *girly* stuff, it's beneath you, here have this crap product marketed to be on *your level.*
I think the import of K-Beauty gets some credit for changing trends. The packaging isn't coded, and advertising in the US was mostly word of mouth for a long time. I personally love the unisex trend, and hope it's here to stay.
What a great article! My nephews are young men (17 and 21) and they definitely care about grooming and think overly gendered products are so weird. I suspect it's hard for average people 40 and older to understand how cringey our cultural hyper fixation on gender is to them. I for one am GLAD they see it as bizarre and are bright enough to read ingredient lists. And I'm glad to hear the cosmetic and beauty treats all of us like idiots because as women you know you're a target and it's nice to know men see themselves being treated poorly too and ideally together we can affect change in the industry through spending.
Don't point your finger at those of us that are over 40. Speaking for myself I think a well put together man is sexy as hell.
The other side of this ugly coin isn't just that men have be told "keep out." It's that anything coded as feminine is "un-serious" or "frivolous." One need only look at how trans women are treated to know that aspiring toward the feminine is the most contemptable thing a man can do. So instead of bucking that nonsense, the market embraced it. You don't want that *girly* stuff, it's beneath you, here have this crap product marketed to be on *your level.*
I think the import of K-Beauty gets some credit for changing trends. The packaging isn't coded, and advertising in the US was mostly word of mouth for a long time. I personally love the unisex trend, and hope it's here to stay.