Sunflower Seed #6: Men

Last week in class we were assigned the reading titled Boys will Be Boys by Guy Garcia and also watched a video clip in titled Mansome. After last Thursdays class there were many connections that were made between the video and the reading but there were three in particular that stood out to me.

Within the video Mansome it begins to talk about how men all around the world have decorated themselves but it is now becoming more socially acceptable for men to do so. Things like shaving or maintaining grooming areas is becoming a more common practice. In the reading Boys will be Boys it discusses how advertisers are now trying to get men to look at themselves more so that they have to buy the new products. This connects because as stated in Mansome the growing youth is now becoming more concerned with there appearance as more products are becoming available. 

The second connection I made was when both the reading and the video discussed the idea of becoming a man. Within the video when the two men are sitting together in the hot tub they say that the idea of becoming a man is when the individual starts to take responsibilities for their actions. A similar idea is discussed in the reading. Men are now said in the reading to be taking responsibilities now more related to their significant others rather than themselves. The older generations of men did not use to spend so much time within the house doing house hold things but now that is not the case. 

The most important connection I found between the reading and the video was the idea called Metrosexual. This term is described as a man who is heterosexual but thinks his appearance is very important. This term also makes an appearance in the reading as well. In the reading it talks about when the term first hit the U.S and it almost instantly became a slur word. This word changed the "soul of the male consumer"(Garcia, 3).