Are “Girlie Men” The New Heartthrobs?
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
guys
1:10PM, Monday June 29th 2009
The testosterone-fueled, ruggedly “handsome” screen star as we know him—strong jaw line, brooding eyes, a prominent nose—is on the way out, if the New York Observer is to be believed. Surely, in this post-“Queer Eye” world, it’s no secret that even the Manliest of Manly Men are trimming their facial scruff and plucking their beastly brows. But Irina Aleksader at the Observer wonders if what currently makes girls squeal are…girlie men.
Effeminate teen boys, like the Hansons, the Sprouses and the Jonas’, are standard fair for the Tiger Beat set. But the Observer says grown-up men with “softer” looks, like Zac Efron, Chace Crawford, Chris Pine, Robert Buckley (“Lipstick Jungle”), James Marsden and Ryan Reynolds, are the pioneers of the “New Male Beauty.” With their big, round eyes, dimples, and all-around pretty-pretty looks, you kinda want to stare at their gorgeousness more than you want to f**k them. Or just steal their hairdos.
I’m inclined to brush off this “New Male Beauty” idea as manufactured b.s. for a features article, but a recent porn magazine that debuted in Britain which used only “feminine” models has me wondering if Aleksander might have point. The editor-in-chief of the mag, Filament, said her staff relied on both published academic research and their own online research to figure out what makes women wet and “men who are not muscle-bound” and “men with more feminine face shapes” reigned supreme.
None of them really do it for me, though. I’m all for loosening up gender roles, but I’m not sure I want to date a man who is prettier than I am!
What do you think? Do you agree with the Observer that pretty men are the new standard of attractiveness for men? And what do you think of these dudes?
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GreenAura
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 01:17 pm: [report]
The thing that attracts me to men is their obvious masculinity. If I was sexually attracted to “pretty” I would possibly be questioning my heterosexuality. Not that there is anything wrong with pretty and effeminate, but I think I would literally break these boys in half. Give me Brad, Harrison and George anyday!!
joyy
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 01:24 pm: [report]
Is this really that new? Any women’s magazine that I’ve picked up over the last few years that had some sort of shirtless guy gallery or guy of the month was always glorifying these hairless wonders with babyfaces as “hot”.
All I could ever think upon seeing them was “this is a boy, not a man,” and then I just drew the conclusion that my penchant for rugged scruffy dudes wasn’t mainstream. But hey, that means more for me, right?
DancerNinja
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 01:43 pm: [report]
Research shows more that women are attracted to vary levels of “masculinity” based on her hormonal cycle over the month. That said, I want Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. Mmmm… I uh, I gotta go…
snap
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 01:49 pm: [report]
noooooooo. i like MEN. males. boys. not girly boys!
writergirl
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 01:53 pm: [report]
First off…Zac Effron is not a “grown up man”. He’s twelve. OR at least, he looks twelve.
I’ve noticed as someone said, naming the “pretty boys” as hot is the new thing and figured that I was just getting old.
I do find some pretty boys totally hot—Alexander Skarsgard, Henry Cavill, to name them—but there is an element of masculinity that the ones named in the above article are lacking.
Otherwise, yeah…give me Brad, George, Eric Bana, Johnny Dep and Hugh Jackman any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
tattooed_redhead
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 03:28 pm: [report]
Yeah, I don’t get the fuss over these little girly boys. I agree with writergirl, Efron looks 12. And that’s just wrong. Any guy who spends more time than I do in the bathroom getting ready in the morning is not an option. Now I need to go back to your manly chest hair pics to cleanse my palate!
lea322
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 03:42 pm: [report]
I have ALWAYS preferred a more “feminine” looking man to a rugged guy, but I think that’s got more to do with what I’m actually looking for in a man. I’d rather date a musician than a lumberjack, so subconsciously I go for more sensitive looking guy.
msu.umich
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 06:23 pm: [report]
No, they are not.
erikasf
wrote on June 29 2009 @ 06:27 pm: [report]
I love the pretty boys AND the rugged men. I think it is the youth of Chace and Zac that makes them seem “pretty.” But, if you look in People’s hottest bachelors issue, you can tell they both have some muscle definition.
I think Justin Hartley and Jared Padalecki have the best bodies in show business. Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig look great too, but I prefer men under 40
hereshestands
wrote on June 30 2009 @ 01:13 am: [report]
I don’t get the fuss over Zac Efron? I love the way Jensen Ackles in supernatural is all rugged and tough. I’d be worried if my bf started using moisturizer. Haha.
IrinaGonzalez
wrote on June 30 2009 @ 11:35 am: [report]
I’m with erikasf on this one, I totally love both. Though I’ll admit I’ve always had a soft spot for the girly men. And yes, I’m over 20 and love Zac Efron. And George. And Ryan Reynolds. And Hugh Jackman for that matter….
I Go To 11
wrote on June 30 2009 @ 08:25 pm: [report]
I’m with lea322. I’m not really into rugged he-men. I prefer the clean-cut, guy-next-door kind of man. Prime example: I’ve had a thing for Elijah Wood for many, many years.
MsCakey
wrote on June 30 2009 @ 08:33 pm: [report]
I’ll take Magnum P.I. AND all his chest hair over the Jonas Brothers any day
bumbler
wrote on June 30 2009 @ 09:11 pm: [report]
No thank you I prefer Viggo. I’ve always preferred the rugged look even when was going through puberty. Prior to that I wanted to marry a ninja turtle so I never went through the tiger beat phase.
sadie
wrote on July 6 2009 @ 01:14 pm: [report]
I am over 30 and love love love love pretty boys. I’m married to a skinny, baby-faced, pretty boy 4 years my junior who could pass for a high schooler easily, even though he just went to his 10 year reunion. He’s absolutely my favorite kind of guy. Muscle-bound, hairy-chested hulks hold no appeal for me. Maybe it’s because I’m tiny and don’t like to feel like my guy could crush me with one hand, but whatever it is, I love boys not men.
angel001717
wrote on July 7 2009 @ 12:50 pm: [report]
those guys are hot and quite attractive and all, but men are supposed to be MEN. just like women are supposed to be WOMEN. call me old fashioned.
Ryan S
wrote on July 11 2009 @ 06:16 pm: [report]
Again I’ve commented on this before. The idea is to effeminate and emasculate men. Many boys in American culture grow up without a father as 90% of fathers loose custody of their children in divorce. At most a young man may have contact with the masculine 4 days a month or every other weekend. The rest he will learn from the media. Most boys now are raised with sole female authority and figures at home and at school. Most boys now go on diets to loose muscle mass to appear thin and boyish along with shaving all secondary sexual characteristic body hair.
Soon our tribe might be invaded with truly masculine men with father and intact families. This could be the Chinese but no body knows. Our man-boys will be slaughtered and the territory and resources within the United States will be taken and plundered by more powerful and masculine males. What we have done to our boys is equivalent to taking young male deer at a young age and cutting off their horns. America does not know how to cultivate male masculinity but shames it at single mother homes, at school and society. Boys will act out as they have more and more. We are a truly ill society.
LostInStars
wrote on July 29 2009 @ 02:29 pm: [report]
I love a little of both. They both have their appeals. My first love looked eerily similar to Gerard Way, and my current man is more Sean Bean rugged. It’s not really a person’s look that makes them sexy in my eyes, it’s more of a state of mind, an attitude.