(Dis-)Identifying with ‘metrosexual’ masculinity online: A membership categorisation analysis

Matthew Hall, Brendan Gough and Susan Hansen (forthcoming)

The relatively recent growth of identity categories for men participating in non-conventional masculine activities can be linked to contemporary consumption and lifestyle opportunities. While there have been various studies pertaining to media representations of ‘metrosexuality’, ‘new’ masculinities, and the marketing of health and beauty products to men, we currently know little about how men define, ascribe to and disavow contemporary identity markers such as ‘metrosexual’. The existence of online forums dedicated to the discussion of metrosexuality provides an obvious opportunity to examine contemporary masculinities. This paper reports on a study of one such internet forum, using membership categorisation analysis to investigate the deployment of metrosexuality and related identity categories. Our analysis highlights the masculinised parameters through which metrosexuality is taken up (and rejected), which include notions of vanity, conspicuous consumption, professional status and sexual prowess. The continued influence of hegemonic forms of masculinity in this context is discussed.

Men’s lifestyle magazines, ‘metrosexuality’ and readers’ responses: A membership categorisation analysis.

Since the launch of men’s lifestyle magazines in the 1980s academic literature has predominantly focused on them as either, a cultural phenomenon arising from entrepreneurial and commercial initiatives, or as cultural texts that contain representations of masculinity such as ‘new lad’ and ‘new dad.’ This paper steps aside from those debates, instead treating the text as a discursive resource in which gender and sexuality are negotiated, orientated to and accomplished by the magazines editorial team and its readership. Membership categorisation analysis is deployed to explore how the relatively new (and perhaps alternative) masculine category ‘metrosexual’, with its associated consumption of fashion, grooming and cosmetic products, is presented and received. Rather than continuing the trend of analysing print-based publications, this paper also seizes the opportunity of recent shifts to free online consumption.