THE CONSTRUCTION OF METROSEXUAL MASCULINITY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

A study of masculinities necessarily begins with the notion that masculinity is a social construct, one that is dynamic and open, and it is this fluidity that allows it the capacity for change. To date, there has been a growing body of literature exploring the heterogeneity of masculinities. This thesis is concerned with ‘metrosexual masculinity' - a term coined by an English journalist Mark Simpson in 1994 to describe ‘modern’ men who are increasingly engrossed with how they look. A metrosexual is equipped with a discerning taste for the aesthetics, and he spends time and money on grooming and fashion products that were previously associated with female bodies and femininity. Underlying the thesis is Pierre Bourdieu's work on habitus, field and capital. In Bourdieusian terms, metrosexual masculinity is a product of embodied cultural capital that relies on distinction. In this paper, I refer to Simpson's definition and argue that metrosexual masculinity among youths in Singapore is made possible by the culture of aestheticisation and the masculinisation of the consumption culture; it is ultimately a strategy that young males play to construct their identity ?a strategy that they consciously and deliberately take on while navigating through gender and sexual politics.