Ultimate masculinity. What is it? How does one define it? How do you know if you are expressing it? Is it Arnold Schwarzenegger with his big ol muscles or is it Prince with his perfectly sexy swagger? Or could it be, is it really..just a totally contrived expression by which its very design emasculates men at every turn?
Last year Dockers launched an ad campaign...yes, an oppressive AD CAMPAIGN to make you buy Dockers and failed miserably. The spin was if you are a man drinking coffee, eating salads, going to the club, and clean...you are not very manly...so butch up and wear khaki dockers? ha! Really? They failed mostly because who in this world associates Docker pants with masculinity? Here is the quote....
"Once upon a time, men wore the pants, and wore them well. Women rarely
had to open doors and little old ladies never crossed the street alone.
Men took charge because that’s what they did. But somewhere along the
way, the world decided it no longer needed men. Disco by disco, latte
by foamy non-fat latte, men were stripped of their khaki’s and left
stranded on the road between boyhood and androgyny. But today, there
are questions our genderless society has no answers for. The world sits
idly by and cities crumble, children misbehave and those little old
ladies remain on one side of the street. For the first time since bad
guys, we need heroes. We need grown-ups. We need men to put down the
plastic fork, step away from the salad bar and untie the world from the
tracks of complacency. It’s time to get your hands dirty. It’s time to
answer the call of manhood. It’s time to wear the pants.”
Listen, maybe I am crazy, but lattes are just drinks, salad is just a healthy meal, dirty hands just need to be cleaned and Dockers need to get some self awareness and realize even if there could be a universal symbol for masculinity....Dockers will NEVER be it.