Psychologists and feminists try to show how men are changing, being affected by the rising aspirations of women and the widening range of behaviors that are now being loosely referred to as acceptably ‘masculine.’ Unfortunately, too much of this is the wishful thinking of political folks who want to ‘prove’ that men and women really aren’t all that different… and that ‘gender’ is a ‘culturally constructed’ identity. Real men find this all so amusing….as do Real women.
Some people define ‘real men’ as ‘retros’ who cling to traditional values and attitudes regarding masculinity. However, even by the most liberal of interpretations, this still accounts for 60% or so of all the men worldwide. This is not a insignificant group to ignore… or dare I say, it is not an insignificant ‘market.’
Leave it to business folks to show why the understanding of the ‘traditional’ male image is so important today. By appealing to traditional men — called “retros” — in the study, advertisers and marketers are reaching the largest single subset of the male population and these folks will carry a heavy influence on the future.
Leo Burnett — the famous advertising folks whose symbol is an apple ( during the early American depression, it was joked that someday Leo would be selling them rather than giving them away) came out with a study that asks the rhetorical question: “are marketers missing real men?” The simple answer is “yes”… with the exception of the great super bowl ads…. but then, beer companies know who buys their products!
Here’s the bottom line on the study:
“…the majority of men surveyed (60 percent) aren’t caught up in this gender debate and live by a more traditional set of standards for assessing their masculinity. This larger group is more focused on defining themselves in the eyes of other men, largely by seeking respect and admiration for being successful in their professional life on one end of the spectrum, or their personal, family life on the other. The study dubs these men on the “Traditional Male Spectrum” as Power Seekers and Patriarchs, respectively, and contends they are largely overlooked by popular culture, the media and marketers.”
So what do I think? Although biology may not be destiny, and that our nature may be shaped via those who nurture us… science is beginning to demonstrate the uncomfortable notion that who we are is determined significantly by our biology. The concepts that gender and masculinity are socially constructed are dissolving and a science based understanding of our true nature is becoming better understood.
Regardless of the future roles of men on the planet, real men will continue to exist, in a large part, because real women will demand it.
Roger Freberg
PS. by the way, the picture above is of a few good men and a few good women in Iraq…
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