The blurring of the boundaries between the cosmetic provinces of men and women continues and is evidenced in hair color, body shaving, moisturizing, nail finish and eyebrow treatment. The markers of heterosexuality in the male are migrating and morphing. Straight men carry bags. Straight men trim their pubic hair (a disorienting development when one considers the fact that in health club showers across the country, a neatly clipped crotch used to be an absolute indicator that the man under the adjacent spray was gay.)
I want to focus on the matter of eyebrows. It seems to have become acceptable for men to shape or make-up their eyebrows. It's no longer an element of cross-dressing or an indicator of feminization. It seems that men are simply giving themselves more license to have fun with their appearance. The fear of recriminations is evaporating as more men paint their toe nails, choose hair color that goes far beyond killing the gray and acquire the eyebrows of Liz Taylor's Cleopatra. Is this the child of metrosexuality?
Here's the question. Where will this lead? Most women don't like to admit that the make-up they use for the workplace is largely applied for the benefit of their own mirror and for the inspection of their female coworkers. It's not to trap a mate. If men grow comfortable with cosmetic applications that are not indicators of drag or sexual orientation will they too become addicted to participation in a multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry and an addiction to maintaining a public face that never appears without paint?
Anyway, these things came to mind as I viewed a photo (by QNY's Dr. Jeff) of HRC's Bryan Parsons (a handsome New Yorker, as if I need to mention it). I've also provided his professional Ernst & Young headshot. Did the invitation to to the HRC gala say "Black tie and eyebrows"?
