marketing of masculinity

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk34/feministing/Picture1-15.png

fucking hell

what clothing company is that for?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFj3FJlBT8Q

that commercial : /

5 seconds after it ends a bunch of russian mob dudes come in blazing

looool

That ad makes me want to cut off my own dick.

http://www.us.dockers.com/season/landing.aspx

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN

* Men
* Women
* Fit Guide
* Man-ifesto

dos equis most interesting man commercials to thread

xp btw Hoot thinking that thought makes you cRaZy

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh thank you for bringing this to my attention

dos equis ads are at least pretty tongue-in-cheek

http://contexts.org/socimages/tag/gender-masculinity/

Holding Doors Open For Women

being a man is about being a good human being imo

maybe dockers will help u

this makes me think of some of the things Susan Faludi talks about in her book Stiffed, which is like ten years old now, about how men were the next great unexploited fashion/beauty market.

Aren't Dockers for middle-aged fat-asses?

idk but the point is to feel cool when you buy them

Aren't Dockers for middle-aged fat-asses?

― uninspired girls rejoice!!! (Hoot Smalley), Tuesday, December 8, 2009 7:22 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u are the target audience

"actually -- little known historical fact that, when men were men, prior to disco, khakis were only worny by the ruggedest of bros"

Virtually the same style:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl6ZAXytvjY

this is the point at which everybody who made "ironic" lol sexism joaks in the 90s & 00s now has to pay for it by gouging their eyes out and dancing on them

ow my eyes

thank god i was an adolescent and actually sexist, whew

that khakis ad is so preposterous i cannot imagine taking it srsly on any level

the real question it poses--when will derisive "latte" comments become passe?

when will it be ok for men to eat salad again? how do you guys live on these all steak diets

just had my 17th heart attack tbh

i had a (bison) steak AND a salad for dinner tonight i will have you know

so you are like 50% man now

killed a man, too

This does remind me of a thread i wanted to start, about how the only time I ever use the phrase "men" or "women" seems to involve marketing pitches for Boomers, or gay bars. It's like "Magazine for Men" or "Bars for Men" I automatically equate to "gay-targeted". I mean, almost all of the males I ever encountered above the age of 18 fall into the category of "dudes," "guys", "fellas", "bros", or "homies".

I worked with a guy who talked about how they'd go on a "men's retreat" every year, which was pretty much just a chance to head out to the Oregon deserts and bro down with buddies with dune buggies.

stole his salad

wait so is driving dune buggies in the OR desert w/yr "bros" a gay thing????

8[

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bQlSr9YjLc

here's to young white dudes and maybe firefighters can earn their way in maybe

here's to assholes

lol what is that music?

gbx, what kind of fork did you eat with?

if its plastic you're down to 45% man

being a man is about being a good human being imo

Psshaww I bet you enjoy eating salads

... with a PLASTIC FORK no doubt!

the real question it poses--when will derisive "latte" comments become passe?

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 6:04 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

i guess when derisive salad and disco comments become passe. which if judging by the durability of hairy lesbian comments = never.

ha lol everyone already made that joke i see

xp

wait so is driving dune buggies in the OR desert w/yr "bros" a gay thing????

No, it's a perfectly acceptable bros thing.

that ad at the top is a take-you-aside-and-be-serious version of a bad standup routine

Maybe you're not supposed to use utensils at all.

this IS desert season btw, no better time to throw a few cases of natty ice in the F-150, hook up the dirtbikes and roll out to glamis or gordon's well and fuckin BRO. DOWN. BRODER.

that sounds awesome but i guess i'm not invited

bro if you're heading out pick up some burreets or a double-double for the noshage

What’s the drip?

drip is performative luxury - ostentatiously materialist fashion, stuff that costs a lot and wants everyone to know it

fascinating map, thank you!

Yeah, Swole looks interesting.

fashion pioneer

https://dinopixel.com/preload/0322/Mario-Goomba-Shoe.png

🎵 I'm a swole man 🎵

how do we collectively feel about these boots

― Andy the Grasshopper

speaking as someone who is very into the pirate look in a queer way, i find it conceptually intriguing but not quite there

has anyone tried the "business suit with kilt" look?

I ordered a safety razor last night. I need to be more diligent about shaving my cheeks and neck (I just use a Gillette One thing, it tears up my neck), the most recommended electric razor is $250+ and I never thought a Mach 3 gave me a very smooth shave.

The top kit on Amazon was VIKING RAZORS. Shave like a NORTHMAN. PILLAGE your face.

i think i've mentioned him before on ilx, but i do want to again specifically recommend swolesome on youtube - a guy who's very into fitness but is also very _not_ into alpha male grifter bullshit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-7KZU6lSTA

his most recent video on men and vulnerability kinda connects back to what i came here to post. my therapist recommended me this video about lovingkindness meditation where a skeptic, a cis guy talks about his reservations about the idea of lovingkindness meditation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJNLbPpVT_Q

what i found cool was not so much his pointing out that meditation is evidence-based, but the idea he had, the kind of assumption that these sorts of practices are "woo". lovingkindness meditation, doing that for the first time for him was an act of vulnerability. he talks about having to fight the idea of being ashamed of lovingkindness, treating it like porn. when in fact swolesome is right in pointing out that vulnerability, physical and emotional, is strength. it's how to _not_ be brittle, how to _not_ be fragile. and to hear him specifically refer to it as "kindergarten" stuff - i remember that book _All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten_. and i think it's super interesting, that's an expression of masculinity that was acceptable in 1990 that isn't acceptable now. in the 1990s there was... i was watching the old seattle TV show "almost live!" and their recurring bob ross sketch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgiF2sQzo7g

back then bob ross was a punchline, and younger people see him as a hero and to me he was a punchline, like, some kind of thomas kinkade dude. it's only in retrospect that the differences between him and kinkade are so apparent.

in the 90s as an art student I didn't consider Bob Ross a punchline, he was on public television and therefore could not be criticized. Kinkade on the other hand was an almost comic-book art villain, a unrepentant sellout at a time when selling out was just about the worst thing you could do.

a guy who's very into fitness but is also very _not_ into alpha male grifter bullshit.

*waves* hiii

thanks for sharing lovingkindness meditation. it refocused my practice today in a way that directly gave me what i needed.

that's really great to hear! yeah i've had a lot of trouble self-validating lately so this week my therapy "homework" is to do lovingkindness meditations in the mornings. i kinda dropped off from doing meditation when i quit my job, and i'm worse off for it.

Milo

The top kit on Amazon was VIKING RAZORS. Shave like a NORTHMAN. PILLAGE your face.

This explains the poor market performance of my brand of shaving supplies called "Poorly Defended British Monastery."

Sucks because we were excited to release our pre-shave balm "Oh No! They Got Brother Francis!"

So we probably won't get any further on developing our aftershave lotion, "Please, Not the Axe!"

Cuthbert’s Cooling Gel

Lol ymp

https://valkyriebeardcare.com/products/the-monk-beard-oil

I googled for that, assuming it would exist. Everything exists now, that's the problem. How weird is the blurb?

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Monk Beard Oil
Monk Beard Oil
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1 fl oz Beard Oil in a jute bag
Ingredients: Jojoba Oil, Argan Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Essential and Fragrance Oil

SCENT: An ancient and sophisticated blend of Frankincense and Myrrh with minor notes of smoke, aged parchment, incense and musk

GENRE: Resinous, Ancient, Warm

INSPIRATION: Imagine for a second you are on a raid, your ship is offshore just outside the gates. The moment you enter the city, approaching the monastery while everyone is praying, you hear the chanting in the distance. They don't know you have come. One of your men ever-so-slowly opens the doors of the monk's monastery. You see so many holy riches and before you grab what you came for, you take in a deep breath and fill your lungs with the smells of incredible ancient oils such as smoldering Frankincense and the resinous Myrrh. Combining these with minor notes of aged parchment, incense and musk, this is an ancient but warm and inviting scent. You realise you want to fuck a monk.

Oh, BROTHER!

That's a habit I wanna get into

IfyouknowwhatImeanAndIthinkyoudo

Silence!

INSPIRATION: Imagine for a second you are on a raid, your ship is offshore just outside the gates. The moment you enter the city, approaching the monastery while everyone is praying, you hear the chanting in the distance. They don't know you have come. One of your men ever-so-slowly opens the doors of the monk's monastery. You see so many holy riches and before you grab what you came for, you take in a deep breath and fill your lungs with the smells of incredible ancient oils such as smoldering Frankincense and the resinous Myrrh. Combining these with minor notes of aged parchment, incense and musk, this is an ancient but warm and inviting scent. You realise you want to fuck a monk.

― LocalGarda, Saturday, June 14, 2025

sadly, gary burger is dead

someone on a discord server i'm on shared this bsky post:

https://bsky.app/profile/kaseygifford.bsky.social/post/3lrwercxxec2c

it's a picture of a new product called "Axe A.I.", a "fragrance powered by artificial intelligence".

ok yes that's sufficiently stupid on its own but what really drew our attention was the brand of Axe next to it. "Leather cocks?", I think. That can't be right. No, of course they don't have a "leather cocks" fragrance. It's actually, on second glance, "Leather & cookies".

https://www.axe.com/arabia/en/p/leather-and-cookies-body-spray-150ml.html/08690637892639

Wait, that makes even less sense. I can see how someone could, in theory, find the aroma of leather, cocks, or some combination of the two stimulating. Even though I personally am a lesbian, I can't deny that leather and cocks go together well. Leather and cookies, on the other hand, go together like peanut butter and bondage. I'm not going to say there isn't a market for that. I've seen that clip of the Stooges playing the Cincinnati Pop Festival. I'm just saying this: I like peanut butter (as a food product). I like bondage (as a social activity). I don't find the combination of the two particularly appealing.

Then again, apparently it has a five star rating on Axe's website. Maybe I just don't get guys. :woman_shrugging:

guess they're using ai for new scent suggestions.

fr fr i'm wondering how marketing of masculinity is going to work for zoomer perm bois with baggy grey sweats, a-shirts and little gold necklaces. i assume it's going to find new or overlooked wells of stupidity to mine, but which ones??

Leather and cookies, on the other hand, go together like peanut butter and bondage. I'm not going to say there isn't a market for that. I've seen that clip of the Stooges playing the Cincinnati Pop Festival. I'm just saying this: I like peanut butter (as a food product). I like bondage (as a social activity). I don't find the combination of the two particularly appealing.

This reminds me of when I discovered "sploshing" — nude or lingerie-clad women being covered in cake, pie, pudding, whipped cream etc. There was a whole magazine from the Eighties devoted to it; a music magazine editor I used to know was kind of obsessed with it and used to make English bands bring him issues when they came to Cleveland.

hm i wonder if going down on someone while they eat a wendy's frostie is considered sploshing

Give to me your leather
Take from me my cookies

This reminds me of when I discovered "sploshing" — nude or lingerie-clad women being covered in cake, pie, pudding, whipped cream etc. There was a whole magazine from the Eighties devoted to it; a music magazine editor I used to know was kind of obsessed with it and used to make English bands bring him issues when they came to Cleveland.

― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson)

there's a reason why i specified that i like peanut butter AS A FOOD PRODUCT. :)

hm i wonder if going down on someone while they eat a wendy's frostie is considered sploshing

― five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map)

brain freeze salad surgery

fr fr i'm wondering how marketing of masculinity is going to work for zoomer perm bois with baggy grey sweats, a-shirts and little gold necklaces. i assume it's going to find new or overlooked wells of stupidity to mine, but which ones??

― five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map)

https://wallup.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/13/12316-Aqua_Teen_Hunger_Force-Carl.jpg

Monk Butter in a beard bag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvSSPy-EA3I

i only recently learned he made these

i guess his kid is some kind of vice journo bro

Vice psychedelics bro

The Morris High Life ads are very Hank Hill.

https://bsky.app/profile/kennedytcooper.bsky.social/post/3lynyq3rvuk2p

Okay no

It only just now registered that they called them DUMPkin spice wipes

I hate it so much

i don't think i want to wipe with clove oil

https://bsky.app/profile/pgourevitch.bsky.social/post/3mbzh5vt2t22r

Wasn’t there some book in the early 90s about men getting in touch with their rugged inner self called Iron John? A friend's of mine had divorced parents, and his dad was a huge bummer. I remember him going on about it.

https://i.ibb.co/mVDJPhpL/Screen-Shot-2026-01-09-at-10-26-32-PM.png

These are for little boys, to make their assholes smell like bubble gum.

If there's another thread I should be posting this in, let me know in the comments.

when u tell someone "eat my ass" but u r considerate

extra large lil' dude wipes

haha i think we've done the bubble gum dude wipes itt before.

re man cereal: i've noticed that masc has shifted in the last 10 years to include helvetica typeface and minimalism thanks i'm assuming to startup culture. huel et al. "not my masc!" i scream from the sidelines "take your ten thousand workout shorts and ascend into the background server humming noise that you clearly aspire to become!"

Wasn’t there some book in the early 90s about men getting in touch with their rugged inner self called Iron John? A friend's of mine had divorced parents, and his dad was a huge bummer. I remember him going on about it.

― Cow_Art, Saturday, January 10, 2026 3:32 AM (eighteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

iron john is bad but at least robert bly could turn a phrase. i was with a guy for a year who had a jack donovan book in his collection called "androphilia". i revisited samples recently out of curiosity, because while i'm definitely too queer to be straight i've often also felt like i was too into masc to be gay, and let me tell you, that guy is just a straight-up bullshit artist (but gay, but don't you dare call him gay, even though he is obviously a huge self-fellating queen). an early version of manosphere grifters but relatively laughable and batshit even compared to them.

someone should write a satire slash fic piece where he hooks up with andrew sullivan.

Wasn’t there some book in the early 90s about men getting in touch with their rugged inner self called Iron John? A friend's of mine had divorced parents, and his dad was a huge bummer. I remember him going on about it.

― Cow_Art, Friday, January 9, 2026 7:32 PM (two days ago)

funny story on that. according to robert evans in this episode of "behind the bastards", today's "manosphere" types are the intellectual descendents of robert bly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDjeo3hEpMg

i'm sure i've told this story before - i was involved in what evans terms the "mythopoetic men's movement" (at the time, we just called it the "men's movement"). my rich hippie uncle got really into it and paid for me to go to a weekend retreat of one of these groups when i was twenty. obviously it didn't succeed but i think the people involved were pretty well-intentioned... i suspect most of them would be pretty horrified at the idea that they had anything to do with andrew tate, haha. i know my hippie uncle would be. my memory, which is definitely fallible - it was nearly 30 years ago - is that it was a bunch of middle-aged white guys with daddy issues doing cultural appropriation. i was 20 years old and that was the first time i tried to come out as trans, haha. none of us had any clue how to make sense of what i was saying - including me. it was the 90s. none of us knew shit about that kind of thing. i think it's to their credit that they made a space where i felt comfortable trying to express this thing i didn't remotely have words for... honestly, looking back there _are_ a lot worse places i could have tried to come out. nobody shamed me or argued with me. they were just confused, which is reasonable enough, considering i was pretty damn confused about things myself.

coming to terms with queerness, i think, is one of the big challenges when it comes to masculinity. it's really interesting, map, to hear you say you feel like you're "too masc to be gay". imposter syndrome is about as close to a universal queer experience as i've found. so in my case i always felt like i wasn't masc _enough_ to be gay, although i really wished i was gay. which i think i just assumed was a totally normal heterosexual thing to do. one of the things i love most about being a woman is that, while we're not all "sisters" by any stretch of the imagination, _homosociality_ among women is normal, and differentiated from homosexuality. in fact, that's a problem in and of itself for me as a lesbian. it's pretty common for women, even lesbian women, to interpret romantic interest as homosociality! it's known as "lesbian sheep syndrome" among certain communities. it seems that ewes express sexual interest by standing stock still and not doing anything, and there is therefore a marked lack of lesbianism in sheep.

colorway naming mvp:

earth + forged iron

(green and grey)

is your iron even forged?

Maybe women's products are also "anthracite" but idk.

i guess this shit has been going on for 40 years now, but

'epic fury'

grow up ffs. 'overlord' and 'torch' and 'cartwheel' were good enough for the *warfighters* you idiots fetishize

https://www.metropoliscomics.com/coverimages/gallery/sgt1.149a.jpg

Operation Ep-stein Files is our generation's Operation Iraqui Liberation and I'm here for it