«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Just like the female models, these guys were doing absolutely nothing. And just like the female models, they looked defiant and vulnerable and lost. But young, pretty guys can pout and sneer and lounge about as much as they like, and I really don't care. It doesn't hit a nerve. The truth is that I'm hard-wired not to care about these pretty guys, or their cheekbones, because I know they're not much competition. Guys don't attract women by sitting around and posing. No woman likes a man to look awkward and lost, no matter how nice his cardigan is. I can see what's happened. Female fashion magazines have been around for ages, and the people who design them have honed their images over many decades. They understand that pictures of women who look lost and sad and passive are alluring  -  it's tragic, but they work. Men's magazines have simply copied their female counterparts, and it doesn't work. Somebody should tell them to dump the goofy wimps and use pictures of guys looking smug and cool and happy. That really would be intimidating. On second thoughts, maybe not.

Daily Mail
August 20 2009