Another thought on this.

A while back, my son decided to put on his g/f's silk skimpy dress for a laugh - he had a big bushy beard and they thought it would make a funny photo. which it was.
Later, he told me that he really liked the feel of the silk and was worried he was 'turning gay'. We had a chat about it and he came to the conclusion that no he's straight, but its ok for a man to like the feel of silk. why not? Men wear silk shirts, silk ties, silk boxer shorts....it wasnt the dress he enjoyed, it was the feel of the material. So, does that make all men who like to wear silk shirts etc. Effeminate? I dont think so. But i know some do.

Hm. I've read the little bit in the first post, but after my fifth read I couldnt make sense of the context. I may have had an exceptionally thick moment.

As for the shaving/waxing/stuff that women do and men, well, generally dont - it has a lot to do with how you were raised and what psychological gender you associate with. The second thing is how much you personally value preening yourself. The last thing in the puzzle is how much you like your significant other to "doll up".

Personally, I prefer girls who dont try too hard to look pretty. The natural look does it for me. I dont have any understanding of the magical art of make-up but I have been told there is a bare minimum every girl will put on.

Guys using make up or beauty products I dont have a problem with. I Don't. I've got a fair deal of body hair I clean up purely based on hygiene preference.

Everything done in excess is always cringeworthy. I recently met a girl with a fake tan so bad that she looked orange and knew a classmate who I swore took off her daily makeup like a mask - you could see the line of foundation around her face.

But hey, who am I to say they were wrong.

It's purely preference that drives people to be as vain as they are.

Just me, but I'm not a big fan of vanity.


minor edit: Dylan Moran (Bernard Black from Black Books) at one of his gigs:
"I dont want to make a sweeping generalisation here..but women...have no feelings. Men, they're romantic, now they go on and say 'I like this girl, she's wonderful, like a sunny day on a grassy field where everything's bloody perfect! She's smart and wonderful and i cant stop thinking about her and ...god...I can't walk down the same road without her'. Women, they feel this way about shoes!!"