I love a new man in town just as much as the next girl. Unfortunately not all of them are eligible Casanovas ripe for the picking. While I admit that rampant stereotyping and new buzzwords that aim to put men down have no real merit, sometimes I can't help but weigh in on the debate, even if it only manages to confuse us all a little further.
If protagonists in the latest spate of Hollywood flicks, my circle of friends and newspaper articles are anything to go by, there's a new bloke in town. He's the one who, in his 30s or 40s, can't drive, doesn't have a job and still dreams of becoming an astronaut.
Introducing the "Omega male" ...
If the Alpha male is 24's Jack Bauer out to save the world from weapons of mass destruction and the Beta bloke is the guy who manages his phones, then the Omega bloke is neither. He's the dude who sits idly in his apartment strumming his guitar while dreaming of the future and smoking a bong.
I've recently interviewed singles and couples, and it seems women have a common gripe: their men won't get off the bloody couch. Pot-smoking, non-driving, non-working man-boys seem to be the persona of the New Age boyfriend, and the women aren't exactly sure how to handle it.
As I sit typing this story, I've just picked up the latest issue of an American girly mag to find an article titled, "The Rise Of the Less Successful Boyfriend". The story mentions that two women wrote in to say that they were a little tired of dating men who were less successful than they were and continually having to "pick up the tab" and maintain a lifestyle that these boys were accustomed to.
True, the financial crisis turned into a major thorn in the relationship balloon. Men who defined themselves by their suits and ties lost their identities and their mojo. Expensive dinner dates became a thing of the past, sex lives started to wane and whining blogs by former "handbag" girlfriends to the rich and powerful began to pop up all over the internet.
"Where are all the Alpha males?" they cried. "Are there none left?"
Website Slate.com talks of the rise in these Omega males as a "masculinity crisis". They also site author Susan Faludi whose theory on men stated that, while boys were told from a young age that they would one day be able to be "masters" of the universe, nowadays they've sadly become "masters of nothing".
Where has Hollywood's macho man gone?
Thanks to Hollywood, we've seen the Omega bloke pop up everywhere from Courteney Cox's unemployed ex-husband in Cougar Town to the videogame playing boys in Knocked Up. Yet old-school actress Joan Collins says she's not impressed. In fact she says, it's the lack of the hunky, muscular, macho man on television and in films that gets her goat.
"Bring Back the Brawn!" says Joan Collins writing a guest article for Britain's Daily Mail. Collins says the days of the Hollywood-era-style star has sadly long gone and that, with modern actors looking "a bit wimpy", their style is infiltrating into the regular modern man's psyche.
I would have to concur. Compare the likes of teen heart-throbs Zac Efron or Robert Pattinson to men like Marlon Brando, Gregory Peck, Sean Connery, John Wayne or Kirk Douglas and it's plain to see: there's simply no competition.
Collins says that this shift in popularity is possibly due to the fact that "when a nation's health improves, and life expectancy rises, women become attracted to more feminine-looking men, who appear to have gentler natures to match their little-boy faces".
But I have to disagree. Evidenced by research, I feel modern women have had to get stronger to survive. And therefore something had to balance out all the masculine energy many modern women are emanating from the boardroom to the bedroom. Hence the men have let their feminine sides shine. The women are shouting, and the men are shutting up.
One reader, writing in a response to Collins's musings, wrote this:
"I have to agree with Ms Collins. In fact, many of today's male stars make me think of only one word; flaccid."
True, when it comes to Hollywood blokes we'll always have George Clooney, but, with all the metrosexuals, mimbos and Omegas about, one can't help but wonder if a high level of testosterone is no longer that appealing ...
What do you think?
Have a great weekend and happy dating xx
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