Enjoy life, live it! It’s quite possibly never been a better time to be a man, it’s also quite possibly never been a worse time to be man? As a modern twenty-first century man I’m encouraged to get in touch with my feelings, find out that there’s more to life than sex, sport, sex, beer and sex. (Okay, swap the beer for wine, and really who needs more than that?) And now that the marketing gurus have discovered that they can sell extortionately priced grooming products to men as well as women, I get to enjoy the pleasures of pampering – spas, saunas, facial massages with my haircut, manicures (although I’m not quite comfortable enough with my metrosexual self to wear nail varnish, as is en vogue with certain male celebs), pedicures… the whole shebang. And yes, if I’m honest it’s great, even if sometimes confusing (Are we allowed to cry now during a movie when the hero dies while saving the world?) and embarrassing (What exactly do I do with that…? Okay, forget I asked). Yet there are downsides to this newly discovered world of pampering and hedonistic pleasure. Today’s woman is not quite sure what to make of today’s man, nor quite often are we sure of ourselves – our traditional role models are derided as anachronistic and sexist yet no new ones are offered... But do we need them? In the twenty-first century where everything changes at the speed of broadband, is a fixed role model as effective as a statue in quicksand? Perhaps what we really need is to surf lightly over life’s waves and just learn to accept and love ourselves – and each other – a lot more.

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