Man-handle With Care….

Yesterday morning I found myself eavesdropping with bemusement on a conversation between a very quintessential English couple in my hotel lobby as they observed the social behaviour of today’s youth that were passing back and forth, baggy pant and baseball capped, from reception to breakfast lounge.

It is fair to say that my habitual hotel hideaway in London falls into the fashionable chic-boutique category, a mecca for the creative arts and music scene and, being a Saturday morning, most are grabbing a breakfast snack before they go to bed rather than having just woken up. To say, therefore, that Lord and Lady Manor may have veered off the beaten track of their tailored-tweed bloodline for this weekend break is probably an under-statement, however their tête-à-tête on teens and twenties’ taste has served as an entertaining interlude between coffee and croissants and as I shared their morning showcase I have since found myself wondering ….for today’s modern man in the making, is his understanding of how to be a gentle-man irreversibly mistaken?

The simple meet and greet on the street has become as truncated as a text message - ‘Hello’ has been replaced with ‘Yo’ and, whereas the strength of a handshake was previously indicative of the status of man-stakes, the trend today requires a class in choreographic digit-dancing to know when to spud, shake, snap and click.

Men also continue to be uncomfortable when they come into contact with fellow humans, especially females. For the late twenty and thirty something's there continues to be confusion on just how many cheeks should get a kiss on a new face embrace and the dreaded discomfort with the man-hug is a fornication with femininity that frightens them!

As for the boys-2-men brigade, there is no boundary with their desire on attire. Day to night dressing typically carries the same staple wardrobe of denim and sneakers, regardless of location for wining and dining. They have waved good-bye to the tie, indeed it is only if and when the dance-floor door policy stipulates a shirt that we see the subtle shade selection from the Pantone palette of pale blue to true blue, or perhaps an array of grey. (...brief pause whilst male readers of all ages nod...?)

It seems, too, that today’s modern man has forgotten how to court – he doesn’t do dates, to send flowers would negate his man-powers, in brief to woo is 100% man-taboo. But perhaps our chaps need to seriously realise that, as long as chat-up lines are cowardly non-spoken via chat-lines and the internet becomes a dependency through which to interact, by the time a virtual relationship leaves cyberspace to make a face to face embrace… is second date fate doomed to be killed by poor social man-skills….?

So as we consider how best to manvest I wonder.... has our evolution to equality come at the cost of chivalry…and, in a trend of hip-hop, have real men taken the chop?

‘Til next time, Pandora