Miss Androgyny: Beautiful Men, Handsome Women

It’s never been good for a boy to be pretty; nor has it ever been good for a girl to be masculine, but in an alternate world, life takes on a few different standards and in some of the larger facets of my world, namely K-Pop and fashion models, anything goes. 

First, redefining the idea of “girly man” would be Choi Minki of NU’EST.

    

Maybe I just appreciate pretty things. Maybe this is a testament to my profession as a teacher that I like it when things are done well and Minki’s concept was done well…almost too well. Depending on the angle, he easily blurs the line between male and female, while at other times he is just a really beautiful boy. I think any person, regardless of biological sex cannot help if they are beautiful. For a guy, would this be a quality worth playing down when, evolutionarily, it can be advantageous? The main male opinion in my life commented that only manly men could earn both the admiration of women as well as the respect of men, but I feel that before gaining admiration or respect, you have to gain interest and curiosity. Being the most popular member, I feel the pretty boy has done that more so than his more manly peers in the group. People recognize that it is his concept and not necessarily his own choosing to wear headbands, and his hair in updos. Oh Boy George! Minki looks like he came out of a Madonna music video. As a matter of fact, the majority of the comments about him are either from girls enamored with his prettiness, or boys questioning their sexual preferences (Talk about pushing love to the Borderline!). The beauty of the entire thing is that currently his feminine beauty is being played up to an extreme; that is not to say that Minki is not capable of being a beautiful manly man. Beauty definitely has a bias on the female of the species in the human realm, but Michaelangelos “David” is both strong and beautiful and so are many depictions of Greco-Roman gods. The world is watching to see how he develops.

On a semi related note, here’s my favorite member of NU’EST, Minhyun. 

I like this pose for him because  1) it shows off his Adams apple. 2) It reminds me of this 

Amanda Moore's Vogue Italia cover.

 The first time I ever heard of a woman being handsome was Mr. Darcy referring to Elizabeth Bennet in “The Pride and Prejudice.” While she was pretty, I found handsome fitting in reference to her strength and spunk. (Sigh) masculine adjectives always get the more fun associations. Generally, a female being masculine is worse than a man being feminine. Amanda Moore may not be overly feminine, she may not be everyone’s cup-of-tea, but I find her pretty freaking awesome. Girls who can walk this line are cool (KPOP reference, f(x)’s Amber).

 Recall that this is coming from someone whose favorite Sailor Moon Scout was Sailor Uranus. I'm not bashing on girly girls, but masculine features on a woman can be worth playing up: cheek bones, jaw line, sleek frame. Not everyone has the ability to look sharp. I see it as worth emphasizing. Good looking is good looking regardless of who it's on.

If it doesn't already stick out, I’m a massive fan of androgyny. I find it interesting and I don’t need to explain myself. 

Moreso, I like the being able to emphasize features of the opposite sex while maintaining being myself, being a girl. It's like a drag queen taking her makeup off at the end of the day. I like that men can be beautiful like women. I like the lines and movements that a lot good male dancers can achieve and it’s mad cool when I see women do that (reference: Rino Nakasone). While I can’t say I’m a fan of testosterone fed manly men, I do like womanly women like Marilyn Monroe and Christina Hendricks, but for me, being THAT feminine looking is impractical. I have a smaller sleeker frame, my waist to hip ratio is not as extreme, my jaw-line is a little square. As a result, I pull menswear off pretty nicely. I’m pretty good with slim dresses and pencil skirts also. I’m just making the best of my features which fall a little more in the average range between horribly manly and voluptuously girly. I can admire Amanda Moore and Choi Minki’s abilities to play the second guess gender game. I can admire the extremes. I'm working just fine with what I have.