The American "man" as we once knew him is officially dead. This important point in history was marked by the premiere of MTV's new reality show: Bromance. For years I've been saying that my generation has spawned a new breed of metrosexual men, forcing women to take on the dominant role in society. These men can't change a flat tire; they can't bang a nail into the wall; they can't throw a punch. But they can accessorize like nobody's business...while still coming home to a woman. What was once somewhat of a hypothesis has now been confirmed by this groundbreaking show.The premise of Bromance is that a bunch of random guys compete to be the new best friend of Brody Jenner (of The Hills' fame - 15 minutes of it, that is). I don't know which scene of the show's first episode made me most confused -- the middle-of-the-night kidnapping of the boys in their skivvies for their first meeting with Brody, or the hot tub elimination, during which Brody told his "bros" (again in their skivvies) which qualities he admired most about each one.
In fact, at the outset of the show, everything about it made me think it was simply Brody Jenner's clever way of coming out of the closet (via a Tila Tequila-like confession to the contestants about why they were really there). But as the show progressed and 1) the only openly gay contestant left because it wasn't what he had expected it to be (obviously the same thing I expected it to be), and 2) one of the apparently heterosexual contestants himself noted that the jacuzzi scene was "awkward," I started to realize this show might be more profound than I initially gave it credit for.
I confirmed this realization when I looked up the word "bromance" online; urbandictionary.com defines it as "[d]escrib[ing] the complicated love and affection shared by two straight males." The show, indeed, seems to play off a bunch of heterosexual men feeling comfortable enough with their metro-sexuality to engage in "bromance." What's profound about this is that it marks the end of the era of the manly American man as our parents knew him. The new man is a girly man and he's fine with it -- proud of it, even. For a decade or so, he's been the "metro" who feels comfortable enough with his sexuality to put lots of product in his hair and to take longer than his female counterpart to get ready before going out. Now he's the "bro" who feels comfortable sitting in a hot tub with a bunch of men he just met, discussing his feelings for them...but not in that way.
...Just one small step for Brody Jenner, one large leap for metro-kind, and one more reason why women no longer need men. Suckers!
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