Inky regular L.M. comments on my post last week about 25-year-old public-relations exec Michael Gustman of Boca Raton, Fla., reported in the State Department-funded Hi magazine as a “refined, evolved, sensitive guy” who cooks for his girlfriends and indulges in manicures, pedicures, facials, and two different kinds of moisturizer. Columnist Mona Charen had opined acidly that Hi, which appears in Arabic and English and is aimed at the Arab world, ought to quit writing about metrosexuals like Michael and focus on some of the real sex-based problems in that neck of the woods, such as domestic abuse and stoning for adultery. (See my Beat Your Wife, Then Go Get a Pedicure, June 3.)
Says L.M.:
“…[M]aybe Michael just craves the female attention. He should take up dancing instead. Some people think that sounds effeminate, but what’s effeminate about having a girl in your arms?
“As for moisturizing, I live in a climate that is so dry, like Iran’s, that I’ve had calluses crack and bleed. So I don’t blame any man for moisturizing. And if you do much outdoor manual labor, you need something viscous for your hands and feet and a moisturizing sunscreen for face, neck, etc. Nevertheless, if I had a husband who said, ‘Honey, can I borrow your under-eye cream?’ I’d be in a state of shock.”
Now, I don’t want to criticize poor moisture-man Michael, who bravely stuck his neck out to admit to the press that he’s a guy who uses facial lotions, but I would like to point out that humid Boca Raton does not have a desert climate like Iran’s. Nonetheless, L.M. has a point about the cracked skin–so Michael, feel free to slather it on! I dunno about those pedicures, though.