Sunday, November 10, 2019

The New Mick Jagger, Harry Styles and Vulnerable Masculinity

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Move over Mick Jagger, it's the era of Harry Styles. With the personal motto of, "Treat People with Kindness", Harry Styles is shaping the future of masculinity one pastel manicure at a time. In the below Bustle article, Styles speaks about his journey to confidence and about what masculinity means to him. It's not unusual to hear Styles in the discussion about an evolving masculinity, as he has been a pioneer for a fluid model of what it means to be a man. Styles' own brand of masculinity is all about self-awareness, vulnerability, and finding the comfort to bend what people believe about established rules of gender expression. Harry notes that he is grateful to have people in his life, a blend of both men and women, who allow him to be himself in all forms and credits this with how natural it is for him to experiment with new looks.
As someone who followed Harry through his days in One Direction, his metamorphosis is interesting. His days in the band branded him as a ladies man and there's no doubt that features of his life were highlighted through the lens of traditional masculinity. However, to see him now in sheer blouses and patterned suits feels like getting to know him all over again. There's something about Styles' comfort with himself that strikes me as more masculine than what I knew him to be. In the Bustle article Styles says, "I've become a lot more content with who I am. I think there's so much masculinity in being vulnerable and allowing yourself to be feminine, and I'm very comfortable with that." This form of masculinity is inspiring young men who never felt at peace with society's hyper masculine ideals and who want to play around with fashion as a form of conveying a message. To be vulnerable, like Styles suggests, is to know all aspects of yourself, is to know where your boundaries lie and where you want to stretch yourself. He implores men to identity with this part of their nature and to develop an inner circle that allows and supports them no matter what. It's the sign of the times and Harry Styles is defiantly defining them.


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