Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?

In 1996, Paula Cole came out with the song "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" I was barely ten years old, so the words were pretty meaningless, but I liked the beat and how she whispered the lyrics at times. Little did I realize the absolute significance of that song. . . For those of you who are not familiar with the song, Ms Cole laments the life she has being married to a chauvinistic man, where she has to pay the bills and tend to the children. She once had heroic aspirations for a life with a "cowboy," who actually turned out to be a blue-collar nobody who neglected her. She wonders where chivalry is... and the man of her dreams...

This leads me to my point... it seems the idea of a "cowboy" or rather a masculine and chivalrous man is becoming more and more of a mirage in the proverbial desert.  The last time I saw a cowboy was in the film "Brokeback Mountain," in which the childhood fantasy of a rugged cowboy who wrangles cattle and sweeps a damsel in distress off her feet, was swiftly shattered... An effeminate Jake Gyllenhaal replaced the insanely testosterone-filled John Wayne and left girls across the nation fraught with intrigue and disappointment. (Enjoy the funny and apropos image!)

Of course there are guys out there who take pride in their (sense of) masculinity... and I'm not denying that. However, I am asserting that there has been a noticeable shift in how men behave and appear and how society responds to this in a favorable manner. A few "then and nows" just for fun: Elvis Presley vs. Justin Bieber -- both of them were teen idols. The Jackson 5 vs. The Jonas Brothers.  The below video makes me laugh and feel frightened all at the same time... Thank you Bieber for channeling your big-boy voice to do an impersonation of the King, which I know hurt your prepubescent vocal chords.

Another popular trend that leads to less "masculine" men (obviously) is androgyny. When men try and look like women, their attitudes shift as well. I must admit that there is something strangely intriguing, and sometimes seductive, regarding the androgynous look, but once I hear the high-pitched girly voice and the extremely off-putting overtly feminine mannerisms, the sexy switch goes off. The point of androgyny is to be in the middle aka ambiguous and dabble between both sexes ... not completely off to one end of the opposite gender spectrum serving camp and drag-queen humor. David Bowie was "androgynous" wearing makeup, tight clothes, long hair, and yet he was a man! His voice wouldn't lilt up as though he were in a constant state of euphoria. He could be taken seriously as a meaningful artist because the look was merely an accentuation, not a character determinant.

In fashion, androgyny recently has been a hot buzz word. Model, David Chiang, made his debut a few years ago as a "beautiful boy." Now in 2011, almost 2012, we have "the prettiest boy in the world," as Andrej Pejic.

Once again, I'll admit I was originally fascinated by "Mr." Pejic. But upon listening to his interviews and him clearly trying to feminize his persona, I lost interest. His tweets including "I've just got my period today!" are not something I care to read... but over 13,900 of his Twitter followers are. Again, what does that say about our society? Is there a certain amount of masculine degeneracy with this new shift? Can a guy be a guy, even if he chooses to look a bit girly? Or does long hair and eyeliner serve as the Great Castration? I'm sure rock stars would disagree, but really, has their even been a relatively recent rock star who would strap on the skinny jeans, paint his face, and still be considered a dude? Mick Jagger, Axl Rose...?

One final image to digest... though I admit everyone from the "then" column was in the army, and probably from the same Life magazine edition... Yet the "'men' now" is not even as extreme as it could be...