It's time for guys to stop apologizing about being guys. You can take a gourmet cooking class or have a Labrador retriever and still have a standing poker game with your male friends,

There is a straight (heterosexual) man who embraced a mention of femininity. He responded to those marketing messages but ultimately had a reaction that's pushed him back to traditional masculinity.

What's intriguing is that part of the new masculinity, or M-ness, is man's recognition that he needs a woman. This realization comes, ironically, during the Era of Female Independence, a time when man can be replaced by boy toys, female lovers, abstinence, and even vibrators, ... Whereas men still need women, their traditional source of comfort and inspiration, women are increasingly less likely to feel the same about men. And that's changing everything about the rules of the game.

This is going to be very sophisticated . . . consumer sleuthing, ... The degree of intelligence that you can compile this way is really mind-boggling.

Even teens are less interested in going to the mall.

[One trend-watcher sees it this way:] Gore we can manage is very much on fad right now, as we feel the increasing need to become familiar with bad things -- bad things that don't get the best of us, ... I think it's also why we love our crime television. While the solutions are not as black and white as the days of 'Dragnet,' there is still a sense that good will beat evil in those shows.