SASKATOON EXPRESS - May of 11-17, 201511, - Page Volume 12, Issue 19, Week May 20151
Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
The Lumbersexual Look Cultural phenomenon comes to Saskatoon Mark Cooke sports the lumbersexual look, although he is not a fan of the term (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson)
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Lucas Richert for the Saskatoon Express
avid Beckham brought us the metrosexual look. Now we are seeing the rise of the “lumbersexual.” You will see these particular bearded, booted, manly men in specialty coffee shops on 20th Street as well as Broadway Avenue. They frequent the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market and craft breweries. Back in October, these hirsute individuals were given the label “lumbersexual” by the website GearJunkie. And, since then, popular culture has taken this term and run with it. While the U.K.’s Daily Mail showcased Ben Affleck and Kanye West in flannel and denim, Cosmopolitan asked its readers, Are you Dating a Lumbersexual? Here at home, CBC got it all wrong. It suggested in November that the lumbersexual tends to reside in urban centres like New York, Los Angeles and Toronto. This was not entirely accurate. Anyone who has visited the University of Saskatchewan campus recently can attest that we have real, live lumbersexuals in Saskatoon as well. This is not just a big-city phenomenon. An example of this style is Mark Cooke, a technician in soil sciences at the U of S. Although he doesn’t fully embrace
the term lumbersexual, he certainly lives it. “I use my bicycle most of the year, even in the winter,” he said. “It’s healthier for you. It’s better to be outdoors.” And, he argues, you need some protection in this environment. “Hair is tremendously advantageous in this climate. And we’re spending good money on cutting our hair and our beards. It’s irrational.” What about the rest of his look? Cooke says it is pretty simple. Whether he is in the field for work or out in Saskatoon, “I choose fabrics like cotton, wool and cashmere. They’re more comfortable. My boots have to be solid and leather. They just last longer.” Cooke doesn’t have any ink, which is a big part of the modern lumbersexual look. He says he’s not interested in tattoos. “Tattoos,” he said, “aren’t consistent with the naturalistic philosophy.” This naturalism and fashion trend can be traced back to the early 1900s. In other words, that fellow wiping latte foam off his beard at River Landing or at the Fringe is a product of a longer, complex history. At the turn of the 20th century, men trapped in cities began suffering from neurasthnenia, a new disease that skyrocketed to near epidemic proportions in the 1880s and 1890s. There was a concern that middle-class white men were growing
more anxious, tired and depressed. Dr. George Beard came up with the term in 1881. He believed the fast-paced lifestyle and modern industrial economy caused disruptions in man’s “nervous energy.” The way to balance this energy was to withdraw from the pressures of urban life and get active. For him, neurasthenia was a catch-all term for a broad set of symptoms. And whereas women were ordered to bed for hysteria (or prescribed other unmentionable treatments), men were instructed to get back to nature, find their primitive side and be masculine. In an effort to capitalize on this diagnosis, the lumberjack image — a rugged, axe-wielding naturalist — was created to serve as a model of manliness. He was a cure for the chronic neurasthenics and was also a tool of journalists and advertisers. This archetype came to life in magazines and newspapers and was used to sell all manner of goods. Are we seeing something similar now in the use of the lumberjack motif? In an age of increased awareness about depression and other mental health issues, are we seeing the cyclical return of a 135-year-old fashion trend? Yes. And no. There’s another piece of the puzzle. Because lumbersexuality, whether it’s in Saskatoon or San Francisco,
is also about the mixing of gay and straight cultures. Of course, this is what happened with metrosexuality. And the broader lumbersexual phenomenon, according to Tim Teeman, the senior culture editor at www.thedailybeast.com, is just straight culture’s latest attempt to theatricalize masculinity — decades after gays got there first. In Teeman’s view, lumbersexuality is the “latest pasteurizing of sexuality.” It is, he writes (half seriously), just another way that straights have stolen from gay culture. First it was design expertise, gym dedication and gift-buying acumen. Now this. “What else can we give you?” joked Teeman. In other words, that fellow working in the coffee shop or strolling through the mall is helping reinvent a century-old fashion trend. And his long but well-maintained beard, polished leather boots, tattoos and dark jeans — let’s be honest, the great style — has a history stretching back over a hundred years. “Fashions come and go,” Cooke said. “In the wake of the metrosexual and hipster movements, I think we’re ready for a more masculine aesthetic. And the style makes sense in Saskatoon.” (Lucas Richert is a Saskatoon freelance writer.)