Is the Tim Allen grunting oaf popular again with women? (And am I the lamest 25-year-old for using Tim Allen as a cultural reference?) A new poll – fittingly commissioned by Dodge Trucks – gives mixed and somewhat ambiguous results:
•75 percent of women said their ideal man buys his grooming products at a grocery store or drugstore, not a salon.
•72 percent of women said their ideal man spends his free time doing home-improvement projects.
•41 percent of women said their ideal man spends his time watching sports.
•47 percent of women said their ideal man spends his money on electronics, compared with 9 percent who answered “designer clothes.”
•90 percent of women said they prefer low-maintenance, easygoing guys.
The results don’t necessarily point to a stalling of feminism, this relationship consultant and author says:
Women’s preferences, Mr. Wygant said, depend on where they live.
“In Washington, D.C., they are looking for a confident, real man. In Oklahoma City, they may or may not be looking for the Dodge man. The redneck women are looking for the redneck men,” he says.
But being a backcountry boy is not an excuse to be trashy.
“The redneck woman even wants the redneck guy to look good and make somewhat of an effort,” he says. “It’s called balance.”
Here’s a thought: Don’t insult your potential book-buying audience by calling them “rednecks.” Or at least call your urban crowd (like me) something derogatory as well, like “pansy-asses.” This survey doesn’t help me in the least, as a metrosexual by geography and culture, not personal grooming or fashion.
I’m a tech journalist who’s making a TV show about a college newspaper.