The GQ Man

Today I happened to read my GQ I bought because Alex Skarsgard was on the cover. Of all the magazines I've bought or read, this is the first time I've read the majority of the articles. This is a feat in itself. How is it that a men's magazine is more entertaining to me than a woman's magazine? Maybe it's the wit, the lack of articles on spas and hot vacation spots I can't afford and may never be able to. Or the humanitarian piece about women in poor countries and so on. The stuff that makes me flip pages. Or better yet is the pages long on a perfume or some new beauty treatment. Put me to sleep already. 
The article titled "'The Taste That Dare Not Speak Its Name" by Devin Friedman captivated me, in that it never occured to me until now about distinctions that exist that I never put in this light (like going to Mexico or Australia.) It's about the middlebrow. It entranced me. Here's the letter commentary I would send to GQ about this article:
I think the middlebrow is a phenomena that only exists between men when it comes to culture. If it applies to women, it must be a small population. I would think this population would be socially elite women, extremely intellectual women and weird hippie artists that somehow make their non-sense sound poetical and intelligent that you can't tell whether they are genuine or real nut jobs. I don't care to find out either. I'd say the majority of the women in North America are "middlebrow". That we all tend to like similar things, yet can be so completely different from each other. Like some middle ground woman culture. This language we all relate to.

If a woman calls herself highbrow whom is intelligent and dresses extremely well, chances are her face isn't attractive. If the same woman is beautiful and dresses just as well, she's probably faking her intelligence or is too arrogant or dumb to realize she isn't. If a woman is lowbrow and unintelligent, she's probably some kind of social trash. I'll exclude the names we all know. If she doesn't think she's lowbrow, she's probably, excuse my language, a dumb slut. Even she can't appeal to the middlebrow of woman culture since she probably thinks she's better than every other woman. This doesn't matter if she's smoking hot or "woman, I don't care how comfortable you are with your body, your confidence is mesmerizing, but please dear Jesus, put on some clothes, I don't need to see that." 
And then there are those mouthy sluts who don't take shit from no one, that you can't help but admire, even if they aren't the smartest. It is its own breed of feminism. Not an admirable one, but one you can respect.
I do believe that there are probably a good amount of men who are secretly middlebrow men and always will be. Don't get me wrong, there are tons of douche bags out there. They appear highbrow and then you realize that they think they are, but really they're not. I won't classify those ones, but they may be overly preppy, obsessed with UFC or want to look like a UFC fighter or they pose as intellectuals who aren't all that intellectual and immediately despise you if you're an intelligent woman and show just how dumb they are. 
In regards to Feist. I'm not against any man who likes/loves Feist, but if you're a single guy, wearing tight fitting pants and layering a cardigan over a button-up shirt, I'm inclined to think you don't like women, if you know what I'm saying. It's one of those things where you lie and say you're girlfriend made you go with her to a Feist concert, and it was an "okay" time, but really you fan girl screamed inside and tried not to sing the lyrics you totally love. It's okay. It's even more okay if you're married. I think men secretly need a woman so that they can enjoy these things and it being okay. And if a man never enjoys middlebrow things and only the lowbrow, then there's something wrong with him. I can't remember the name of the author who wrote a book on the things white people love, but Wes Anderson and Coen Brother movies are great. And there's nothing wrong with liking them. A middlebrow man is a modern man and is a more real man than any Neanderthal who only loves the lowbrow.

And that's as far as my thoughts went. It needs some serious polishing, but this was the jist of the ideas I had circling my brain this morning. I'll have to give it a go and then submit it. If anything, I could use the writing practice.

Anyways...

Who and where are these GQ men? They can't live in Saskatoon. I have yet to meet a well dressed, intellectual man who isn't a gentleman with his friends, but is gentlemanly enough to not share details and even though women know men are disgusting, they keep it to a minimum like a real man should. I've yet to meet one in Saskatoon. I'd be surprised if there were any in this province or even in the prairies. I thought I met one once. He was close, but no amount of womanly polishing could take the disgusting 13 year old boy out of him. It's not charming. If you're a woman who finds this charming, then you have poor taste in men. That's okay. Everyone deserves love even if they aren't a GQ man, and he wouldn't be every woman's type or taste either. That's okay. The less I have to compete with, the better.
And then there are those almost GQ men. Manly, gentlemanly, not afraid of the middlebrow, but don't openly admit it, that need a wardrobe polish, but they're just not into reading and have no intention of changing it, even though there is nothing wrong with reading books or engaging intellectually with the world. If I had to choose, it would be this one over the dirty adolescent boy who talks about masturbating, farting, talking about woman derogatorily in a negative way (since admiring a good looking person and their "assets" is totally normal.) and whom are entirely selfish and unwilling to change. I would always pick the stubborn gentleman who's an idiot over the man boy idiot, who will never grow up and be a man.
Thinking about it, Mr. Darcy and none other than Colin Firth, I think he is the perfect image of a GQ man. Both as the character and himself. Wanting a GQ man isn't being overly picky, but a matter of preference and taste. This isn't being narrow minded, only living somewhere where there isn't many around makes me look pickier than I really am. I think it's a prairie thing. I'm not asking for much. Taste, intelligence, a little sensitivity and that  true understated manliness that you so commonly find in a cowboy. Like an urban cowboy who went to university, but didn't only take commerce classes, but also didn't graduate with something that doesn't pay the bills and doesn't sleep with every woman that throws themselves at him... Enough about that! He won't be found here. I'd be surprised if I found him.