And now boys are tweezing their eyebrows!

Skin care, makeup and cosmetic surgery ... a female domain? Not anymore. Habiba Ahmad Abdul Aziz discovers that on campus when it comes to appearance boys will no longer be boys

Okay ladies, get ready to share that make-up mirror, your hairspray and if you happen to have the phone number of a good plastic surgeon, there's probably a man nearby who needs it.

When English football star David Beckham bought into Palm Dubai in 2003, he also imported the term ?metrosexual' to the UAE.

One internet site defines the term as applying to an "urban male ... who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle".

And this new breed of liberated male seems to be especially thriving on college campuses throughout the UAE.

Historical examples

Beckham is really only the latest in a long line of trendsetters, their influence propelled by mass media.

Assistant professor of mass communication Kim Bigelow of the American University of Sharjah said that when movie star Clark Gable appeared without an undershirt in It Happened One Night in 1934, undershirt sales dropped 90 per cent.

"He personated the new masculinity image," said Bigelow.

A similar parallel might be drawn to US President John F. Kennedy, whose refusal to wear hats virtually drove them out of the American male wardrobe.

A question of perception

It may just be that men are picking up an important lesson from women. "Now men are learning the importance of maintaining healthy skin," said Cory Ramos, store manager for Areej at City Centre Sharjah.

Ramos encourages this approach among her five male staff. The idea according to her is that, "now that men care about their looks like women do, we have to care more for our skin."

Yet UAE college women seem divided on how they perceive this latest in male drives, which some called understandable, and others termed a sign of a lack of self-confidence.

"I don't blame them," said Ehsan Fahmi of the American University of Sharjah, speaking of Beckham-wannabees. "He [Beckham] is so cute." Yet she cited scenarios where the makeup brakes might need to be applied.

"It depends on what they do or how far they go with this, depends on how many products they use," she said. "It's also unhealthy because they want to become someone they are not. It's wishful thinking."

Reem Al Himairee, sharing her campus-mate's thoughts, called the phenomenon "silly". "They don't believe in themselves. Everyone has a character of his own," she said.

"I guess they are affected by the new culture, watching video clips and movies (that made them think) they started lacking masculinity."

Nesma Al Dash called the metrosexual trend "weird". "Men," she said, "only need to check themselves once (in the mirror) before they go out." Paying more attention to themselves, she said, seems unhealthy.

The writer is a student of journalism at the American University of Sharjah