“SEATTLE - Guys-only gatherings — from informal poker nights to organized Rat Pack-esque Vegas vacations — are nothing new.
But after years of being out of favor, they’re finding a renewed respectability among younger males and businesses eager to market to them.Travel agencies such as I’m In! and Kayak.com have begun promoting guys-only vacations — or “mancations” — to places such as Mexico and Hawaii. Last summer, a few guys from Avedesian’s poker night took their first all-male vacation together. Now they plan “to make the mancation an annual tradition,” Avedesian says.Last month, a Seattle group called “Guys Night Out” organized a steak-and-scotch dinner for men to raise money for charity. And Spike TV has successfully traded on the appeal of programming designed by guys, for guys.
Even when it seemed that fraternal orders would become extinct as their members died off, the organizations are now drawing a younger generation.Chris Moore, 42, a Seattle businessman, and six male friends recently joined the Ballard chapter of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. One of the many reasons for joining was “a chance to hang out with the guys,” Moore says.Today, all-female groups outnumber all-male groups.
Dr. Warren Farrell, co-author of “Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?” and one-time professor at the University of California and Georgetown University, says that ratio is as high as 100 female groups to every male group.Given those statistics, it’s not surprising that the social pendulum is beginning to swing back, clearing the way for advertisers and a new generation of men to reclaim the guys night out.
“The mere presence of a woman in a group of heterosexual men changes the entire energy,” says Robert Glover, a Bellevue, Wash.-based therapist and author of “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”That happens for two reasons: First, men are biologically inclined to make themselves attractive to females, even if there is no immediate possibility of mating with her. And second, most men in our society were socialized by women, since most day-care providers and elementary-school teachers are female.When you take out that X-factor — or, rather, the XX-chromosome factor — “there’s suddenly no need to get approval. Men don’t need to censor themselves around other men. It’s freeing.”It’s also therapeutic, said Farrell, who has debated men’s issues on CNN News, ABC’s “20/20″ and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”" ( via chicagotribune.com)
Pointswizard.com Spin: CLICK to read the whole article
