Every time I see one of my male friends, he inquires about whether his clothes look good.

He tells me he is into snap-button shirts, necklaces and looking stylish. He and his friends work out regularly to get the buff look they think attracts women. They also plan on getting facials, he told me.

He claims to be a metrosexual, and I believe him. But what exactly does being a metrosexual mean?

This new and overused buzzword is defined as a man who is a straight, sensitive, well-educated, urban-dweller in touch with his feminine side.

The need to be stylish and perfect, like the models in magazines, has plagued women for far too long; it now seems to be plaguing men. The magazines GQ, FHM and Maxim have steered men like cattle toward desiring the sleek builds, fashionable clothes and sexy mystique they see in these publications.

Shows like “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” add to the push for the modern man to become a new breed of fashion-driven lemming.

Men are discarding the old stereotypes of being the tough guy who doesn’t cry and hates to shop, but at what cost?

The new freedom to shop, to get a facial, to have his nails painted, and to primp and pamper adds solely to a man’s self-love.

Women have traditionally primped and pampered out of the desire to snatch a man. The feminine sex has been antagonized for making men wait while they perfect their hair or make-up, and now it is our turn to wait for the men.

However, I don’t think metrosexuals are primping solely for the purpose of getting a date. I find a man who stands in front of a mirror longer than a woman to be extremely vain.

British journalist Mark Simpson invented the term in a 1994 article titled “Here come the mirror men” in The Independent. 

Mirror men is a suitable description if you ask me. Simpson hit on the new self-obsession embarking in the male world. 

A Psychology Today survey showed that 43 percent of men are dissatisfied with their overall appearance, and 63 percent are unhappy with their abdomen in particular.

In 2002, Simpson wrote another article about metrosexuals and the term took off. Now, it has made the top of the annual list of overused words compiled by educators at Michigan’s Lake Superior State University.

Though this fad led to the beautification of the male sex, I feel it will lead to self-obsession, which women do not have at the top of their “what I look for in a guy” list.

Women, I would hope, are still more concerned with a man’s personality and a man’s treatment of others than she is with his clothes or physique.

A warning to those wishing to become part of the metrosexual cult: Just because you look better, doesn’t mean that you are a better person.

Sarah Krebs is a junior news-editorial journalism major from Arlington.