In the recent internet age a few terms have come and gone to describe a man who looks good either physically and/or stylistically, often fitting some niche internet born aesthetic but is a lothario. 'fuck boy', 'soft boy' and others I can't remember and can't find videos about right now plus more to come.

I've seen a huge upswing in approximately the last 6 years online of women lamenting these types of men.

I think in the mid 90's to early 2000's the internet caused maybe for the first time a bleeding of gendered spaces into each other such that men got a glimpse into what women wanted.

Metrosexuals were men's first attempt at responding. He's well dressed, he's sensitive, he has a skincare routine. Not many men were brave enough to try it or actually believed in it either way.

Any women who were of dating age please chime in, but I remember these men being mocked by other men and metrosexuals not being very sexually successful. I'd love 20+ yo at the time women to confirm whether or not they were slaying.

Subculture lines were blurring and mixing as well. In the past if a man wore subculture clothing say a punk or a metalhead, they probably had that interest genuinely.

That continued and faster erasure of the line between women's and men's spaces, punk, emo, nerd, jock, popular, loser etc. has caused aesthetics to come about that take into concern more than in the past what women think is attractive. Grown first by Vine and Instagram, and now TikTok(and still Instagram). Influenced by all genres of music, interests and associated subcultures.

Now we see nerds who dress like skaters, 'Chads' painting their nails. Any combination of anything because men are actually interested in what they wear, because they wanna get laid, or more likely both.

I don't think it's a recent phenomenon that men would try to dress how they think women might respond to them, or how they think looks cool. But it is recent how instant and plentiful both of those pieces of information are and how perfectly spot on a man can be to more women than ever before.

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Are women who've long worked to cater to what men want now learning what men have known for a long time? That the person who's worked to cater to your gaze might not be a good person just because they've done so?

Are men who struggle in dating with more from the source information than ever on what women like aesthetically drowning in a kiddie pool?