THE FACE OF MODERN MAN?

A. In response to the emergence of the ‘metro-sexual’ male, In other words, an urban, sophisticated man who is fashionable, well-groomed and unashamedly committed to ensuring his appearance is the best it can be, a whole new industry has developed. According to research conducted on behalf of a leading health and beauty retailer in the UK, the market for male cosmetics and related products has grown by 800% since the year 2000 and is expected to continue to increase significantly. The male grooming products market has become the fastest growing sector within the beauty and cosmetics industry, currently equivalent to around 1.5 billion pounds per annum.

B. Over the last decade, a large number of brands and companies catering for enhancement of the male image have been successfully established, such operations ranging from male-only spas, boutiques, personal hygiene products, hair and skin care ranges, and male magazines with a strong leaning towards men’s fashion. Jamie Cawley, proprietor of a successful chain of London-based male grooming boutiques, holds that his company’s success in this highly competitive market can be attributed to the ‘exclusivity’ tactics they have employed, in that their products and services are clearly defined as male- orientated and distinctly separate to feminine products offered by other organisations. However, market analyst, Kim Sawyer, believes that future growth in the market can also be achieved through sale of unisex products marketed to both genders, this strategy becoming increasingly easy to implement as men’s interest in appearance and grooming has become more of a social norm.

C. Traditionalists such as journalist Jim Howrard contend that the turn-around in male attitudes which has led to the success of the industry would have been inconceivable a decade ago, given the conventional male role, psyche and obligation to exude masculinity; however, behavioural scientist Professor Ruth Chesterton argues that the metro-sexual man of today is in fact a modern incarnation of the ‘dandy’ of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. British dandies of that period, who were often of middle class backgrounds but imitated aristocratic lifestyles, were devoted to cultivation of their physical appearance, development of a refined demeanour and hedonistic pursuits. In France, she adds, dandyism, in contrast, was also strongly linked to political ideology and embraced by youths wishing to clearly define themselves from members of the working class revolutionary social groups of the period.

D. Over recent decades, according to sociologist Ben Cameron, gender roles for both sexes have become less defined. According to research, he says, achievement of status and success have become less important in younger generations of men, as has the need to repress emotions. Cameron defines the traditional masculine role within western societies – hegemonic masculinity – as an expectation that males demonstrate physical strength and fitness, be decisive, self-assured, rational, successful and in control. Meeting this list of criteria and avoiding situations of {[demonstrating weakness, being overly emotional or in any way ’inferior’, he says, has placed a great deal of pressure on many members of the male population. So restrictive can society’s pressure to behave in a ‘masculine’ fashion on males be, Professor Chesterton states that in many situations men may respond in a way they deem acceptable to society, given their perceived gender role, rather than giving what they may actually consider to be the best and most objective response.

E. Jim Howard says that learning and acquiring gender identity makes up a huge component of a child’s socialisation and that a child who exhibits non-standard behavioural characteristics often encounters social and self image difficulties due to the adverse reactions of their peers. According to Kim Sawyer, media images and messages also add to pressures associated with the male image, stating that even in these modern and changing times, hegemonic masculinity is often idolised and portrayed as the definitive male persona.

F. Whilst male stereotypes and ideals vary from culture to culture, according to Professor Chesterton, a universal trait in stereotypical male behaviour is an increased likelihood to take risks than is generally found in female behaviour patterns. For this reason, she attributes such behaviour to the influence of genetic predisposition as opposed to socially learned behaviour. Men, she says, are three times more likely to die due to accident than females, a strong indication he says of their greater willingness to involve themselves in precarious situations. Ben Cameron also says that an attitude of invincibility is more dominant in males and is a predominant factor in the trend for fewer medical checkups in males and late diagnosis of chronic and terminal illness than in their more cautious and vigilant female counterparts.

G. Jamie Cawley, however, remains optimistic that the metro-sexual culture will continue and that what society accepts as the face of masculinity will continue to change. He attributes this to a male revolt against the strict confines of gender roles, adding that such changes of attitudes have led and will continue to lead to establishment of greater equality between the sexes.

CLINICAL TRIALS

A. The benefits of vitamins to our well-being are now familiar to most; however, when the link between diets lacking in citrus fruits and the development of the affliction ‘scurvy’ in sailors was first discovered by James Lind in 1747, the concept of vitamins was yet to be discovered. Scurvy, which causes softening of the gums, oral bleeding and, in extreme cases, tooth loss is now known to present as a result of lack of Vitamin C in the diet. Additional symptoms include depression, liver spots on the skin – particularly arms and legs – loss of colour in the face and partial immobility; high incidence of the ailment aboard ships took an enormous toll on the crew’s ability to complete essential tasks while at sea.

B. Suggestions that citrus fruit may lower the incidence or indeed prevent scurvy had been made as early as 1600. It was Lind, however, who would conduct the first clinical trial by studying the effect within scientific experimental parameters. However, while the correlation between consuming citrus fruit and avoidance of scurvy was established, the preventative properties were attributed to the presence of acids in the fruit and not what would later be identified as vitamin content.

C. Lind’s subjects for his trial consisted of twelve sailors already exhibiting symptoms of scurvy. These individuals were split into six groups; each pair common diet Pair 1 were rationed a daily quart of cider, pair 2 elixir of vitriol, pair 3 a given quantity of vinegar, pair 4 seawater, pair 5 oranges and a lemon and pair 6 barley water. Despite the trial having to be aborted after day five, when supplies of fruit were depleted the findings of the interventional study showed that only the control group who were given fruit supplements showed any significant improvement in their condition (one had, in fact, recovered to the extent that he was fit enough to return to work). The immediate impact on sailors’ health and incidence of scurvy on board ship was, however, limited as Lind and other physicians remained convinced that the curative effect was acid based. Therefore, while consumption of citrus fruit was recommended, it was often replaced by cheaper acid supplements The preventative Qualities of citrus fruit against scurvy were not truly recognised until 1800, though throughout the latter part of the 1700s, lemon juice was increasingly administered as a cure for sailors already afflicted.

D. Nowadays, the implementation of findings discovered in clinical trials into mainstream medicine remains an arduous and lengthy process and the clinical trials themselves represent only a small stage of the process of developing a new drug from research stage to launch in the marketplace. On average, for every thousand drugs conceived, only one of the thousand actually makes it to the stage of clinical trial, other projects being abandoned for a variety of reasons. Stages which need to be fulfilled prior to clinical trial – where the treatment is actually tested on human subjects -include discovery, purification, characterization and laboratory testing.

E. A new pharmaceutical for treatment of a disease such as cancer typically takes a period of 6 years or more before reaching the stage of clinical trial. Since legislation requires subjects participating in such trials to be monitored for a considerable period of time so that side-effects and benefits can be assessed correctly, a further eight years typically passes between the stage of a drug entering clinical trial and being approved for general use. One of the greatest barriers to clinical trial procedures is availability of subjects willing to participate Criteria for selection is rigorous and trials where subjects are required to be suffering from the disease in question, experience tremendous recruitment difficulties as individuals already vulnerable due to the effects of their condition, are often reluctant to potentially put their health at higher levels of risk.

F. Clinical trials are conducted in line with a strict protocol and the stages of a trial are generally defined by five distinct phases. A drug that is deemed safe and effective enough to reach the end of stage three is most often, at that point, approved for use in mainstream medicine. Phase 0 involves a first-in-human trial (usually conducted using a small population often to fifteen subjects) with the purpose of ascertaining that the drug’s effect is, in fact, the same as predicted in pre-clinical studies. If no concerns are raised, the drug then enters Phase 1 of trial where a modest selection (usually between twenty and eighty subjects) of usually healthy volunteers, is exposed to the drug. However, for HIV and cancer drugs, this stage is conducted using patients suffering from the condition in questionThere are two main variations of Phase I testing, these being SAD (single ascending dose) and MAD (multiple ascending dose). The former involves a single administration of a drug at a pre-determined level to one group of subjects, and the second involves administration of a pre-determined sequence of dosages.

G. Phases 0 and 1 are geared towards establishing the safety of a pharmaceutical and once this has been confirmed, drugs pass into Phase II testing where, while safety continues to be monitored, the drug’s effectiveness is also assessed using a larger group of subjects, ranging from twenty up to three hundred. In some trials, Phase II is regarded as involving two sub-stages, in that Phase 11(a) may be concerned with establishing optimum dosage levels and Phase 11(b) to evaluate effectiveness. Phase III is the most expensive, time-consuming and complex stage of the trial process, often involving as many as 3000 patients. At this stage, a new drug’s effectiveness is rigorously tested and compared to that of the best of the existing alternatives already approved and in common use. Where research indicates that a pharmaceutical has passed all requirements of Phases 0, I, II and III, submissions to relevant regulatory and licensing bodies are then made.

H. The final phase of clinical testing, Phase IV, is conducted over a lengthy period of time post-launch for general usage. This stage is, in essence, a safety net which involves continued monitoring of the drug, its properties and side-effects through which any long term adverse reactions, which remained undetected in the pre-launch clinical testing time frame can be discovered. Identification of harmful effects at this stage, on occasion, has led to withdrawal of a drug from the market; for example, as was the case with cerivastin, a cholesterol-lowering drug, which was later found to have an adverse effect on muscle reaction which, on occasion, had fatal consequences.