Stranger in a Strange Land

I have been surrounded by women all my life; more so, I think, than most males. It’s got nothing to do with hunkiness – note photo  – it’s circumstances, mainly. Pure chance. Or … is it?

Anyway: All three of my siblings were girls. I was so flaky as a young man that for college my parents sent me to my mother’s alma mater, a women’s academy that had just begun to admit male students and where the ratio in favor of females was roughly five to one. I chose professions – first acting, then writing – in which women are better represented than in most others.

Now I not only edit a magazine that is directed more toward women than men, but for the past year I have co-owned a tanning, waxing and nail salon in Winter Park whose clientele is similarly skewed.

At first I thought of the salon as a superficial enterprise. But as my wife and I have gotten to know our customers and employees, the place has become a source of gender-specific enlightenment. I have been schooled as never before about the dangers of anorexia, the joys and tribulations of childbearing, the demeaning and destructive effects of pornography, the various inconveniences presented by having to walk around with a womb all your life.

I had a conversation along those lines with a young woman who remembered suffering through her first period with a sketchy understanding of the biology involved, and announcing afterward to her mother: “I am so glad I’ll never have to go through that again!”

The lessons I have learned here at the magazine, where we pride ourselves in our focus on fashion and design, are a bit different. Collaborating on stories and fashion shoots with our stylist, Marianne Ilunga, has meant developing a whole new vocabulary. I know what a peep-toe wedge is. I can distinguish between a clutch and an evening bag, between a bangle and a bracelet. I wonder how I could possibly have gotten this far along in my life without knowing that you are much more likely to find someone in grosgrain leather in Soho than in Manhattan.

For all the teaching moments I have been exposed to in regard to the opposite sex, I remain on shaky ground. In general, when it comes to women, I do great on the quizzes and tank the finals. But there is still time to learn.

Not too long ago, having written a fashion story I was particularly proud of, I asked my boss, our publisher, Randy Noles, what he thought of it.

 “Well, you sounded like a girl,” he said.

It’s just that kind of positive feedback that a guy like me needs to hear.

Michael McLeod
Editor in Chief
mmcleod@ohlmag.com