Hairbands and Performative Masculinity- Episode #829

Todd and Cathy share the upcoming changes to their podcast, Zen Parenting Radio, which will be renamed Zen POP Parenting starting June 1st! They also discuss the normal shifts in kids’ friendships, highlighting the importance of loyalty, boundaries, and the reality that friendships evolve. As parents, we can feel more overwhelmed than our kids when these changes happen, but it’s important to normalize the ups and downs of friendships and offer support without letting our own fear or discomfort take over.Cathy and Todd explore how 1980s glam metal, later dubbed “hairbands” in the ’90s, fused hypersexual, alpha-male posturing with makeup, teased hair, and flamboyant style, creating a theatrical masculinity that rose with MTV and collapsed with the arrival of grunge. From Def Leppard to Poison, these bands borrowed from femininity while reinforcing traditional masculinity, leading to a theatrical version of toughness built for MTV’s visual era. They discuss the rise, peak, and fall of the genre, its shift from rebellion to redundancy, and how it reflected and reshaped cultural ideas about gender, authenticity, and performance.