Note: I will not be reviewing the “Power and Money” or “Men in 2008″ sections of the survey because, honestly, they weren’t enticing enough to waste a half hour of my life typing about.

Routinely, I visit AskMen.com; I consider myself to be an avid fan, feverishly awaiting the next David DeAngelo or Doc Love product plug and, on a yearly basis, the results from their Great Male Survey.

More than anything, the AskMen Great Male Survey serves me one major purpose: It provides me legitimate research to use in my own work¹, but it does provide a bit of sanity as well; the responses displayed in the results personify what, in my opinion, the typical man of our generation is like.

The 2008 Great Male Survey is an excellent read for any man, no matter how low or high you are on the social totem pole; there is something to be learned for every male.

Here is what I learned from the 2008 survey:

Lifestyle

You can read the Lifestyle results here.

Usually one of the least popular topics on the yearly survey, I really take a lot of interest in the “lifestyle” section, as it tells more about the evolution of men than any of the others.

Lifestyle and image is what defines a man above all else, including how many women he’s been. If a man has the right look and presentation, the possibilities for him are almost endless².

From this year’s results, a few intriguing conclusions could be drawn:

1. Men are really stepping up their hygiene game. Although I don’t know what classifies as “basic hygiene”, the majority of men seem to be capable of maintaining themselves, if at least it be taking a shower and getting a haircut.
2. 37 percent of men purchase specialty shampoo, which is shocking, as I just thought most men bought whatever was on sale at CVS.
3. Most men are relatively sober (58% have between 0-3 drinks a week), but a good deal are complete lushes (22 percent of men consume more than 7 drinks a week).
4. In regard to clothing, the numbers seemed to be very on-point to what I would normally assume: About half of men own approximately 5 pairs of shoes/sneakers, about half of men own 2 to 4 pairs of dress shoes, and two-thirds own between 1 and 3 suits; all very expected results. At least men understand the basics of dress.
5. 50 percent of men believe they have their own “style” and purchase clothes to fit that particular “style”. Sounds like complete nonsense but might be true if “finding whatever is laying around the house and throw it on” is considered a “style”.
6. 8 percent of men claim that “real men don’t play video games”. That 8 percent needs to be slaughtered immediately.
7. About 60 percent of men want more fetching abs, which makes sense since 55 percent of men also believe women appreciate toned abs³.
8. Odd statistic, but 37 percent of men are not afraid to show their emotions and cry yet only 22 percent have actually cried openly during a film or TV show. So, they’re not necessarily afraid to show emotional, they just won’t do it during “The Lion King”⁴.
9. 74 percent of men read woman’s magazines and 40 percent say they do so only when they are bored. Maybe those are the men who also aren’t afraid to show their emotions and cry either?

Already starting to be disgusted by the male gender? You ain’t seen nothing yet. Continue to page two…

1. … while giving credit to the wonderful folks at AskMen, of course. [↩]
2. … if he has a functioning brain as well; very important. [↩]
3. Kind of sounds like physical “supply and demand” to an extent; the ladies want it so the men want to provide it for them. [↩]
4. I actually cried during that movie; true story. [↩]

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