Is the real Aussie bloke on his death bed, or is there life in the beer-drinker yet, asks Rachel Dugan
In early 2000, Australian comedian Chris Franklin penned a parody of the Meredith Brooks song Bitch, that went on to spend two weeks at the top of the Australian charts. The song, simply titled Bloke, managed simultaneously to send up and celebrate the stereotypical Australian male; the beer-guzzling, flannelette-wearing, singlet-sporting and straight-talking Aussie "bloke", "ocker" or "yobbo".
But the Australian male culture so memorably immortalised in that song, which has found its way north of the equator by way of fictitious characters such as Mick "Crocodile" Dundee and his real-life incarnations such as Steve Irwin, is under threat - at least according to one Australian former politician.
Mark Latham, who led the Labour party in opposition from January 2003 until December 2005, this week released an anthology of his favourite quotes and anecdotes in which he claims that the traditional Australian male is a dying breed, rapidly being replaced by "nervous wrecks, metrosexual knobs and toss bags".
Obviously a man with his own inimitable phraseology, 45-year-old Latham has titled the book A Conga Line of Suckholes, the charming expression he once used to describe Prime Minister John Howard. And what, or who, does Latham blame for the alleged castration of the Australian male? Apparently it's down to what he describes as "powerful influences": "the rise of left-feminism in the 1970s and 1980s", "changes in the workplace and family unit", and "the prominence of neo-conservatism".
But do Australians themselves agree with Latham's claims, or has the former politician started driving the nails into an empty coffin?
Australian Geoff Naddell, who has been living in Dublin for 12 years, owns the Woolshed Bar on the multi-cultural melting pot that is Dublin's Parnell Street. "I think that the beer-swilling, sport-loving Aussie persona is definitely what I still see coming in here," says Sydney-born Naddell, whose bar is a beacon for homesick Antipodeans.
Backpacker Sam Bourke, who has been in Ireland for seven months, is similarly sceptical about the apparent demise of the traditional Australian male culture, but admits that in urban areas many Aussie blokes are swapping flannelette for something a little trendier, and morphing into the "metrosexual" that Latham lambastes. "In urban areas like Sydney," says Bourke, "there are a lot of metrosexuals wearing salmon shirts, designer jeans and drinking lattes." But in rural areas, Bourke maintains, "there are blokes who haven't ever heard of hair products or designer gear".
Latham, however, also believes that the language and values of the Australian bloke culture are also at risk. "Our national conversation is now dominated by weasel words and the pretence of politeness," writes Latham.
According to Bourke, language is a major part of being a traditional Aussie bloke man. "My language and the way I behave is why I think I'm a bloke, " he says. " "A bloke can be very blunt, they call a spade a f****** shovel."
But do the sheilas agree, or are they, as Latham has said of their feminist counterparts of the 1960s and 1970s, helping to neuter their Mick Dundees?
"I don't always like the whole macho thing," admits Cait Mill, a 21-year-old Brisbane native. "If I meet an Aussie guy out, generally they'll always piss me off." Cait does not accept, however, that the traditional southern hemisphere male is on his way out, and maintains that the Irish guys she meets are still a "bit softer then Aussie blokes".
Mark Finlay, who happily describes himself as "a modern Australian bloke", takes a very philosophical approach to the debate, questioning the necessity of defining yourself as a Mick Dundee - metrosexual or otherwise. "You are who you are, I guess, and I think the stereotype has changed now, and you can be what you want now, you can go either way," maintains the 26-year-old. "Lots of Australian sports stars have shown that you can be metro, and be rough at the same time."
The metrosexual has become another facet of Australian maleness it seems, but the moisturising urbanite is unlikely to obliterate the more macho, crocodile-wrestling Aussie bloke. Latham, who once broke a taxi driver's arm in a late-night scuffle, is not finding much support for his views among Australians. The Australian yobbo is alive and well and, as Franklin's song concludes, "You know you wouldn't want me any other way".