Friday, September 19

Messenger Bag or Man Bag?

This is the question I am putting forth to you.

During the summer, the girlfriend and I went on a minor trip. During this trip some shopping took place. During this shopping experience she found this bag she thought was nice looking, and showed it to me. I agreed that the bag looked nice and proceeded to fully model it in a mirror, complete with pouty lips and disinterested looks. I grabbed various other items around and put them in the bag to see how it would look on me when filled with belongings. A security guard approached me, and after 10 minutes, decided I wasn't trying to shoplift using a bag I did not own.

I had been considering purchasing a messenger bag for a while now because it is handy during my long commute where I often enjoy reading book and, and the girlfriend pointed out, it is very useful for concealing my frequent subway boners. For those reasons I handed over my money and legally took possession of the bag.

Now at the time, I had zero doubt in my mind that this was anything other than a messenger bag. The kind of bag that all the manliest men carry their masculine things in, like after shave lotion and a deer carcass. Recently however, this belief has been wavering due to my paranoia, teasing and insistence of others that this is not a messenger bag, but in fact a "man bag."

And now the facts.
Pro Messenger Bag
1. It has a classic messenger bag flap.
2. It has a long carrying strap which can only be comfortably placed over the shoulder on the opposite side the main carrying zone is on in a classic messenger bag style.
3. Most of it is made out of what I can only assume is some form of canvas that is rough and manly enough to prevent me from using the bag whilst in the naked.

Pro Man Bag
1. My girlfriend liked it.
2. It was purchased in Montreal.
3. Sometimes with the flap down, it looks like the bag is taller than it is wide. This is a warning sign of a man bag.

And finally the bag itself.

What say you?

7 comments:

Diane said...

I think messenger bags are great, and honestly, when I see a hip young guy with one around my office complex, I think it looks cool. I think the Pro-messenger side of the argument wins, but for your next purchase, I would go a bit wider . . .

Now if the g/f tries to talk you into a bag with a wrist strap, run for the hills.

Christie said...

Hmmm, Jay uses a man purse as well, but his isn't all black, which is quite purse like. But it fits all of his stuff, like books, pens and pads of paper, files from work, lipstick and extra blusher, and a pair of kick ass heals.

I kid, I kid. I may tease him about having a man purse, but I have to say, it is kind a sexy to see him with it. Does that make me a lesbian?

Em said...

Hmm... well... it is a tough call. The all black thing makes it a little bit man-baggy... however, it is very nice. Either way, I think you ought to carry it for sure.

Ryan said...

It's not black! It's brown! I would edit my post but whenevr I try it erases the pictures for some reason.

But yeah, Brown!!

Jay Ferris said...

I live and die by my murse at times, and have cycled through three of them in the past few years. I personally wouldn't mind one made of animal skin, but the rainy NW is hardly conducive with that sort of setup, so I purchase the weather resistant ones. That's also a pretty decent feature to have for wiping away the blood of my enemies and the homeless.

Anonymous said...

Cute Purse!!!

Effortlessly Average said...

I'd say that pur- BAG is the perfect place to cart around all your cosmetics for that wom- MAN on the run personae.

heh.