Men's bags win the battle of the shoulder strap

The men's bag beats the one-strap backpack

Can a man carry a bag without having his manhood questioned? The short answer is that he already does, and the long one explains why the backpack slung over one strap —uncomfortable, always slipping— has lost out to the crossbody bag. In a conversation about consumption and appearance, the case for the executive and sports bag makes headway amid jokes about aesthetics and doubts about what exactly counts as a bag and what counts as a purse.

The discussion kicks off with a provocation: a real man doesn't carry a backpack, he carries a bag. From there, the thread splits into two camps. One argues that the bag is a classier accessory than the backpack or the wheeled suitcase, and that anyone showing up at the office with a backpack looks like a kid. The other insists that clothes and books belong in your hand or your pockets, and that the bag is just a label some people need to hang on themselves.

Bag, purse and suitcase: the semantic war

The first hurdle is defining the object. Some distinguish between a bag, a sports bag, a briefcase and a suitcase, while others settle it by saying that if everything is called a bag, then anything goes. The discussion drifts toward practical use: for the gym or the library, where do you put your clothes or books? The most repeated answer is that the sports bag exists and is not the same thing as a handbag, even if they share a name.

The aesthetic argument carries more weight than the functional one. The executive with a bag is compared to the one lugging a backpack, and the conclusion is that the former projects maturity while the latter projects a student image. The carry-on suitcase is spared for its class but dismissed as uncomfortable. The two-strap backpack, on the other hand, is defended as the only practical option when you have to carry weight.

Manhood as an excuse

The underlying issue is the association between bags and femininity. Against those who use the derogatory term for men's bags comes the retort that a real man carries whatever he pleases regardless of what others say. Irony runs through the exchange: one man brags about his conquests and is told that this doesn't define manhood.

The end of the exchange settles nothing. The one-shoulder backpack is dismissed as uncomfortable, the crossbody bag is championed as the solution, and the fanny pack with cash in a roll held together by a rubber band stands as the most old-school option. The conclusion, if there is one, is that the accessory doesn't define the person carrying it, but the conversation shows the topic still stings.