According to the New York Times, Axe grooming products -- deodorants, shampoos, hair gel, and that infamous body spray -- are becoming the "in thing" among tween and pre-teen boys. Along with macho-branded Old Spice Swagger, and "Magnetic Attraction Enhancing Body Wash by Dial," they have become staples of many boys' bedrooms, bathrooms, and backpacks. As one 11-year-old said, "I feel confident when I wear Axe."

So just how has Axe managed to reshape tween boyhood in its sci-fi-stylized bottles' image? It's not just the product, obviously. It's a pop culture that unanimously depicts desirable males as muscular, hunky, confident. (See here and here for research on this.) Simple manhood is no longer enough. Products like Axe let boys -- who are increasingly anxious about projecting masculinity in a competitive environment -- feel confident.

It doesn't help that tween boys are stuck in an awkward stage: girls are on their way out of puberty while they're just entering it, leaving them ungainly, awkward, and still trying to master masculinity at a time when girls are into makeup, hair gels and body waxes and wondering why their too-slow boyfriends don't just get with it when it comes to cosmetic products.

So in the arms race to be seen as cool, masculine, older and attractive to girls, boys are looking anxiously for help, and cosmetics marketers are happy to oblige, often with tongue-in-cheek commercials that promise masculinity by also making too-cool fun of it. If the signifiers of pop-culture masculinity -- muscular body, sexual conquests, high-powered job -- aren't readily available to 12-year-olds in the Gender Product Wars, at least they can buy something that puts a little more spring in their step -- while covering up the smell of skipping shower after gym class.