What do YOU think masculinity is?

Question

I have read a lot of questions in this section re: Masculinity. I am interested in your own personal definitions not the dictionary ones.

What do YOU think masculinity is?

How do YOU decide if an act is masculine/feminine?

Answer 1

I don't usually define acts as being masculine or feminine. Crying, showing feelings and smiling are all human emotions regardless of genders.

But I have some ideas of masculine:

A man who is not insecure and not "scared" of strong women. A masculine man is a man who has so much self esteem where he is that he doesn't feel the huge need to compete and be the best all the time. A man who sees his woman as his equal. A man who is adventurous, intelligent and strong willed. A man who cares about his family and loves his wife more than anything on earth. A man who refers to the bedroom acts as "making love" and not "p***y"!

A man who is anything than immature!

Answer 2

Mascuinity means strength and virility, some may say masculinity is a man who should be tough, not cry, should not act feminine,and this saying pressures men and urging them to s*x change

Answer 3

Masculine = Powerful, intense, strong and independent

Like me!

Answer 4

Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor.

by: Norman Mailer

Most men feel pressured to act masculine. These men feel that they have to prevail in situations that require physical strength and fitness. To appear weak, emotional, or sexually inefficient is a major threat to their self-esteem. To be content, these men must feel that they are decisive and self-assured, and rational. Masculine gender role stress may develop if a man feels that he has acted 'unmanly'. Conversely, acting 'manly' among peers will often result in increased social validation or general competitive advantage.

Answer 5

Its a cult

The Cult of Masculinity

"Masculinity is the end result of genetics and upbringing, and neither trumps the other in regards to influence. Still, we should not underestimate the importance of the socialization process on males. Decades of research find that masculinity is a social construct that is inculcated upon males from their very birth. In particular, boys learn early on what is expected of them as "men," and research finds that families and society at large introduce several pernicious and oftentraumatic interventions to foster such development.

* First, parents discourage the expression of emotions of vulnerability in male children. Fear and sadness in particular are unacceptable for males. I have witnessed enough parents respond to their crying sons as they pull away from the camp parking lot on the first day of camp by sternly telling them to "stop being a baby."

* Second, males are taught to undervalue emotions indicative of caring and affection; females learn how to express warmth and affection, while males are taught to look upon such displays with disdain. Males do not learn how to connect to other people intimately and are even shunned for such displays; empathy and perspective-taking skills are not taught and are seen as unimportant for young boys.

* Third, there is limited subset of emotions condoned for males, most notably anger, aggression, and instrumentality, defined here as using other people to meet one's own needs. Males who do not learn expertise with these emotions become the recipients of the scorn of other males and, often, society as a whole.

* Finally, and the most traumatic, is the expectation of an early and abrupt separation from a mother. Girls, in contrast, are allowed a much slower separation from their mothers. They can go off to explore the world around them and return to a mother's succor when frightened, unsure, or simply in need of comfort. Boys are expected to rupture this maternal connection and mark themselves off as separate individuals early on in life; those that remain strongly attached to their mothers are pejoratively labeled as "sissies."

The end results of male socialization are distressing. Sadly, when biology is imprinted with societal expectations concerning the one acceptable code of masculinity, we create males with blunted emotional ability, who are incapable of intimacy, disconnected from others, and who live lives of quiet despair."

Answer 6

Well hellooo MikeT and Fergus!  What are you up to later tonight?

Anyways, I agree with MikeT and Fergus.

Answer 7

Masculinity implies integrity, strength of character and emotion, charisma, physical strength, ability to love another, love of family, ability to use tools effectively, ability to use firearms effectively to protect his loved ones and/or himself and compassion for other people and other animals.