What is it to be Male?

Reviews, Videos, and Everything Else The Finer Things
21

A man should be willing to assert his power instead of being self-conscious about it. If a man is smart and kind this can be accomplished without being a total bastard.

A man should not compromise his values or self respect for the sake of getting laid. This is the reason there are so many sissies out there today. They’ve been told women want sensitive men who raise kittens, plant flower gardens and read poetry. So weak men oblige by doing whatever they think will get their penises wet.

On the subject of manliness - this is one of my favorite websites: http://artofmanliness.com/

22

[QUOTE=Devil;2694724]On the subject of manliness - this is one of my favorite websites: http://artofmanliness.com/[/QUOTE]

23

Forget this, typed half hour essay, fucking thing showed last paragraph only, I’ll try again later when I can be bothered.

24

To understand what it is to be a male, I look at his role in nature. Not the whole hunter/gatherer/soldier stuff I was fed as a child. I’m thinking simpler: Son, brother, father. Everything about a man comes from these roles, in my opinion. Every male is a son, and has a legacy to follow. Even bastards do. Most males are brothers, and almost all assume a brotherhood of some type, whether it’s at his dojo or at his job or in his school or with the other brats his mom birthed. Most males become fathers, and/or have people under our supervision, care, tutelage, or whatever.

This might seem obvious and simple, and that’s the point. There aren’t any frills about this. You’re either following, walking beside, or leading. Everything I know about being a man only fits neatly into one of these categories. Anything else is an assumed role in your culture, religion, or love life. You have to train to be anything else. These things are in our blood.

That, and a deep-seated need to get laid. Lots.

25

Good to see ‘dialogue’ happening. Very manly. Not sure if I’m being sarcastic.

Leave LLL as it is. I like knowing there are boofheads and Neanderthals in a world of sissified males. A wise man once told me that Teddy Roosevelt is what it means to be a ‘man’.

26

[QUOTE=Lily;2695270]Good to see ‘dialogue’ happening. Very manly. Not sure if I’m being sarcastic.[/QUOTE]

Dialogue is merely the facade with which we cunningly mask our violent nature.

Whether by reason or force (a mix of both is most effective) to be male is to have an underlying desire to find/build a castle and stand aloft as its king.

27

I think there are some cross cultural characteristics, but also many that are culturally relative.

Strength, both physical and emotional.

Individualism - being able to look after oneself without outside help.

Capability - being able to do. Regardless of whether that be put up a shelf, hunt dinner, or bring in enough money to pay the mortgage.

Leadership - Whether that be taking the tough decision on family budget or the choice to lead the tribe over the hill.

Another test of masculinity is what me and my fellow Judo buddies have come to term the three Fs - Fucking, Food, Fighting.

An enjoyment of and a skill in carrying out of the three Fs seems to be a fairly good definition of masculinity.

28

[QUOTE=judoka_uk;2695293]I think there are some cross cultural characteristics, but also many that are culturally relative.

Strength, both physical and emotional.

Individualism - being able to look after oneself without outside help.

Capability - being able to do. Regardless of whether that be put up a shelf, hunt dinner, or bring in enough money to pay the mortgage.

Leadership - Whether that be taking the tough decision on family budget or the choice to lead the tribe over the hill.

Another test of masculinity is what me and my fellow Judo buddies have come to term the three Fs - Fucking, Food, Fighting.

An enjoyment of and a skill in carrying out of the three Fs seems to be a fairly good definition of masculinity.[/QUOTE]

Here here. Push-ups.

29

[QUOTE=cualltaigh;2695298]Here here. Push-ups.[/QUOTE]
One more - Owning or wanting to own a dog. Owning any substitute pet, in particular a cat is a sign of femininity.

30

[QUOTE=judoka_uk;2695310]One more - Owning or wanting to own a dog. Owning any substitute pet, in particular a cat is a sign of femininity.[/QUOTE]

Not just any dog. A man’s dog. No ankle biters.

31

So being a man means being homophobic (because that’s what you’re getting at with the little dogs/cat thing).

What about Jack Russells and their ilk? A man’s dog if I ever saw one.

32

[QUOTE=Lily;2695313]So being a man means being homophobic (because that’s what you’re getting at with the little dogs/cat thing).
[/QUOTE]
Does your husband/ boyfriend spend his saturdays doing odd jobs round the house and then settling down with a beer in front of the Rugger or does he spend it in the hair dressers before heading out with you and the girls for cocktails?

Which one of those two would you prefer?

Do try to answer truthfully.

33

I don’t have homophobia. I have homohilaria.

I personally despise Jack Russells and would rather buy food for a sewer rat but at least they’re bred as working dogs which is to their credit.

34

And really that’s about it. The rest of this thread is mostly Iron John fantasies that went out of fashion in about 1989.

35

Honestly, after knowing a lot of transgender people who educated me quite a bit on this subject, i’ve come to see that gender ain’t nothing but a set of performances we put on. There’s very little inherent about it. Research shows that your gender identity is usually fixed at birth, but how one performs that gender, socially, is culturally transmitted.

Let’s take a look at this. The ancient Greeks and Romans considered homosex (within certain bounds) the more masculine because getting too close to ladies made you weak. Samurai had a similar tradition (wakashudo), and ancient Chinese generals would often hook up with each other on the DL (I have a friend who wrote a paper on that as it relates to Romance Of The Three Kingdoms). Quite a lot of warrior-nobles, chieftains, etc. throughout the ancient world where heavily concerned with fashion and doing up their hair just right. For instance, from here:

He learning about the small number of Greek forces and that several Spartans outside the walls that were exercising and combing their hair…Demaratus told him that the Spartans will defend the place to the death and it was custom to wash and dress their hair with special care when they intended to put their lives in great danger.

And as a modern example, there’s Shad Smith, openly gay and better than 99% of the posters on this site.

Meanwhile there’s a long tradition of foppish, effeminate men who got blimploads of coo, starting with the Macaronis in the 1700s all the way through Prince (i’m not counting metrosexuals here because they’re basically Tijuana knockoffs of gay culture).

So is it about having ‘masculine’ hobbies and inclinations? Well that pretty much holds no water either. The entire existence of the Real Men Wear Pink and Agent Peacock tropes puts the lie to that. Some highlights:

Vidal Sassoon

These guys, who were posted here a few months ago in the news section.

So wherefore art thou sweaty, grunting ass, masculinity? Evopsych continues to be bunk science, culture continues to change (and with it what constitutes masculinity) and some of you premature old people think that whatever was masculine when you were a teenager is the absolute standard.

Me, I don’t think there’s an objective standard of masculinity (or femininity) at all. So while the rest of you are focused on being good men, i’ll keep trying to be a good person. I’ll be watching shows designed for Japanese teenage girls while y’all pretend to like Dog The Bounty Hunter.

36

Dog the Bounty Hunter is awesome

37

That fops and dandyboys have existed through time does not make them men.

Hedge’s contribution seems parallel with those of the womenfolk who feel compelled to comment in this thread.
I imagine his outrage would similarly be on display, if men would deign to comment on a womanhood thread.

38

[QUOTE=Devil;2695316]I don’t have homophobia. I have homohilaria.

I personally despise Jack Russells and would rather buy food for a sewer rat but at least they’re bred as working dogs which is to their credit.[/QUOTE]

Jack Russells eat sewer rats for lunch.

39

Amusingly, I just got back from wet night at the Mineshaft and some of the guys there were asking what it means to be male too. As it turns out, consensus was that it has something to do with drinking so much piss from other men it actually starts leaving your body through your anus.

Some guy who looked just like Machida was there, but when I asked him if he was the famous fighter he just said, “Nah, but I get that all the time around here.”

40

[QUOTE=Cullion;2695364]Dog the Bounty Hunter is awesome[/QUOTE]

Do you have a 911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB bumper sticker?