One of the things about the internet is that there are so many users, with so many opinions that discussions become widespread and interesting. A recurring theme that has shown up is “Manliness”. There are all kinds of theories and discussions that show up out there, and I find it fairly entertaining. In the last couple of days this topic cropped up again.
It started with a piece that set off a chain that I picked up at “Say Uncle”. His general point is…
Seems about once every year or so some blogger mentions the end of men, real men, manly men or whatever. Or talks about the pussification of men. Men and women both do this. The former do it in a woe is me sort of way that other men aren’t manly like they remember men being. And the latter tend to do so lamenting they can’t seem to find a real man or how equality ain’t all it’s cracked up to be and, gosh darn it, they want a cowboy to sweep them off their feet. Yet, all they run into are best buds who take them shopping.
The latest one I’ve run across is this piece, wherein our heroine asserts she may have married the last manly man. A new twist on an old classic. And I can sympathize.
Except that it’s nonsense. Manly men, real men, etc. are everywhere. They’re out working in their yard now; at the office; working on a car; playing with kids; teaching a dog to fetch a beer; getting manicures; or where ever else. Yeah, that’s right. Getting manicures. A lot of folks seem to think there are certain lists of specific behaviors that indicate what is and isn’t a real man. That’s also ludicrous. Personal grooming preferences make you no less a manly man than drinking beer, farting and scratching your ass make you more of a man. Real men are still there but perceptions have changed. Social roles have changed. Men may or may not be the primary breadwinner and that doesn’t make them more or less a man. And men now take a far more active role in childcare. Hell, that definitely makes them more of a man. Being a real man or manly man is more about stepping up or down when you have to.
Then you start to get the discussion threads that go with this. Michael Bane covered it in a nice concise couple of paragraphs.
Nice post over at Say Uncle (clink the post’s title to get to the link) on the flurry of posts about the disappearance of “real men.” His take — it’s all B-S. My take? He’s right. Out here in the rural west, we never much bought into the post-macho metrosexual sensitive to the point of tears paradigm for men. We work for a living. Times are too darn scary to be overcome with nonsense angst.
Male or female, I really like the abbreviated version of The Cowboy Way as a handy way to orient one’s life — “If it ain’t yours, don’t take it; if it ain’t true, don’t say it; if it ain’t right, don’t do it.” Covers most of the things that happen in life, doesn’t it?
But I think that the best comment that I have seen so far comes as:
What kinda men sit around and analyze what is manly? Oh, I know. Girly Men…