A Question of Manliness

The Daily Mail ^ | 7/12/2006 | Martin Newland

[Syco]

There is, apparently, a resurgence of manliness in America. Superman has returned to the big screen and unshaven, testosterone-charged film stars such as Colin Farrell no longer look socially marginalised.

The A To Z Of Manliness, a compendium of tips on such matters as how to punch properly, is number two on the New York Times bestseller list, while a rash of academic books on the importance of real men have added fuel to the fire. The Boston Globe recently summed up the phenomenon: "We're in the middle of a Menaissance."

It is the atavistic desire to provide for those you love that forms the basic building block of manliness. It has existed since the physically stronger sex travelled the plains in search of meat for the family and it continued until the rise of feminism in the 1960s, a movement which would have us believe that men and women are biological and emotional clean slates, each possessed of identical and interchangeable faculties when it comes to work, life and family.

This is the lunacy that allows women fighter pilots to get aloft even though a man is more effective in combat because his stronger frame better protects him from G-forces. It is the feminist orthodoxy that renders my wife faintly embarrassed when she owns up to being a housewife. It is the notion that children do not need fathers.

[Vision]

lol

[yankeedame]

I know that this is sort of a rant and I apologize, but I'm tired of being told that I'm wrong for wanting to be a MAN. Not a macho idiot, but a MAN!

When my husband (active duty AF at the time) came home from Gulf War on the underside of the toliet seat I had taken a magic marker and written:

IT'S SO NICE TO HAVE A MAN AROUND THE HOUSE

[absolootezer0]

there's got to be some middle ground tho. manliness is nice, but with a feminine side. i'm one of the odd ones who has no middle ground but embodies both extremes. i spent 9 years taking ballet, i spend extra time picking out clothes, matching them, making sure they're pressed, i'm cleanshaven across most of my body, and wear a good deal of jewelery. but i love taking my jeeps out and playing in the mud, i hunt, i camp, i ride motorcycles.
i'm the guy that proves that men can do anything women do (except have kids) only better :)


asbestos undies *on*

[Paradox]

Manliness has NEVER gone out of style with REAL Americans, just the limp-wristed liberal media. I have never been unmanly, now, I am not laying claim to be the MANLIEST guy around, but I never did the "new male" kind of thing. So I am your average American MANLY guy, and I have never suffered for it, in any way.

With women, the few women who were turned off, were the type you really didn't want to hang around with anyways. With men, well ALL men respect a manly man, even the geeks and nerds. Employers, I find, prefer manly men as well. Heck, DOGS AND CATS prefer manly guys, its just natures way..

[yankeedame]

I haven't read the article yet, but may I just say on behalf of the Women of the United States: THANK GOD!

Amen, Sister Polly, and preach on!! Give me a man who knows how to use his fists in a fight -- and can grin when he's doing it.

[Redbob]

Here's a guiding principle for you, boy:

W.W.J.W.D.

"What Would John Wayne Do?"

Answer that, and you'll know what "manliness" is.

PS: You get it from doing it, not from praying for it.

[Paradox]

There is a difference between a Manly man, and a friggin slob. Alot of slobs use the excuse of being manly, when they are just plain ole lazy a$$, no-hygiene havin, bubbas.

[Syco]

Also one of my heroes, But I'll stick with WWJD. He was the ULTIMATE man.

[martin gibson]

a rat is a dog is a pig is a feminist (with profound apologies to rats, dogs and pigs).

[Syco]

Bubba? You mean Billy Jeff Clinton? I couldn't agree more!

[ArrogantBustard]

Menaissance

I have this horrid mental picture of a bunch of flaming Morfordite fags prancing about singing "It's Raining Men" and proclaiming themselves a "Menaissance" ...

Ick Ick Ick

[Mr. Jeeves]

You did see the "rebuttal" letter at the end, didn't you?

The writer is forgetting, ignoring or is totally ignorant of the fact that most of our gender roles such as showing emotion (typical of women) or not showing it (men), leadership (men) and self sacrifice (women) are conditioned into us when we were young babies and children. In other words, our gender traits are mostly cultural, not biological. Take the social conditioning out of the story of men and women and you would find very little difference between the sexes.

Men have much stronger position socially when they own property and earn more than women. They are now making noise as they don't want to lose this position.

- Carmel Meehan, London

Sums up the Left's worldview nicely - it's all about the feminization of the Marxist class struggle. That's why the "feminists have to stop..." lines we keep seeing in all of these articles miss the point - the perpetrators fo these societal trends are trying to destroy our society and replace it with a Marxist one.

[xjcsa]

The bull was in a tetchy mood because his testicles were dragging along the floor and had become infected.

Yeah, I hate that too.

[Syco]

I saw it and just rolled my eyes. The Left will NEVER get it. They are the problem in a nutshell.

[ExpatGator]

Don't you mean:

asbestos panties *on* ?

[quikdrw]

>>> We're in the middle of a Menaissance

That's the gayest thing I've heard since they coined the term "metrosexual."


I agree men don't need a name for how they are... we are just men

[quikdrw]

I agree. I have had a mustache since I was 16. I only cut it off in boot camp. I have had a beard since I was in the Navy.

[CGVet58]

hey Syco, lighten up. Get over it, already. You've been a man all your life, you don't need nobody to tell you, affirm you, validate you, or otherwise replace your own absolute truth of this eternal fact with their own bullshit.

Fire in the belly, hombre... and while you're at it, watzzup wit dat tag (syco)???

[quikdrw]

Rick Rescorla was a giant among men.

[Billthedrill]

This is the lunacy that allows women fighter pilots to get aloft even though a man is more effective in combat because his stronger frame better protects him from G-forces.

This at least is not the case - women tolerate G-forces better than men, although they seem somewhat more susceptible to long-term medical side effects such as hemorrhoids. (Sorry - inelegant but a fact). Men tend to be better fighter pilots because men are more aggressive, more prone to combat in the absence of a direct threat to, say, an offspring. Individual performances may vary, of course.

That said, I do agree with the author that some resurgence of attention on the cultural phenomenon of manliness is taking place. I do not think we are ever likely to reach a consensus between the sexes as to what, precisely, that consists of, nor do I think it would be any fun if we did.

The author reflects that there may be a difference between European and American cultures in the overt signs of this characteristic - no kidding. This accounts for part of the common European view that Americans are arrogant, IMHO - as President Bush remarked about his swagger, "In Texas we call that 'walking'."

I have seen soccer players kiss one another on the field after a goal, to cite a rather trite example, but I don't recall seeing that in American football. Well, OK, maybe the Raiders... ;-)