What is a man?
I’ve often heard heterosexual women say “I like my men to be men; but I also want them to be more sensitive.” What is this even supposed to mean? For one thing I would like to know how it is that a man is a man; how is a man supposed to be? Traditionally being a man entails being tough and aggressive, internalizing emotional distress, being protective and territorial, trivializing personal appearance, etc… (I’m just blurting out traditional male stereotypes; feel free to add your own.) All in all, however, the traditional male is chauvinistic and is deemed privileged over women; is that the manly man that these women are referring to? Furthermore, the aforementioned quote expresses a desire for men to be men but also sensitive; the implication clearly takes emotional sensitivity as being non characteristic of a male so how doesn’t that contradict the original statement? What would make a man not a man? If he’s not a manly man, is he a womanly man? Women can possess any of the aforementioned “masculine” characteristics without having her femininity put in question, but for a man to reject those characteristics is apparently less than acceptable. It’s sad to hear such double standards being thrown about; double standards which continue to pressure men into traditional “dominant” roles which in turn continue to push women into traditional submissive roles. Truth be told, truly dominant men (and women) aren’t afraid to break the rules if they see fit, whilst their submissive counterparts continue to drown their insecurities by playing make-believe.