According to you, what is manliness?

Question

Does the concept of manliness vary according to cultures and history of mankind? or is it something fixed, universal?
Can you please specify in your answer whether you're male or female. Thanks a lot :-)

Answer 1

Buzz man. Buzz make fire.

Concepts of manliness do vary over time, because different cultures have different demands on their men- some need warriors, others hardworkers, others need highly educated men...
Different societies also have different attitudes to gender roles- in some, the men's and the women's roles are clearly segregated- eg men work, women clean house, in others they are less clear eg women and men work, women and men clean house.

I recognise the stereotypical image of manliness- strength, sporting ability, alcohol tolerence, gregariousness- but I don't conform to that myself, and I don't agree with it completely. I'd point more to things like sincerity and truth-telling, dedication, regularity and intelligence. There may be some overlap between this and cultural stereotypes of what makes a manly man, but what's in the heart is more important than fads. In whatever age, the true measure of the man must be virtue. That's my opinion, and that's what I strive for.

Answer 2

I'm a female and to me manliness is not physical but rather mature enough to know what he wants in life, mature enough to know how to treat a woman right, mature enough to be responsible for his own wrong doing. Man enough that if someone stole my purse on the street he'd run after the culprit and attempt to get it back. Manliness is also being able to take care of me when married or when I'm sort of having a nervous break down, having a cold or simply just being there for me.

Yes manliness does differ according to cultures and history of mankind. In certain cultures like here in Namibia, Africa it's a manly thing when a man goes to work and takes care of his family and at the same time come home and help the wife who was also at work with the house chores. In different cultures and different countries it all differs and most of the countries it's similar.

Answer 3

The concept of manliness varies between cultures as the meaning of manliness depends on whatever society dictates in those cultures.

Most cultures will find a strong,muscular, agressive,protective, dominant man very manly.

In other cultures it would be how well he treats and provides for his family, his job status, his achievement and how much drive and ambition he has or how much of a sexual predator he is.

The concept of manliness referring to humans and other species in general has stayed universal through the history of mankind. Human nuture has not changed greatly and a good way to look at manliness is to look at nature.
With a colony of gorilla's there is a heirachy of leadership and dominance. The leader being an Alpha male, he will fight to protect his status and have his choice of the females in the group because of his status in the group.

Humans also have a proportion of Alpha Males who strive to be leaders and dominant in their group whether it be in their jobs or social circle, some also turn to crime (Read a History of the Criminal Mind) to acheive their status as Alpha Male. This can also be seen as a sign of manliness. This has stayed very universal through history and is part of basic human nature

There is also a scale as to how manly your face looks. Some people have a rugged face with a defined jaw line and strong facial features which are almost caveman like. The world's No1 boxer as the moment has an extremely manly face and many models also have a well defined jaw line.

Im male and hope this helps.

Answer 4

The universal traits of manliness are physical strength, confidence, and initiative. Other traits, particularly dominance and social independence, vary between different locations and people. The universal masculine traits result from common evolutionary psychology, whereas the variable masculine traits result from evolutionary psychology in different environments.

Generally, females are specialized to make and care for children. The male, meanwhile, is not hindered by those obligations, and thus is specialized in hunting, hard labor, defense of one's woman(s) and child(ren), and defense of the other women and children of the tribe (both from predators and rival humans). Such universal specializations require physical strength, confidence, and initiative.

During evolution, when people did not particularly require teamwork or mutual civility to survive and prosper, nature selected for the male behaviors of practicing dominance competition, and the related behavior of practicing and enforcing rituals of symbolic burden, especially onto children and adolescents (both dominance competition and burden rituals served an evolutionary eugenic function, unbeknownst to the blindly-behaving dominators), such that dominance became a masculine trait.

Likewise during evolution, when male dominance competitors and burden ritual-pushers posed a threat, or when other members of the community were causing problems and had to be dealt with, when the tribe was in a delicate state that could not handle the aforementioned burdens, many males were selected for the traits of social independence and distrust in order to deal with said problems.

Answer 5

A male ..., female..? confused about myself. But for ages manliness is all about strength, wisdom, power, man of word(you never hear woman of word) etc. It's all over same through ages!

Answer 6

Being as difficult as a annoyed John Wayne and yet as delicate and documents on your lady as she rightly so merits. it is a complicated balancing act yet a guy desires to be a f*cking guy while the time is powerful and a worrying compassionate companion while that component comes around. B A L A N C E needed...

Answer 7

manliness is stability and firmness in every situations.the appropriate approach in every situation makes manliness more manifested.it is not just becoming strong physically but the intuition and intelligence makes it perfect!

Answer 8

Im a 24 year old woman.
I think a man is whatever you need him to be
a partner, a companion, a friend, truthful, funny, honest

Answer 9

Raising a good honest family.

Answer 10

Biologically speaking, it depends upon the amount of testosterone I think....