What is a real man?

[Conner]

A men's group that I'm familiar with has the following "Code of Honor"

 

 

Commitment before ego

 

Honor the truth

 

Respect confidentiality

 

Keep your word

 

Be a three-dimensional man

 

Be prepared

 

Defend humanity

 

Always be faithful to the men

 

Defend the code

 

Never engage in battles with weaker opponents

 

Fight only honorable battles

 

Earn and honor rank

 

Be humble

 

Embrace all men

 

Be an example to children

 

If you can do all this consistently, I would have to say you got the man thing down pretty good.

[KJames]

earlier post revised, you may wish to go up and check it out.

[mrob]

I have also encountered this Code of Honor, you might want to read more about it here:

 

Ark of the Code

 

my own men's group has developed the idea of "what is a real man?" through the "archetypes" of Moore and Gillette: the Lover, the Warrior, the Magician and the King. I used these archetypes in my wedding design (seen here: Marriage Initiation Ritual ).

 

A men's group that I'm familiar with has the following "Code of Honor" / Commitment before ego / Honor the truth / Respect confidentiality / Keep your word / Be a three-dimensional man / Be prepared / Defend humanity / Always be faithful to the men / Defend the code / Never engage in battles with weaker opponents / Fight only honorable battles / Earn and honor rank / Be humble / Embrace all men / Be an example to children / If you can do all this consistently, I would have to say you got the man thing down pretty good.

[myself_i_must_remake]

it's a figure of speech.

[Excuse]

What makes a real man?

 

erm... a non robot?

[Pai-kun]

To me, a real man is someone with a penis. Being a man just means having male organs to me. After that, it's just a person who can be defined as good, bad or a lot of other words through his actions. That goes for both men and women to me.

 

To be honest, I think "a real man" having another meaning is slowly dying out. Most of my friends don't really think in terms of a "real man". Rather a "good man" and so on. But to older and more conservative people, I guess a "real man" is different from person to person. Some consider them sensitive, some don't.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Pai-kun

[JamesSavik]

This thread reminds me of an old joke:

Q: Where are the good, sensitive, caring men?

A: They all have boy friends.

I think that there is a serious attempt in popular culture to redefine real man to a flaming pussy.

 

A real man stands for something and will not comprimise his principals.

 

Real men are out of fashion and definitly not what our gov't wants. Our gov't wants real sheep that can be easily lead and will put up with anything regardless of how invasive, corrupt or humiliating.

 

The last thing our gov't wants is for a real man like John Wayne or Gary Cooper with character, backbone and national recognition to stand up and ask the question of congress that no one else has the guts to ask:

WTF happened to the MONEY and how did you all become millionaires since you were elected?

[MikeL]

The last thing our gov't wants is for a real man like John Wayne or Gary Cooper with character, backbone and national recognition to stand up and ask the question of congress...

Or Ronald Reagan.

[Razor]

I was pondering this just yesterday. In the past, words such as honor defined a real man. A real man would be someone who would keep his word, a real man was someone who would admit a mistake (apparently George Bush missed that one), a real man was someone who would stick up for those who were weaker or in need, who was kind and charitable. Then we had the comical version in the '80s, "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche," where the focus was not on masculine virtues, but on masculinity in general. It took the more medieval concepts and made them more about NASCAR.

 

So I'm wondering what today's "real man" would be like? Do we still perceive him as the model of harsh masculinity, who will drink beer and not wine, eat pretzels and not beer, or do we view him as someone who is strong in the more esoteric virtues?

 

I totally love beer. I also love glitter and nail polish. I like pain. I also like the result of pain to be PREEEEETTY, like the two more microdermals I got yesterday!!!

 

I dislike this notion of a "real man". Can't we just have "real people" instead?

 

Women can also step up to the plate when need be. Doesn't matter if your happy place is a penis or a vah-jay-jay, you can still be a decent human being. I like to think that the original intent of that phrase, real man, is just to commend a man on reaching a maturity level not many people get to. It doesn't even lie with these concrete virtuous fallacies like zomgz never lie never cheat never steal get married have kids sorts of things. It's about that rare person (I can count the ones I've met on less than one hand) who has the proper mix of discretion, integrity, good will, and wisdom to actually make some sort of difference in the world around them. All the inflexible morals in the world won't get you as far as a little savoir faire, and the ten commandments don't feed/clothe/house your loved ones.

 

I'd go so far as to say that concrete, inflexible, overtly "moral" men are the opposite of real men. You always do the most good in the world meeting people halfway... or, y'know, manning (or womanning?) up and carrying them for a while when they need it.

[glomph]

What makes a real man?

 

erm... a non robot?

 

Alan Turing came up with a test for artificial intelligence.

[AFriendlyFace]

In my life I've thought long and hard about what gender means, and what it means "to be a man." I've ultimately decided that it means absolutely nothing. Gender is meaningless, and in my opinion the pursuit of assigning certain things as belonging to "the masculine" or "the feminine" realm is not only insulting, but completely pointless. I shall do, be, say, and think whatever the hell I like I shan't give a damn whether it's "masculine" or "feminine". Do I want 'to be a man'? God no! No more than I want 'to be lady.' Such things are ridiculous as far as I'm concerned.

[rich_e]

In my life I've thought long and hard about what gender means, and what it means "to be a man." I've ultimately decided that it means absolutely nothing. Gender is meaningless, and in my opinion the pursuit of assigning certain things as belonging to "the masculine" or "the feminine" realm is not only insulting, but completely pointless. I shall do, be, say, and think whatever the hell I like I shan't give a damn whether it's "masculine" or "feminine". Do I want 'to be a man'? God no! No more than I want 'to be lady.' Such things are ridiculous as far as I'm concerned.

 

i completely agree. i hate when people are so afraid of crossing any sort of gender barriers. it's so elementary. god forbid a boy should wear pink or that a girl might pick up a wrench.