Strength is an ability that can be developed, but as with intelligence, most people will have a certain natural range of potential beyond which they will be unable to progress. Strength, in the strictest physical sense, is the muscular ability to exert pressure. One evolutionary biologist recently suggested that humans stood up because standing up gave human males a greater mechanical advantage when clobbering each other. The Way of Men is the Way of the Strong-or at least the stronger. A woman is not considered less womanly if she is physically weak. Weak men are regarded as less manly, but no one really cares or notices if a woman is physically weaker than her peers.Ĭollectively, we don’t care whether a woman is strong or not. Greater strength differentiates men from women. Women can demonstrate strength, but strength is a quality that defines masculinity. Strength isn’t the only quality that matters. Quotation marks will not alter the basic human truth that men are still on average significantly physically stronger than women.
It is fashionable today to put the word “weaker” in quotations to avoid offending women when they are referred to as the “weaker” sex. Without strength, masculinity becomes something else-a different concept. The men who are strong, courageous, competent and loyal will be respected and honored as valuable members of team “us.”Ī man of questionable loyalty, who doesn’t seem to care what the other men think of him or how their tribe is perceived, will not be trusted by the hunting and fighting gang. Who wants to be surrounded by morons and fuck-ups? You’ll want men who are competent, who can get the job done. A man who runs when the group needs him to fight could put all of your lives in jeopardy. You won’t want the men in your gang to be reckless, but you’ll need them to be courageous when it matters. The meaning of the word virtus and the Roman idea of manliness expanded to include values that were not merely survival virtues, but also civic and moral virtues. Men who did other work could satisfy their need to be seen as men among men by fighting metaphorically, showing social courage, mastering their desires, and behaving ethically. Vir is the Latin word for “man.” The word “virtue” comes from the Latin “virtus.” To the early Romans, virtus meant manliness, and manliness meant martial valor.
It has always been the job of men to draw the perimeter, to establish a safe space, to separate us from them and create a circle of trust. If you put males together for a short period of time and give them something to compete for, they will form a team of us vs. Some researchers believe that the human brain can only process enough information to maintain meaningful relationships with 150 or so people at any given time.Ĭompetition creates animosity, and men will dehumanize each other to make the tough decisions necessary for their own group to survive. Men are more interested in competing for status, and when they win, their bodies give them a dopamine high and more testosterone. High testosterone men take more risks and seek more thrills. Men who have something to sell have always wanted men to believe that masculinity can be proved or improved by buying it. Men of religion and ideology have always wanted men to believe that being a man was a spiritual or moral endeavor, and that manhood could be proved through various means of self-mastery, self-denial, self-sacrifice or evangelism. When someone tells a man to be a man, they mean that there is a way to be a man.Ībove all things, masculinity is about what men want from each other.Įstablished men of wealth and power have always wanted men to believe that being a man was about duty and obedience, or that manhood could be proved by attaining wealth and power through established channels.
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