Nail polish doesn't make a man girly anymore than using a Mach 3 razor would make a woman manly.
What makes a person tough and strong, man or woman, is the willingness to strive and endure. This is where we as a nation and even as a world have allowed the male figure to be emasculated.
Somewhere along the line people decided to stop thinking of themselves as animals, and part of the animal kingdom. Probably because wild animals can be dangerous, and it makes people uncomfortable to think of other human beings as dangerous.
As a result, it became un-cool for men to tap into that animal side under hundreds of pounds of iron, because they might seem scary to the women-folk. Well, the thing that most men don't know, and most women won't admit, is the women want a man who can be scary when the time calls for it. My English professor last semester admitted to me that she once broke up with a guy because she didn't think he would be able to save her life if her car was on fire. THAT'S the kind of thing I'm talking about. Deep down, at our core, like it or not, men are fighters and protectors. When the chips are down, animals revert to their basic nature, and we as human beings are no different.
However, on the flip side of things, a lot of men are afraid to do anything that would seem "girly", and so they really aren't any better off than the 90 pound weakling. For example, we've all seen the guy in the gym who pushes through the last set even after sustaining an injury of some sort. Something pops, but does this knucklehead stop? Nope, he keeps right on going, out of some deep seated fear of being seen as "weak". Good job, you pushed through it. Now, instead of taking a couple days off, or a week, he's going to be out of it for probably close to a month because he couldn't say "Enough." Sorry, but that's not an example I want my children to follow, anymore than I want them to be afraid to sweat and get dirty.
How about we start thinking about "common sense manliness"? If you're struggling under the bar on a bench press, and finally figure out you can't get the weight up, do you let it crush you, or do you ask for help? If answered "I let it crush my throat into my spine.", then I bid you a fond farewell from the gene pool. If you ask for help when the weight is about to cut off your air supply, doesn't it make sense to ask for help when you need it in other areas of life? It's time to throw the idea that admitting that we need help with something makes us less manly, or less strong somehow. I think that would be a good start.
Kent
Author
Topic: Americans not Manly enough to be cast in leading roles (Read 1086 times)