What is Manliness?

Philosophically deconstructing the basis of manliness… not manly.

I have recently been thinking about manliness, and no, I am not gay. I began thinking about what it takes to be manly and how we choose whether something is manly or not. Manliness is something that is deeply rooted in our culture. Everyone has a strong opinion on what is manly and what isn’t. There is no clear-cut definition for manliness because its definition evolves with the culture. Because of this unfortunate problem, I came up with a way to find out all the components that make up manliness. I took a simple action and kept modifying it to what I thought was a more manly action. Then I thought about what my modifications had in common in order to get at the basis of what it means to be manly.

1. Cutting down a tree
- Chopping down the tree with an axe
- Chopping down the tree because you saw a monkey looking at you the wrong way
- Chopping down the tree while preparing the BBQ for monkey meat.
- Chopping down the tree while having your wife prepare the BBQ for monkey meat.
- Chopping down the tree while simultaneously building a picnic bench from scratch for you to eat your monkey on.

2. Educating your children
- Teaching them how to beat up the school bully
- Teach them how to paralyze the bully with one punch.
- Teach them how to paralyze the bully with just a snarl.
- Teach them how to deal with their own problems.
- Teach them how you didn’t raise no pansies.

3. Eating breakfast
- Eating breakfast that is well over 2500 calories
- Eating breakfast that has bacon bits sprinkled on everything (including the bacon).
- Eating a bacon-filled breakfast while reading the business section of the newspaper
- Eating a bacon-filled breakfast while reading the newspaper and criticizing your kids for not finishing their bacon.
- Eating a bacon-filled breakfast while reviewing the bills and blaming your family for making you broke.


What did we learn? What are the components of manliness?

Brute strength is favored over tools. Tools that require brute strength are good too. The foods you choose to eat must come at a cost greater than that of its market price. Manly people should have their bodies handle anything, so unhealthy food, or food that is dangerous to attain shouldn’t be a problem. Goals and objectives should be reached despite the dangers and risks. Jobs that don’t require physical work or danger should be delegated to others. My conclusion is that manliness always involves an objective or goal that cannot be achieved without directly risking either physical health or personal finance. Try to find a manly behavior that doesn’t involve these (warning, trying this is not manly).