He's a Manly Man!

Questions from the professor! How important are the top two responses, muscles and athletics/sports, for establishing masculinity?  Should we be working to take into account other characteristics?

Above are the results from our class’ “What Makes a Man Masculine” survey. I agree with some of the traits that made the list and I colored them in with red. What I don’t understand is how having muscles and being athletic or involved in sports made it to the top of the charts.  How do those things even account for making a man masculine?  When a man is a firefighter or in the army or doing something that requires having muscles and being physically strong; I can see how muscles come into play because they need them. But other than that I don’t agree that muscles alone make a man masculine! A real man is someone who works hard to provide for himself or his family if he has one. He is kind and understanding. A real man is a gentleman; whoever said chivalry is dead obviously was not much of a gentleman. But a real man isn’t just handy and brave; a real man is vulnerable and is not afraid to show his feelings.  Have you ever been at the park and seen a father pushing his son or daughter on the swings or playing catch with them in the front yard? When I see that I see a real man that has feelings and is emotional and compassionate; a man that has let down his macho man persona that most men spend the first twenty plus years of their lives building up. Now you don’t have to agree with what I just said but that’s just how I feel.