the epitome of what a man should be

the opposite of femininity

when no harry potter

Positively characterized as qualities that are; strong, community building, utilitarian, practical. Negatively characterized as too aggresive, violent, uncaring.

Often defined as aggressive, strong, and unfeeling or stoic. Being masculine means in modern times, at least, no shows of emotion, no flamboyance, no hugging or even looking at other men, must be interested in sports and physical/violent activity.

What masculine is is simply what a man does. Assuming responsibility for your actions; being sympathetic, sensitive, and caring; and gentleness are perfectly fine for men. A true man is not a hard-nosed, violent, overgrown child; he's a mature, kind individual.

Masculinity as properly defined is an aspirational and normative style of being and living as a natural-born man that a critical mass of the members of that population applaud. Masculinity may evolve over time and diverge within cultures, but there are trans-historical and trans-cultural aspects that any reasonable man can realistically point to through comparison using deitic adverbs. ("This is masculinity. That is not masculinity.") It is not a heteronormative phenomenon insofar as non-heterosexual males make the same denotations in whatever argot and the interactions between heredity and environment out of which the phenomenon of masculinity arises are visible in mass popular culture. As examples, James Bond, Sean Connery, Conan the Barbarian, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are masculine. When "masculine" is applied to women, the term denotes mannish features (or severe unattractiveness). That is not masculinity.

To make something more masculine.

Movement for the defense of the rights of men, their independence and their values.

This is a term used to describe a man who has a fragile sense of masculinity for whatever reason. It can be used for someone who tries too hard to fit the male stereotypes in fear of looking too feminine in front of society.

A trend developing especially within the younger sets of the American straight male population defined by behaviors rejecting traditional notions of masculinity. This can include the wearing of traditionally feminine articles of clothing such as the color pink and girl pants. It also includes an attitude of rejection towards tested definitions of manhood in favor of feminine counterparts. Part of the cause of this trend is the mocking of the adult male within the popular culture as a pre-requisite of hip personhood. This popular culture contempt was combined with a diminishment of the father within the home vis a vis the rising divorce rate and the erosion of the relevance of the labor movement; which led to greater coercive top-down work environment realities, which in turn left more fathers with less to teach their sons about being vigorous men. Coupled with the rise of Feminism and the branding of vigorous masculinity as an erroneous danger to women's values; without any aknowledgement of the empathy and depth that can coexist with masculine vigor. This led to a fragmentation of vision of what exactly constituted an adult American male. The fragmentation with no teaching has led to significant portions of young men attempting to receive initiation in adult behaviors and morays from women. As a result of this a male within the sphere of De-Masculinization will often more strongly identify with female siblings and friends than with other men, due to his lack of knowledge regarding masculine feeling and self. The prominence of De-Masculinization within the larger culture contributes to an ever larger number of perpetual boys who will delay the onset of adult male understanding and responsability. Postulated programs for the reverse of this trend include mentoring programs and the mythopoetic men's movement.