Comments on: Manliness Doesn’t Just Happen

By: Steve G

Steve G — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 23:11:42 +0000

Great article. I agree that manliness is a learned trait, but not always by specific, or intentional teaching. Men are often a product of their fathers, and their perception of their fathers. But as you pointed out, the last generation or two were often times not happy, lost on what it meant to be a man. Their world was changing and they didn’t know what to do about it. The advent of dual incomes, women’s rights (I’m all for them), the nuclear family changed in the late 60’s and 70’s and a lot of men didn’t know what to do with that. Increase in corporate marketing and technologies in products had a role as well, I’m not a sociology major so I can’t get into too much detail there. I am just glad for those who didn’t follow the sometimes lost role their fathers did or didn’t teach them, there’s a sight like AOM where guys can read history, theory and experiences of real manhood, not so much to copy, but to learn from and forge their own path to manliness so their son’s won’t have to wonder what it means to be a man.

By: Dr. Way

Dr. Way — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:10:25 +0000

I am new to your site, but I am thrilled with what I have seen so far. I think you are right on target. Men are the most vulnerable segment of our society. I could go on for hours about how the father deprivation issue in our cultural has devastated the masculine world. Fathering has been my major field of study for over 40 years and boys need fathers to become men. As Burt Reynolds commented on the Tonight Show some years back, a boy becomes a man when his father tells him he is one.
What we have in our cultural are a lot of males who are stuck in prolonged adolescence…they see the excesses of the world as the playground for males. Like true adolescents they hope from chick to chick, drinking more, fighting more because they admire physically tough cage fighters, and they vicariously identify with the professional athletes or movie heroes and think that is what a real man is.
Most are posers, thinking they are tough, sophisticated, winners and that their bullying is true masculinity. Just because they can smoke more drink more and can bag more ladies…they think they are a real man.
The real men are the guys who don’t just impregnate the woman but they do the noble thing and hang around to be a responsible father. men who make the choice to really be Fathers are the true heroes. Dr. Way

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 00:36:01 +0000

We are males at birth but you gotta choose to be a man. – Herman Edwards

By: Brandon L

Brandon L — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:25:58 +0000

The AoM site rocks all.

I am certain that we are not cut from the same cloth as our grandfathers, and this site serves as a constant reminder to try harder, be stronger, act bolder, think deeper, and care more. It does not try to sell sex or objectify women. It just encourages me to be the best man I can be.

Something was lost in the chain of teaching traditions from father to son. This site helps fill in that void, and for that I am truly thankful.

PS: I’m with you: the cream will rise to the surface. To heck with what others say.

By: Timothy Long

Timothy Long — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 16:41:03 +0000

That’s what I call effective apologetics for true manliness. This article will strengthen the resolve of many men.

By: Jared B

Jared B — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 13:35:01 +0000

I have read a few articles from AskMen.com before, just to see what other opinions on being a man are. Time and time again I read something on that site or others like it that contradict either themselves or this site. Hands down, this is the best site I have found on manly advice. Other sites are all about “Let’s get LAID!” This site seems to suggest that if you just try to be the best man you can be, things like that will come naturally, if you want them to. Let’s focus on becoming better people and creating a better world for our children, then we’ll focus on making babies. Ha ha.

By: Brian C. Rideout

Brian C. Rideout — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:54:53 +0000

I wanted to thank you for the simple clarity of this article. It helped capture something I have been struggling to articulate on my own weblog for some time now. I wanted to be sure to direct you to my own entry linking both yours and Mr. Lang’s.

http://wildman.newworldscoaching.ca/?p=331

Keep ‘em coming!

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:59:19 +0000

I, over the years, was an avid reader of Askmen. But there was always something about their articles that bothered me. They would write articles that sometimes contradicted each other and they came off as a bit sleazy sometimes. It also felt like i was under pressure to be their form of men and I was never comfortable with that. So i have to thank you for AoM which has taught me things that make me feel like a man more than Askmen ever has and I feel comfortable in being the man I am. Thank you.

By: Edin

Edin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:29:04 +0000

Excellent article, Brett. Congratulations. I am sick of feminist bull s… and metrosexual freaks around us. Long live Band of Brothers.

By: Escher Mosely

Escher Mosely — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:07:07 +0000

Well done.