What does masculinity mean to you?
Masculinity is weird for me because I don’t really think about it, probably because society’s idea of masculinity fits me well. I play sports, go to the gym, and play video games. There are plenty of things that traditional masculinity would say I should do to be more masculine but I don’t, such as drinking lots of beer, being a womanizer and having a nice car. Honestly, I don’t really care or associate with many folks who hold such ideas near so I don’t worry about it.
What would you say influenced those aspects of modern masculinity on you and kind of ignored the traditional ones?
I don’t know. I’m pretty confident in myself so I don’t tend to worry about what I should be doing to be more masculine. I guess when I am being more masculine, I don’t really know if its because I want to or just because I naturally fit into that societal mold that helped shaped the guy I am today.
Might there be anyone that influenced our view?
Probably my brother a good bit, even though we don’t act terribly alike in terms of attitude.
Can you elaborate more on your brother being an influence?
Rory (my brother) is a bit more headstrong than me and quite contrarian. He is also very smart and quite good at applying himself. I think I work a little harder but he is very smart and works really hard while in med school. Really the guy has a beard and has a really good level of confidence.
Who is someone that is masculine?
aNo idea but I would say a matador that has that hips forward bravado and acts like hot shit
It seems like you don’t do that though, but you consider yourself masculine?
I don’t really know. Like am I masculine, I think so but not in ways I am really conscious of. Matadors have that classical idea of masculinity about them, but I think I am more of a contemporary masculinity that doesn’t rely too much on bravado and machismo but instead just self confidence. I don’t exactly know because I don’t like that self-confidence is something I consider masculine thing, shouldn’t everyone have self confidence?
What would you change about masculinity?
Just have people be more open to the idea of that malleability. No need for it to be so strict and make people feel like they are trapped acting ways they wish they didn’t have to
What makes you feel masculine?
I don’t really know, because I don’t really describe masculinity in my life outside of some caricature Macho Man Randy Savage way.
I’m not sure I’m understanding you here. Can you elaborate?
I never think about “wow this makes me feel masculine” because I’m never really aware of masculinity in my life. I don’t have an idea of masculinity for myself, but only caricatures of masculinity.
