InDefenseofGirlyMen

by Candy Friday, October 14, 2005 at 09:15 AM

It all started a couple of days ago when I noticed PBW calling certain types of historical romance heroes “sheroes” because they were too nice, too sensitive.

Then Ferfelabat in the comments to this entry on Monica’s blog noted how historical heroes should be mean, and characterized modern men as “metrosexual-pc-chest-hair-shaving-how-are-you-feeling-today-babe? (Somebody just freaking KILL me already I so do not find most modern men attractive) millenium-male-neutering-at-birth-must-stop!-90’s.”

And then I remembered this previous rant I wrote and am again fascinated by what people perceive as acceptable or attractive masculine behavior, especially in a historical context.

I once said that one of the few constants in this world is how people of the older generation love to bitch about how the younger generation is dumber, more degenerate and generally more useless and going to hell in a handbasket. I realize now that another constant is how, as people get older, standards of masculine and feminine behavior of the newer generation are examined and judged as wanting. The men are distressingly girly, and the women unbecomingly forward (substitute with slutty and/or mannish as appropriate). The refrain “When men were men and women were women” is an old one, repeated with wistfulness by the old guard everywhere as the young ‘uns rebel and do something distasteful to their settled sensibilities--like women deciding to wear pants. 

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