• Carnelian@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    We could dissect why “manly” translates to “being worthy of respect”, but that’s a tangent from your question.

    I think this pretty much gets to the root of the friction I experience when this topic comes up. I wouldn’t mind digging into it.

    You likely have already guessed that I would think of it this way, but isn’t it just that “good people are worthy of respect”? Because it seems to me like if you try hard to take care of your family and do right by others, you’re a good person deserving of respect.

    You know what I mean? If there’s no need for the trait to be exclusively masculine, then why do we do it? Translate “manly” into “worthy of respect”, that is. Is there some benefit to thinking about it in terms of masculinity rather than just in terms of goodness?

    However, the phrase “manly” is referring to societal measures

    they should have favorable societal traits and behaviors

    Also, I do acknowledge this side of things. I wrote some thoughts about it in a reply to another comment in this thread, if you want to check that out. It’s an important point, and I don’t want you to think i’m just ignoring it. In summary, I think it’s kind of a bummer if in the end, manliness is just a tradition people feel compelled to participate in