Typical Definition of Masculinity: possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men.
Wikipedia Definition: attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men.
Proposed Definition: Behavior caused by a combination of pessimism and self confidence
The first issue I have with the typical definition is that I don't believe people actually use it in such a broad way. It would be much more accurate to say "qualities traditionally associate with men and not women." It's technically true that "eating" and "breathing" are usually associated with men, just because they're associated with everyone and men are a subset of that group. This highlights a common problem I have with the ways many definitions are historically constructed - they really only make sense if you already understand the meaning of the term.
The second problem is that often definitions will exempt biological differences between sexes as being amongst the attributes that can be masculine. So, having and X and Y chromosome, or having the ability to grow a full beard aren't masculine, but actually having a beard is. This distinction seems somewhat arbitrary unless we realize that all the physical attributes that remain will be the result of choices or behaviors. For example, choosing to grow a beard results in a full beard, and choosing a challenging physical profession will lead to a developed physique and potentially even scars. The physical attributes that are considered masculine show that the person has made a certain kind of choices or engaged in certain behaviors. Therefore I think it makes the most sense to just say masculinity is kind of behavior, and people can associate certain physical characteristics with that behavior.
Lastly relying on ideas like "traditionally associated with..." doesn't attempt to dig into the idea that there could be underlying factors from early human culture or even evolutionary reasons why some behaviors are considered masculine. It's easy to say "masculine is just whatever people have said it is, whenever and wherever it is", but I feel like that misses an opportunity for exploration and introspection.
If we look at the archetypal male hero's from stories and movies they're often portrayed as being very masculine, and something that's incredibly common is that they'll be placed in similar circumstances. They face a challenge which seems overwhelmingly difficult or even insurmountable, but feel that they have to tackle it even though they don't have a good chance. Ultimately they have to believe in themselves and through that confidence they're able to succeed, and even if they don't the act of facing difficult odds while being self confidence is often viewed as its own kind of success. I think we can see similar motivations of expecting bad things, but being self reliant or self confident under the stereotypical masculine behaviors in many times and cultures, even ones that are seemingly completely opposite:
Wikipedia Definition: attributes, behaviors and roles generally associated with boys and men.
Proposed Definition: Behavior caused by a combination of pessimism and self confidence
The first issue I have with the typical definition is that I don't believe people actually use it in such a broad way. It would be much more accurate to say "qualities traditionally associate with men and not women." It's technically true that "eating" and "breathing" are usually associated with men, just because they're associated with everyone and men are a subset of that group. This highlights a common problem I have with the ways many definitions are historically constructed - they really only make sense if you already understand the meaning of the term.
The second problem is that often definitions will exempt biological differences between sexes as being amongst the attributes that can be masculine. So, having and X and Y chromosome, or having the ability to grow a full beard aren't masculine, but actually having a beard is. This distinction seems somewhat arbitrary unless we realize that all the physical attributes that remain will be the result of choices or behaviors. For example, choosing to grow a beard results in a full beard, and choosing a challenging physical profession will lead to a developed physique and potentially even scars. The physical attributes that are considered masculine show that the person has made a certain kind of choices or engaged in certain behaviors. Therefore I think it makes the most sense to just say masculinity is kind of behavior, and people can associate certain physical characteristics with that behavior.
Lastly relying on ideas like "traditionally associated with..." doesn't attempt to dig into the idea that there could be underlying factors from early human culture or even evolutionary reasons why some behaviors are considered masculine. It's easy to say "masculine is just whatever people have said it is, whenever and wherever it is", but I feel like that misses an opportunity for exploration and introspection.
If we look at the archetypal male hero's from stories and movies they're often portrayed as being very masculine, and something that's incredibly common is that they'll be placed in similar circumstances. They face a challenge which seems overwhelmingly difficult or even insurmountable, but feel that they have to tackle it even though they don't have a good chance. Ultimately they have to believe in themselves and through that confidence they're able to succeed, and even if they don't the act of facing difficult odds while being self confidence is often viewed as its own kind of success. I think we can see similar motivations of expecting bad things, but being self reliant or self confident under the stereotypical masculine behaviors in many times and cultures, even ones that are seemingly completely opposite:
- Machismo contains many common ideas with other like chivalry and protection of family, but also often includes aspects like sexism and womanizing. I think it's possible to view those aspects as being driven by an underlying view that relationships often won't last, but that it's possible to attract new partners.
- The idea of a Dandy is quite far from many common views of masculinity, but at the time it was definitely a stereotypically masculine set of behaviors. And we can see in descriptions the conflict between their station in life and their belief in themselves: "Dandyism in certain respects comes close to spirituality and to stoicism" and "These beings have no other status, but that of cultivating the idea of beauty in their own persons"
If we look for reasons why there could be some underlying themes common in most or all ideas of masculinity, we should look at early human societies or even human evolution. I think given the biological differences due to pregnancy and child rearing that it shouldn't be surprising that males often took on tasks that were potentially riskier and more likely to be solitary. A view of the world as being dangerous and difficult and a need to rely primarily on yourself in some difficult situations could be an accurate and useful perspective to have. Ultimately though it does seem to contain a contradiction, that "things are going to go well for most people, but I'll be OK".
The obvious next step would be to define feminine as the opposite of being masculine - an optimistic view of the world, but without self confidence. I'm not sure that entirely works or rings true. There might be something to the idea of it being a stereotypically feminine to put group success over individual success, but that's not the same thing as lacking self confidence. However, that might be OK, I don't think that masculine and feminine necessarily have to be complete opposites in every way as long as they don't have overlapping definitions.