Sorry, Rambo, tough guys don't fly anymore. The new ideal of manhood is the "soft man." What makes him different?
Ideal here, ideal there
If we approach the whole rather broad topic "from the forest" (i.e., specifically from the forest in the times of ancient Greece), we would find that describing the ideal manhood of that time is quite easy. Hero. That was exactly the prototype of the ideal Greek man. While physical constitution, courage, valor, and all the other numerous human virtues can undoubtedly be inspiring even today, the fact is that Greek heroes were characterized by one more thing. They died quite young, in fact in their prime. But even at that, they looked good...
One can come across many examples and descriptions of heroic deaths in foreign scholarly texts (and how heroes were not deprived of their manhood even in death), but there is one that clearly wins out over the others, not least because it is shrouded in mystery concerning the nature (and intimacy) of the "heroic relationship". For it is Homer's description of the death of the hero Patroclus through the eyes of Achilles, characters who, according to some, were bound together by much more than friendship. Although only a linguistically archaic translation exists in English (traceable here, it is the passage marked 65), the 2007 English translation works with a version of approximately the following: '...and approached him in every way, in his beautiful eyes and figure, even in his voice and the spirit of poor Patroclus'. Simply put, the hero Patroclus was not only beautiful, he was beautiful in death, and even beautiful as a spirit. While even a heroic death can certainly be an interesting perspective on the ideal of manhood, we can certainly agree that no one today would willingly take that path. And so we must try to find a different, less dramatic ideal...
New men
It is perhaps surprising how little has changed in society in a few thousand years. Instead of mythological heroes, such as Hercules, the prototype of manhood has become modern, cinematic heroes, specifically Rambo. He was muscular, could handle hard physical work, and in 1985 was the ideal by which masculinity was judged. The extent to which the muscular and rugged Rambo became a cultural phenomenon and became embedded in the notion of what the masculine ideal was, is evidenced by the fact that he appeared as a separate term in dictionaries. A Rambo was someone "who uses - or threatens to use - strong and violent methods towards his enemies ".
Zdroj: Giphy
But what has not changed in more than three millennia has changed in 30 years. Today, it is no longer possible to simply admire Rambo for the kind of guy he is. Today's modern masculinity has transformed; indeed, three basic forms of it have already been defined - toxic, soft and positive masculinity. Toxic masculinity refers to stereotypical male behaviour that is harmful to society, women and men, manifesting itself in dominant behaviour, irresponsible risk-taking and misogyny (contempt for women). In fact, it is hypermasculinity in all its forms (sorry, Rambo), and this behaviour may be conscious, but it may also be a kind of defence mechanism linked to the current trend of questioning masculinity.
Soft masculinity, then, was de facto created in response to toxic masculinity and is actually its counterpart, as well as a combination of masculine ideals from the 1980s and 1990s - including the concept of metrosexuality and the focus on the "new man" (regardless of gender). It is precisely soft masculinity that is receiving more and more attention today, as the ideal becomes more about blurring the line between masculinity and femininity and male appropriation of characteristics considered feminine. These men (if we were to choose a specific representative of this category, it would undoubtedly be Harry Styles, but perhaps also Timothée Chalamet etc.) are interested in fashion, cosmetics, self-care.
It is clear, however, that toxic and soft masculinity are a bit extreme. And so there is also positive masculinity, which tries to promote positive human qualities in men, including courage, strength, loyalty, but also the so-called "generative fatherhood" - the ability to care, to lead, and of course to be heroic, but all this in an adequate degree.
Zdroj: Giphy
Proper masculinity, that's "meat"...
How masculinity is perceived, however, is not necessarily related only to appearance and whether a man displays his leadership skills (or his physical strength). Indeed, there are other activities that can influence the view of sufficient "manliness". For example, meat, or the consumption of meat. Because it is meat that is associated with masculinity, whereas inclinations towards vegetarianism or veganism have earned a stereotypical association with (weaker) women. Thus, three years ago, a study was even published that focused on how men's perception of masculinity is influenced by how much meat they consume. To do this, researchers have additionally reaped the so-called New Masculinity Index (NMI), which was created in 2017 to determine to what extent men identify with the so-called "new masculine norms" including, among other things, an increased interest in maintaining a man's position in society.
The research then pointed out that those men who were more in tune with the new masculinity (but also those who were more educated) tended to consume less meat or were more open to the idea of reducing meat consumption - and also had more positive views of vegetarians. There was even the suggestion that the new masculinity, or its society-wide promotion, could be used to stimulate a reduction in meat consumption...
Masculinity, then, can not only be perceived in different ways, but also expressed in different ways - which of course also applies to the attainment of an ideal that is also highly variable. In the end, however, men (regardless of whether they look like Rambo, are androgynous Hollywood actors, consume kilos of bloody steak or prefer a purely meat-free diet) should strive above all to achieve certain virtues traditionally associated with masculinity, precisely in terms of the aforementioned "positive masculinity". So it can be gaining the respect of others, believing in achievements associated with hard work, it can be a fair attitude as a basic philosophy of life, showing humanity, helping others, but also ensuring one's own sense of self-awareness and security to such an extent that a man (i.e., a man) will not feel threatened in his own identity by anyone who looks, thinks or behaves differently from himself...
