Cú Chulainn wrote:
One of our biggest problems might be male insecurity at giving up traditional roles to the women, or taking female roles upon themselves. My girlfriend and I share the cooking and the ironing, for example, but how many men would be comfortable in a family situation where, say, the woman had the high paying job and provided the money for the family to live on?
I don't see the abandoning of traditional contexts for male and female roles and behaviour as detrimental to the male image- on the contrary, I think that the only reason it hasn't happened already is because men are on average not secure enough and fear giving up something that they think defines them.
This.
I have friends that wouldn't be caught dead doing certain things because "they aren't manly," but I always thought that doing something for yourself was more "manly" than trying to fit into a preconceived notion of manliness. Even if that something is doing yoga or swing dancing or whatever.
Also, I have qualms with the idea that men aren't allowed to have, or rather demonstrate, emotion. Seeing as men are still human, I always found this ridiculous.