"Healthy masculine energy." Could you define that for me? Does that mean being into cars, having aggressive energy, not showing emotion, having big muscles, ect, ect? Many people are not very fond of the way men are portrayed in the media. This is because they are portrayed as manly men, which is a very narrow classification of the variety of men and boys who live differently in our society. This classification is an all too common "mook" that is used by many industries for their male target market profiles. Industries believe that since this societal standard for men has been widely accepted and sought after, if they appeal to this standard then men will buy their products because they aspire to become a societal-defined man. This is such a popular "mook" profile because it offers a ready-made identity, and provides a category of people for males who have a need for affiliation.
In the video below, I agree towards the end when he says that when raising boys, they should have the equal influence of both their mother and father (or of a male and a female). But the way that he talks about the influence of women on their boys comes off as a stereotypical, negative thing, as if being raised only by your mother will make you less of a "man." The message that is being told in this video is that all boys have a "masculine energy" within them that they need to channel into becoming a macho man who does manly things.
I disagree with this for the same reasons that I disagree with the stereotypes that are set for women: 1) They are hard to achieve, and 2) These stereotypes only represent a very small portion of the variety of different kinds of men there are. Who says men have to be masculine? Who cares, anyway? For the most part, girls aren't into the whole showing off, flex your muscles facade that many guys believe is a turn-on. This will sound corny, but guys, you don't have to aspire to become something that's unattainable, or something that you don't believe reflects who you really are.
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