What (in your society) is a 'real man'?

[paulpablo]

For me, the message I got from my surrounding UK culture was that a 'real man' was a tall, physically strong, adult heterosexual male, with a deep voice, who had killed other men in combat, could drink prodigious amounts, ate lots of meat, was fully independent, never displayed fear or sentimentality, had a large number of sexual conquests, enjoyed playing sports, and was an expert in engineering and DIY.

What message did you recieve in your culture about what constituted a 'real man'?

I live in the UK and people normally use the term in relation to looking after your children and family properly.

I've never heard anyone talking about being a real man in relation to liking meat , sports and beer without some sense of irony or exaggeration.

There's a lot of stuff like that in relation to people being gay, if you don't like football you're gay, or certain drinks are gay, I've never heard anyone using the terminology of not being a real man though in relation to that stuff.

As a joke someone might put on a southern American accent and say "cmon be a real man" and offer you a beer or something or dare you to do something. But I think that's more of an exaggerated stereotypical view of southern American culture and copying it as a joke.