Real Men

What qualities does it take in order for an average man to become a real man? And when someone praises a man by calling him a real man, what exactly do they see that differentiates the two men from each other?

Is the title, 'real man', earned on what he does, or doesn't, do? Or is it awarded based on his physicality, rather than his integrity and/or moral standing?

Does the honour of bestowing the title of 'real man', fall exclusively to women? Or can men also get involved in the fray? And knowing how quickly a woman's opinion of a man can go from red hot to ice cold if a man gets it wrong, and also knowing how often that happens, is it worth it for a man to try and become something he may not be, just to have the word, real, temporarily placed in front of the noun that denotes his gender?

I assume that in order to become a real man, a man must recreate himself from the lesser, and into a better man. In other words, a man who morphs from someone who isn't good enough, into someone he hopes will be more than good enough. It may also be possible that real men are simply born.

Perhaps the title, 'real man', and the question of who is and who is not a real man, should be decided by friends and peers (rather than exclusively by female admirers), who can adjudicate on what is known, and not what may only be perceived.

If that is the best way to decide, that means a lot of people, with no set qualities to take from, who will make that judgement. This makes knowing who is, and who is not, a real man, a somewhat difficult task to get right. After all, if we were to take one hundred different people, who will have one hundred different qualities they look for when judging an average man from a real man, will mean one hundred different varieties of real men.

Just as the average man will vary from person to person, with whatever strengths and weaknesses they have, so too the real man will have different strengths and weaknesses...qualities that will set him aside from the rest of the real men.

And all of this begs the question; what type of person would choose to place the title of real man, over the seemingly less fancied average man? And are these people, who I think we can safely assume are mostly female, deserving of the reciprocal title of being real women?

So, should the title 'real man' be placed where it belongs? In a time before we became a more aware society when it comes to sexual segregation and decency.