Signs of Healthy Masculinity

Our culture suffers from an underestimation of masculinity, both in its present state and in its potential.  The following are some situations indicating that one has achieved a balanced masculine presence.

*When insulted, one's first impulse is to laugh, joke, or artfully reverse the insult with the offender.

This situation shows that one's ego has not grown to dangerous levels.  Attackers will often attempt to unbalance opponents with insults, particularly if they cannot hope to physically defeat them.  No insult, no matter how grievous, warrants physical attack.  All insults are indicative of weakness and insecurity.  This admonition does not apply to threats, which may be parried with a joke, but must always be treated seriously.

*One can urinate readily and easily in a crowded public bathroom without anxiety.

Every man is born with a reflexive aversion to urination in front of others due to its evolutionary associations with territoriality.  If this aversion is missing from a man, he is confident in his territory and does not accept the claims of others over his physical space.  The reader should note that civilization has all but eliminated the necessity of physical territorial contests.  Only in war and savagery is territoriality an important trait.

*One has fought/wrestled with bare fists to the point of injury without fear.

This sort of contest is increasingly rare in modern civilization.  As good men have abandoned the study of combat, evil men have grown more emboldened in the use of violence as a tool of control and amusement.  Therefore, good men have a civilizational responsibility to train in combat.

*One is immune to shame.

Shamelessness is an important prerequisite for opposing arbitrary social control.  A man with no shame has no master.

*One tends toward silence rather than complaint when angered, disappointed, or depressed.

This trait indicates a disavowal of social relationships based on common complaint.  One's pain cannot ever be shared and has no worth in directing one's decisions.

*One does not apologize to anyone, for any reason.

Apology is a submissive act which communicates one's inability to solve a problem.  A healthy man skips the apology and fixes the problem.

*One does not pine for women or require their approval to find happiness.

This trait enables a man to sidestep sexual manipulation and judge people of all sexes by their character.

*One can easily meet all his financial, nutritional, shelter, and mobility needs autonomously, if necessary.

A man who can care for himself entirely alone is less susceptible to manipulation and more able to respond to the actual limitations of his environment in place of the artificial limitations imposed by acquaintances.

*One can say anything worth saying in a single sentence.

Laconic, unhurried speech indicates one's control of a situation.  Very little speech is necessary for a man to communicate effectively.