“In the main, people don't like old men much”.

True. As an old man myself, I have adopted the practice of avoiding women and children as much as possible. I know when I'm not wanted, as the saying goes. Given the #metoo rubbish, it's the safest thing to do.

However, it's boys and young men I feel sorry for. Our crap government is now spending millions of dollars telling, and showing graphically on television, that young boys are all potential abusers of sainted women, and they learn from their behaviour from their fathers, who are already things to be feared and hated.

It's great being turned out of the herd like an unwanted old rogue elephant. Not so good for young blokes who are treated like shite and told how 'toxic’ and dangerous they are by nasty harpies and politicians grovelling to females for a few lousy votes.

Old men are the unknown soldiers- I have a lot of time for them.

I think this may be an overstatement of a very minor problem. Yes women talk a lot. I sometimes find it amusing to see my lady, sitting on the floor by a power point, so she can still talk on her charging mobile, when she has talked the battery flat already. However most real men have developed the trick of closing their ears, so all the talk doesn't interfere in real life.

I have done a lot of things some consider manly. I have flown jets off aircraft carriers, won formula 1 & 2 races at Bathurst, rallied cars through the fire trails in state forest, sailed my yacht 53,000 miles around the Pacific, & ridden show jumpers & eventers at a moderate level.

Would you believe there was always a lady who wanted to share my life with me. It was not always the same lady of course. The one who could happily sit beside me reading the instructions at 100 miles/hour in the forest was terrified at 7 knots on a yacht. The one who could sail the yacht in a howling gale, was terrified of horses. I still marvel she could watch our kids gallop across country, jumping obstacles designed to be hard to jump, without a word. Perhaps she was scared speechless.

My guess is that those bitching about men are those with nothing worth having in their lives. I can only wonder if their problem is that real men recognise their kind at 50 paces, & run a mile, so these "ladies" have never met one.

I had to laugh when my 11 year old grand son asked his mother, after a school holiday horse training camp, why the girls riding horses were so pretty. So take heart men, the pretty ones are off doing stuff, not just talking. He'll get on. His mother is gorgeous, & was a top horse lady.

Well, what is a very minor problem for some people seems to annoy the crap out of others. Things such as: people talking loudly on their mobile on a restaurant, ignoring the need of others to talk or sit quietly and eat; ditto people talking loudly in a bus or train (is it always women?); the way people walk into you because they are talking or texting on a phone; people who must sit and text as they take up gym equipment; the way men sit with their legs apart (do we need to give some air to the boys down below?)

And the way men sometimes feel the need to explain what women are trying to say. And the way people seem to regard anyone over 40 as a has-been, a bad driver, and way past rational thought. Of course, men and women will always see these things the same way.....

There are thinkers and there are doers. Ayn Rand said that thinking is useless unless it leads to action. I probably think and read too much...

The author left out the realms of spirituality: who are we? why are we here? what good can we do? And where do we go hereafter?

And also the realm of mind- thinking- dreaming.

No, you can't think too much. Did someone say being Socrates dissatisfied was better than being a pig satisfied?

Well I guess we're going to hear a lot about women this week.............

Waverley said- No, you can't think too much. Did someone say being Socrates dissatisfied was better than being a pig satisfied?

Answer- My subtle point was I should do more...

However I enjoy the discussion between Socrates and Cephalus two old men that obviously respect each other deeply. And of course "the unexamined life is not worth living".

A man is a human being that is viewed with distain by the confused sex Left which has an unnatural fear of normalcy.

No Canem Malum, you can't read or think too much, provided your reading is not in place of doing. Knowing what others have thought felt & done gives you your aiming point.

You will also need really knowledgeable great teachers to set you in the right direction to develop whatever latent skills you have. Without this you are unlikely to achieve much.

There is nothing like the feeling that comes through your hands & backside that your horse has seen the jump, knows what you want him to do, trusts you not to ask for something that is too much for him, & is going forward to do it confidently.

The same thing with a car, across the top of the mountain at Bathurst at over 100MPH, when you can feel that even a couple of millimetres a second more would have you off the road.

One thing I have never been able to understand though. If these hands can control a Formula 1 Brabham Repco to the inch, why is it when I write an essay, it looks as if Clancy of the overflow came down to lend a hand, & wrote it for me with a thumbnail dipped in tar.

Oh, would Clancy have passed as a man?

Dear Waverley,

«The author left out the realms of spirituality: who are we? why are we here? what good can we do? And where do we go hereafter?»

He did, but for a good reason: this article, named "what is a man", narrows on men and masculinity.

Even those of us who happen to have a male body, are not men
(similarly, he who had the body called 'Socrates' was not Socrates, nor is whoever has a pig's body a pig).
Masculinity (and femininity) is a property of our body, not of us.
Masculinity, femininity and our body can be described whereas who we are cannot.
These big questions are good of you to ask, but have nothing to do with gender.

I do enjoy this discussion.

Gender is widely used these days as a term .
Why? because it's acceptable to arch-feminists, who don't like biology or terms like sex roles, masculinity .... oh and loads more stuff.

Do we need to restrict ourselves to what the extreme feminists won't object to?

Gender really is a grammatical term. Nouns have a gender.

People have sex roles. They are male or female, according to their basic biology.
I guess that's too simple for the extremists.

Well I know I'm here and if you prod me I will bleed!

There was a time when men were men & the women were glad of it.

Once upon a time, being a man was a great thing. It meant you could do great things!

These days men keep quiet. When a couple is interviewed, on some news program or reality show, see how often the man is mostly silent and lets the woman talk. Men feel they are somehow guilty of all the abuse, the violence, all of it.

In divorce settlements, time and again, the woman gets the kids and the house and the man walks away. A bit hard to buy another house in Sydney or Melbourne these days. Who ends up doing better?

Seems we've let things move a bit too far.......

What makes a man is his plumbing. Namely the anatomy and biology of a man. Everything else that is related goes into what makes a good man, a strong man, or common characteristics and stereotypes of men. The topic of what makes a good man is a topic that is now a days often neglected instead of actively taught, which is a sad state of reality. Instead more often then not "all a man is" is a topic to criticize, just as the article points out.

But regardless good or not, the only factor that should matter for what a man is, is that the anatomy of a person is a man's anatomy. If they have that then they are real men regardless of any other individual or cultural characterists that they have as well. The coined phrase of being a "real man" in today's culture is expecially ironic due to the positions of gender identity politics muddying the issue, as well as the characteristics any group wants to argue for what makes good men or strong men.

Any talk of plumbing will arouse the ire of the feminist brigade.
See if they respond....

The demonisation of men is real. I wrote about that to an ALP politician in Maribyrnong in 2016 and two days later Victoria Police came to my home ready to arrest me.

Anger is inevitable but the solution will be for the majority of decent people to reject the crap: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2018/08/31/gender-and-society-calling-out-hysteria/

For the heterosexual majority, the question of what is a man cant be divorced from the context of what are women to us.

I have been a midwife for over 30 years.

"I fully agree with the previous author. I have long believed that the generally accepted concepts of masculinity or femininity are only questions of our bodies. Many standards in our society are imposed on people, which is why some may be uncomfortable in society.

But I went to this thread to discuss with you one problem regarding the male body. I am 44 years old and in time I have to resort to using stimulants to have a full sexual life. I plan to go to the doctor and get a prescription for this treatment https://trustmeds.com.au/generic-viagra-australia (this is due to some problems with my health, but they are not significant yet). I would like to hear advice from mature men and how you cope with the difficulties associated with age and potency. I am sure that this is not a problem and this should not be ashamed. To discuss this and share the experience will be most likely. Isn't it ?"

I was thinking of sending a post on social media about the stuff we get urging men to lose weight, build up our muscles, take supplements and generally try to look like some Afro-American bodybuilder packed with muscle. Ha ha ha.

I don't mind some of these- as they spur me on in my efforts to exercise. But the men I know from 40 onwards are worried about their increasing waist, their reduced energy, a lack of energy and enthusiasm, and failure to act like a 25 year old porn star.

Many of us get some help from a GP. But we learn to be happy with small successes. A hug from grand-kids. A spectacular sunset. A kind word from a stranger. A great book. A funny TV show.

I recently read Leigh Sales 'Any Ordinary Day" and found it genuinely inspiring:

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/any-ordinary-day-9780143789963

And I'm as cynical and critical as anyone I know.

So take heart, mate. Life brings many surprises. Be patient with your body and with yourself. Accept any compliment gladly. I do!

Someone tells me I look good, or I look fit, and I glow with pleasure!

Hope this helps.