What does it mean to be a man?

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I think only guys around 8th grade and up really feel the "manliness" inside or whatever lol.
Obviously AS makes it come later. Though every male eventually gets it.
What makes you a man or adult in general?

Keeping your cool 100% of the time?
Never being heedless ,for fear of your woman, boss, people around you, etc.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THoWdMaD1kQ[/youtube]
That. Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star, the epitome of manliness. Really though, I find his personality pretty awesome, he's not like those silly anime characters of today with "feelings" and all that stuff.

Manliness, though, is doing what you want to do, even if it's not popular/cool/people think it's "gay" or whatever. It's irrelevant to compare "manliness" as some static force, as then it just degenerates into like, Spike TV type attitude. Probably...the ability to pursue dreams and aspirations without external forces influencing you. There you go.

I don't personally use this term. I like the term "adult" better. "Being a man" has certain stereotypical gender-specific connotations, which are not necessarily bad or incorrect, but are usually outdated in our current politically-correct world.

Now I'm not really good at drawing lines of definition, but in my own experience I felt like an "adult" when I actually started living independently. When I didn't have to rely on my parents for lodging or transportation or money. When I could find a way to take care of most of the problems that came with normal living. When I didn't feel the need to do something just because all my peers are doing it (actually I never really felt this way myself, but I figured it should be included). So mostly it's independence. Being able to take care of yourself for the most part and knowing yourself. Of course this is not absolute, because we learn something new every day. The "line" is rather hazy, and I guess (as with what most people tell me about being "in love" - I could never understand what the hell they mean) you just get to that certain point, a little past the actual "line", and you just know.

Being a man: being of male gender or identifying as male. (how politically correct of me). That's basically it.

Being an adult on the other hand, is the same for both genders, for me it's being independent and responsible, and dealing with difficult stuff in a mature way.

Across many cultures, being a man means willingness to sacrifice, lead others, take risks, and value honor/chivalry over personal motives. Not that women can't, but there are evolutionary reasons why men are expected to fill these roles in many societies.

Today, traditional roles are downplayed because modern economies are based on meritocracies where a man or woman may be equally suitable for a role. However, men may still take more risks because it is evolutionarily ingrained in us.

^ That's the scientific answer.

Doing the right thing, even when it seems impossible to do it.

I find that, among my coworkers at the two most recent jobs I had, I was considered 'effeminate', and I found this very, very puzzling, since I had always considered myself a "guys' guy" up until then. I mean, I liked Transformers, dinosaurs, insects, wrestling my cousins, those are all guy-things, right?

Many of my coworkers see that I'm soft and nerdy, that I don't like football, going out and drinking, and they equate that with 'femininity', and I say let them. I mean, I'm bi to begin with and I fancy myself a feminist, so it's not like I mind much. But it is frustrating that this contributes to my inability to really connect with my coworkers.

Being a man is about being honest with yourself and who you are. It's about standing up for those unable to do it for themselves and in a sense being an island. It means not being a coward, it means knowing anything from changing a diaper to gutting a freshly killed deer. But most of all it means not making posts asking other people about what being a man is about. Only you can decide for yourself.

I'm well aware of how lame it is to quote a TV show in response to a question like this, but still...

There's a scene from Firefly where a young man asks Inara "Aren't I supposed to be a man now?" She replies "A man is just a boy who's old enough to ask that question."

A good response, I thought.

"A man's got to do what a man's got to do."
Then you go out and cut off your nose to spite your face, or shoot yourself in the foot, or put egg on your face, or break soomething, or kill something, or start a war.
It's as easy as one, two, three.