Men are often respected and insulted in the same breath--- breaths that are frequently expelled through ambiguously stated phrases that pass by without notice. Manpower, Mankind, and Man-made are just words until you take a close enough look at them. To be a Man is to be strong enough to not cry. To be a Man is to fight for your country. To be a man is to die for a cause. Be a man! Be Brave! Be courageous! Be so many positive, manly things. But these words are the rights of women as well as we've all learned time and again through so many Women's movement campaigns and through so many spousal shouts in the ear. I mean, we know that even a woman can have the balls to do something brave, but still to be the man of the house is a great thing but doesnt quite mean you get dinner cooked for you every night unless you're a sexist pig. You just try to live your life in such a way that your woman sings the phrase "Whatta Man, Whatta Man, What a mighty good Man" to her lady friends and exclaims "I've gotta Man" to all her would-be suitors.
There might never truly be a term policeperson while policeman sounds so much better as long as you understand it's inclusive of women as well. Nevertheless, whether it's a policeman or an neutral-gender officer that pulls me over, I have the same amount of anger no matter how fast s/he thought I was going. So now it seems we're equal once again. But what about the negative that so many have placed on Men. All men are created equal does include women, but where do women get off the boat by the time the phrase "All Men are alike!" is shouted through their pissed-off lips. And again, you know it's just the male population being referred to when someone says what a real Man would do as if being a Man was now something which to aspire to when just one sentence ago it meant the contrary. And still again, we see that Women were in perfect stride when word from the moon stated that this was one small step for Man and one giant leap for Mankind but they slow down a step or two when someone says that Man is destroying our environment, especially when women are using all the aerosol hair products.
So why is it that women get the choice to be a part of either Man and/or Woman where the male isn't so privileged without much scrutiny upon entrance into behaving in any way, shape, or form like a woman. All of Woman's positive traits seem to stereotypically be beyond a man's grasp---Traits like intuition, culinary skills, good handwriting, caring for a child, compassion and many other traits that only seem like frivolous and humorous things because they have been devalued throughout the years. Most women seem to think that being a housewife is the worst thing in life and most men seem to think it's an absurdity if they were to stay home and tend the house, but in all actuality being a housewife might be just as rewarding and impacting as a fireman if Hollywood didnt glamorize the job, or if our society took the emphasis off of brawn, or if we simply chose to see it that way- as the primary care provider of a child does indeed shape that childs life more than anything else.
To be A Man though is more than just brawn, it's a symbol of freedom that the Womens and Civil Rights movements brought to every Man's attention. Blacks were only considered by the US government as being 3/5 of a man even after the abolishment of Slavery. In the movie Malcolm X, the father whose family is threatened by the KKK screams in fury "I'm a MAN!" possibly eluding to this discrimination. And still to this day The Man is trying to keep us down--- a term that makes you wonder what the people who say this phrase actually consider themselves. But hey, boys will be boys. There will always be people manning a ship, even Women's basketball will forever have Man to Man defense, and "Man, that was cool!" can be said fairly no matter who's present. You can blame it on the language, but keep in mind that English is one of the only languages on earth where the description of a room full of women doesnt change to the masculine tense upon the entrance of one, single man. Man O' Man... maybe things have got to change, maybe they don't, maybe they will, maybe they won't. Either way, women are as at fault as men are. Chivalry might be dead, but I've never heard a woman asked to be more of a gentlewoman, and believe me not all of them are. And may I please hear something besides "I am woman, hear me roar" or the modern replacement being Shania's "Man, I feel like a woman?"
So what is it? To be a man--- is it the best of things? is it the worst of things? To be a woman--- the best of things or the worst? Its probably neither. It might be both. All I know is that both sexes/genders/sides should just learn to accept each other as is without any unnecessary applauding or denouncing. We're all in this together. Well, that's all from me as everybody all together says. Amen!