Are you man enough?

Extract

[...] There are sports out there that are considered to be more feminine, but yet we thought that society says that any sport is a good sport as long there is some form of a man playing that sport. Society has helped to conform most men into thinking that they have to be a certain way in order for them to be considered masculine. For every man it is different for the fact that every individual is not the same nor do they claim to be the same. [...]

[...] Some people would go as far to say that the traits of a man and a women determine if they are truly indeed suppose to be more masculine or more feminine. Some would say that the natural display of masculinity is suppose to be a man who has a prominent jaw line, has a wide chest and broad shoulders, has a muscular body, and lots of facial hair. If anything this describes the general idea of what the ideal white man looks like. [...]

[...] Now many are starting to act on what they know to be masculine to them. Challenges have been established in every possible way for men. In such ways as cultural, religious, financial, and educational. Because of this understanding men have been encouraged to develop new identities as men. Men are starting to examine their own lives and relationships with women and other men. There will never be a true definition of masculinity and what is can be or ought to be, although there are stereotypes of masculinity and what it is. [...]

[...] Because of the fact that I am African American and my views of masculinity are different from that of a white male my age, there has to be an understanding that much of the idea of what a man is has to do with what you are taught when you are younger. It is the ideas that are installed in you as a child by your parent or parents that have raised you. Based upon what you have been taught and what you experience for yourself as a man, you can come to the conclusion of what it means to be man for yourself. [...]