Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity by David D. Gilmore goes into the pan-cultural concepts of masculinity. It's a very approachable and dee

Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity by David D. Gilmore goes into the pan-cultural concepts of masculinity. It's a very approachable and deep dive into what defines masculinity across cultures and times. TLDR: It's not that men are not women, it's that they are not boys. Manliness is a social marker and is defined by a male's peers, "honor" societies, gangs, etc. How that is seen is via the 3 P's, which are: Provider, Protector, Procreater. With very few and rare exceptions, all cultures have these three things as markers of a man. You can have 2 of them in spades and still be seen as a man, but you can't just have 1. Again, I'm trying to summarize a whole book here in a comment on HN, so if you're interested in discussing and learning more, I'd buy it and read it.