Masculine Markers and the Language of a Culture

You and your sons must know this language.

Every culture has masculine markers.

These are part of the language of the culture that people use to communicate. Men do certain things and dress a certain way to communicate and signal their masculinity.

These markers are not the essence of what it means to be masculine; they are just a way for someone to communicate that they are, indeed, masculine.

These markers aren’t the platonic form of masculinity, which can be seen in the fact that every culture has slightly different markers. In Scotland, you would never call a kilt a dress, for example. And because they can differ between cultures, it is tempting to think these markers are arbitrary. But they are not, as we’ll discuss below.

A man who desires to be masculine will gladly communicate his masculinity in the language of the culture he is living in. Distinguishing sex roles clearly within a culture is healthy, and for boys, in particular, having some external things to aspire to will help give them some confidence.

Boys must learn healthy ways to express their own masculinity, or they will find unhealthy ways to express it.

For example, here are some of the markers of American culture: