Masculine Overcompensation

“Masculinity” is a term that encompasses a collection of (what are generally considered to be) male-affiliated human attributes.

These attributes vary from place to place and across time, and different cultures and traditions have imbued masculinity with different undertones and expectations.

In some cases it’s respectably masculine to control one’s emotions and responses to things, for instance, while in others, losing control of one’s passions and tapping into one’s barbarous (even bestial) nature are considered to be manly tendencies.

Because this is sort of a fluffy term—not something we can concretely and absolutely delineate and define—masculinity is also generally considered to be something of a cultural invention.

There are aspects of this concept that are almost certainly biological, in the sense that they’re associated with testosterone and that hormone’s impacts on musculature, facial hair (and overall facial appearance), bone density, the deepness of one’s voice, and so on.

But since testosterone levels vary in both men and women, and since some cultures have conceptions of masculinity (and its opposite, femininity) that defy the impacts of these chemicals, most modern conversations about this topic focus on the socially constructed version of the term.