What Traditional Masculine Qualities Do You Possess?
In this section, you'll learn how you scored on six major characteristics that comprise a traditional view of masculinity. Each of your scores is plotted in the chart below, alongside the average scores for women and men.
Sports Fan
A key component of masculinity is about being physically active. More than that, highly masculine people are drawn to sports. While a feminine person might do aerobics, a masculine person plays individual or team sports. Within this aspect of masculinity are the qualities of both physical prowess and competitiveness. The attraction of watching, playing, and winning at sports is a uniquely masculine quality.
You scored relatively low in the area of liking sports compared to other people. When making choices about how you spend your time, there are many other activities you would choose before playing some kind of sport. Watching sports is probably also something that is not high on your list of favorite things. You're not highly competitive, at least not in terms of physical performance.
Decisive
Making decisions quickly and easily is a traditionally masculine quality. This dimension is associated with a certain boldness, responsibility and clarity of purpose. There's no wishy-washiness, dithering, or second-guessing. When a decision is needed, whether it's easy or difficult, stepping up and making it is the masculine approach.
You're able to make decisions fairly easily when they are called for. Even if you're not certain of the answer to a particular question or problem immediately, it probably doesn't take you too much time or energy to resolve the issue. You are relatively comfortable in roles and situations that demand good decision-making skills, but you may not seek them out intentionally.
Leader
Ever heard the phrase "alpha male?" A desire to be the top dog, the big cheese, or the head honcho is another important aspect of masculinity. This traditional quality of masculinity involves not only being in charge, but also a sense of determination, a desire to distinguish one's self, and to be successful.
You are not likely to be interested in being the boss. You may be perfectly capable of blazing a trail, but you'd usually rather let someone else do it. You don't necessarily equate having power with being successful, and for that matter, success may not be the key to happiness for you. You probably don't try to gain positions of leadership, and may even actively avoid them.
Aggressive
Although masculinity is a psychosocial construct, describing what a given society considers to be appropriate behavior for males, there is at least one aspect of it with clear ties to biology, and that is aggression. Biologically speaking males have higher levels of testosterone than females. High levels of testosterone are related to aggressive behavior. Does that mean that all men are aggressive and that women are not aggressive? No. It means that, in general, males are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior than females and because of that the societal definition of masculinity has developed to include aggression. More specifically, a tendency to react to conflict with hostility and even violence is highly masculine.
You tend to be fairly low in aggressiveness. When provoked you are not likely to respond with any kind of violence. You'd much rather resolve an explosive situation by talking it out or simply by walking away. It probably takes a lot to make you really angry. You don't tend to initiate conflict, nor do you tend to escalate a conflict when one arises.
Analytical
The analytical aspect of masculinity is characterized by logic and reason. It involves a love of complex thinking and a desire to find the root cause of almost any problem. In contrast to the sports playing quality of masculinity, the analytical quality is all about the mental game.
You are moderately analytical. Complex thinking and problem solving are activities that you can certainly handle and may also enjoy, but you probably don't feel compelled to always be figuring out the how's and why's of every situation. You may find that you draw on your analytical abilities primarily in one area of your life, such as work, but less so in other areas, such as leisure. You are able to use logic and reason when needed.
Principled Individualist
The principled individualist component of masculinity is reminiscent of the American cowboy. This is a quality or set of qualities about being one of a kind, and not just another face in the crowd. It's also about living by a certain code of honor, and standing up for what you believe in.
On occasion you really stand out and show what makes you so unique, and at other times you choose to simply blend in with the crowd. There are certain principles that you simply wouldn't think of compromising, but you also realize that sometimes you can't sweat the small stuff and you have to be flexible. Your outlook typically leans more toward the positive than the negative, and overall your approach to life tends to be fairly practical and realistic.
Next: What Traditional Feminine Qualities Do You Possess?
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