You do make a good point about the gender thing. Yet, you kind of proved my point in the sense that manliness is only an idea that is popularly and socially accepteble. When people sling mud at guys who don't act like the mainstream, that's idiotic because that just means that they have their own definition of manliness in themselves. It's almost like men are forcing themselves into a cookie cutter that everyone approves of. Yet, another man who decides to occupy himself in the individuality of his unique manliness is told that he is not manly for not acting like most men. When you hear people mock a guy by saying that he is not manly, they are basically saying, "Oh, look at the fool who won't act like we want him to!" The idea you appear to stand behind is one along the mantra of "everyone's doing it," followed by the revulsion of those who won't comply. Further, every culture has it's own "socially correct" idea of manliness. In some cultures, it is not considered unmanly for grown heterosexual men to hold hands while walking together, and that includes kissing. Think back to anctient Greece when male/male relationships were considered a higher form of manliness. These customs are quite contrary to the popular American paradigm of manliness. Therefore, if a man endearingly kisses a man in public in America, think twice before saying he is unmanly because manliness is subject to culture and sometimes the individual despite the culture.

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here's a hug for you.^_^