Although I personally prefer my man, I don’t think that doing all these outdoor “manly” things is really what makes a man. I know plenty of men that are slight of build (you can’t choose your genes) and have professions that require suits. They are not any less “men” because of this. They have taken the responsibilities of the priesthood and their families to heart and live their lives accordingly.

I think that manliness is more of an attitude than a job, look, or lifestyle.

I was more annoyed with the girls who were so into “that was so creative how he proposed” or “the date invitation was so unique”, “he wrote me a poem/song/etc…” It is possible that this push for “creativeness” may have pushed the normal guy over the edge. Come on, what was so wrong with a phone call invite to a burger and a movie?

My man is a man. (I didn’t meet him at BYU, he is a convert, and there was no proposal.) He hunts, fishes, chops wood, and has a job that requires steel toed footwear. He also reads his scriptures everyday, attends church and temple, and we have family night each week. He feels completely at ease walking into a fabric store (wearing his steel toed boots); selecting a pattern from the books; fingering high end silks, woolens, velvets, and cashmeres; and picking the perfect fabric for an outfit for me to sew for myself or someone else. Best of all, he doesn’t look at the price per yard!

If people are thinking that all Mormon men are weanies, they obviously haven’t been to my ward. If you happen to be in the hall when elder’s quorum is let out, you’re very likely to hear conversations about rifles, hunting, fishing, snowmachines, and home construction projects.

(a very rough Church member I know)

End of Argument.

If he were surly, or a Frenchman, or said bad things about America (or all three at the same time), there wouldn’t be as much of a love affair with him. If you take the accusations launched against him and took his name off it … it’s not that much different than the character assassination in the Mitchell Report.

When I talk about the Triangle, I am making a positive statement, not a normative one. I posit that most men actually could dwell in that triangle most, if not all, of the time. That’s not saying we should, but we probably could. Others have done well at making the point that for a lot of us, work is a competitive thing and feels like a sport. And for many of us, things we do with computers and software satisfy our love for machinery.
You’re right to point out that inordinate amounts of time in the Triangle nowadays result in stunted development (the Child-Man). If you watch some of these shows I referred to, you see levels of recklessness and irresponsibility that are really astounding, and you see a lot of young men with zero desire to commit to relationships- all the characteristics of Child-Men.
That said, I do appreciate having these guys on TV, because 1) these shows are like garlic to the fashionista vampires on Queer Eye, and 2) when my wife sees guys on Black Gold going to a bar after a day of work and getting drunk and then looking to hook up with strangers, she is reminded that I’m not a bad guy to be married to ;-)

And I’m so glad the cape I Just picked up on eBay is a good investment! =)

Dan (#38) I worry about homeschooling for the same reason. We have several families in our ward that home school and while it works for some children, others need more stimulation than just their families and church on Sunday to become better students and better people. Even the best teacher/parent can’t adequately replicate the environment of a large classroom. I feel children learn so much be learning from teachers they may not like, teachers with a teaching style that doesn’t perfectly fit their learning style, and having to wait their turn to comment or ask a question in a class. My 12-year-old niece had a very difficult year with a very unreasonable teacher this past school year and, while the experience was uncomfortable and even painful for her at times, she learned a lot about herself and how the world operates. She also learned about what kind of person she does not want to become. How could she ever learn the same lesson so well only experiencing environments hand picked by herself or her parents?

I’m not getting a clear indication from the post or your comments that the characteristics of “retrosexuality” as you call it aren’t also the symptoms of today’s Child-Man who, because of the economy and opportunities that the American middle class enjoys at the present time, becomes an adult or “grown-up”, if you prefer, twenty years later than they used to.

Your “Bermuda Triangle of Men’s Thinking: Machines, Sports, and the Female Form” seems like more of a description of frat-boy mentality than something wholesome for “real men” to be adopting.

I think the Art of Manliness blog does a much better job of identifying a type of retrosexuality than the concept of the “Bermuda Triangle of Men’s Thinking”. The authors of that blog might correct me if I am wrong but my sense is that they would posit that this triangle does not (or perhaps should not) form the core of manliness in the post-metrosexual age.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjcZNR6MiRE

What a stud. Yes, that commercial shows why so many of us have a man crush on Lance. That commercial reminds me how awesome it is to be American.

Paroled,
This is one of the things I fear about homeschooling. With a lot of families it works great, but if a child is homeschooled by a parent lacking skills, it can be disastrous. Getting out and having tough, sometimes painful interactions with others is something that teaches valuable lessons. I hate to say it, but some rough edges come in handy later on in life, especially in certain careers.