What is Masculinity or Machismo?

 

"Machismo, the Spanish term for masculinity, has become a pervasive term in the conversation of gender studies in the United States. ... The origin of machismo can be traced to pre-Columbian times and has been influenced by both indigenous and European forms of masculinity." https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com

"Toxic masculinity is when the archetypal image of what it means to be masculine becomes harmful and aspirational. It thrives by penalizing behavior which does not conform to its standard and celebrating behavior which does." https://www.aurorand.org.uk/news/top-10-toxic-masculinity-behaviours.

Being stoic
Being promiscuous
Championing heterosexuality as the unalterable norm
Being violent
Being dominant
Sexual aggression towards women
Not displaying emotion
Not being a feminist ally
Risk-taking

Not engaging in household chores and caregiving

“There is a constantly reoccurring notion that real manhood is different from simple anatomical maleness, that it is not a natural condition that comes about spontaneously through biological maturation but rather is a precarious or artificial state that boys must win against powerful odds. This recurrent notion that manhood is problematic, a critical threshold that boys must pass through testing, is found at all levels of sociocultural development regardless of what other alternative roles are recognized.” –David Gilmore


“We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life.” –Theodore Roosevelt
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/quotes-about-manliness/

Masculinity Quotes. Goodreads.com:-

“Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words.” 
― Mahatma Gandhi

“There is a time in a boy’s life when the sweetness is pounded out of him; and tenderness, and the ability to show what he feels, is gone.” 
― Norah Vincent

“Masculinity cannot exist without femininity. On its own, masculinity has no meaning, because it is but one half of a set of power relations. Masculinity pertains to male dominance as femininity pertains to female subordination.” 
― Sheila Jeffreys, Unpacking Queer Politics: A Lesbian Feminist Perspective

“Once upon a time black male “cool” was defined by the ways in which black men confronted hardships of life without allowing their spirits to be ravaged. They took the pain of it and used it alchemically to turn the pain into gold. That burning process required high heat. Black male cool was defined by the ability to withstand the heat and remain centered. It was defined by black male willingness to confront reality, to face the truth, and bear it not by adopting a false pose of cool while feeding on fantasy; not by black male denial or by assuming a “poor me” victim identity. It was defined by individual black males daring to self-define rather than be defined by others.” 
― bell hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity

“Our culture is now one of masculine triumphalism, in which transhistorically feminine expressions – empathy, sweetness, volubility, warmth – are seen as impediments to a woman’s professional trajectory in many sectors.” 
― Antonella Gambotto-Burke, Mama: Dispatches from the Frontline of Love

“But by far the worst thing we do to males — by making them feel they have to be hard — is that we leave them with very fragile egos. The harder a man feels compelled to be, the weaker his ego is.” 
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists