6 Things Women Want Men To Know

Respecting people is far more important than being seen as "strong."

Updated 11 years ago, September 16, 2013

1. Chivalry may be dead, but respect certainly isn’t.

The concept of chivalry is rooted in ideas that people, but women especially, may not be comfortable with, but being thoughtful and courteous toward someone you are dating (or people in general, really) is one of the most appealing things you can do. On that note, respect and honesty will get you farther than anything else.

2. Your manhood is never an excuse.

Respecting people is far more important than being seen as “strong.” Nobody is impressed by your excessive display of how fearless and invulnerable you are, because it’s more or less a ploy to convince yourself and the rest of the world that you are a “man.” There were once days where “boys will be boys!” flew as an excuse but they’re coming to a close.

3. The world will tell you that you need to “man up” at times when you are feeling anything but, and that’s the problem.

Showing emotions and being perceived as “weak” is equated to being feminine, and of course you don’t want to be that! But what men need to realize is that when it comes to relationships, being open and honest and vulnerable is what bonding derives from. People appreciate this. Women love this. Be aware of this. Know that someone who loves you will do so for who you are at every level, for the things that touch and affect you most, and for how willing you are to let someone into those crevices of who you are. Not how well you bottle up your feelings and act out on them negatively.

4. Your genitalia has nothing to do with your masculinity.

Indeed, you can consider yourself a man without even having a penis, but if you do, the size of it does not determine how “manly” you are, and frankly making any mention of it is doing nothing but turning everybody in your vicinity off.

5. Stop crucifying yourself and your fellow man for being feminine.

Frankly, it’s offensive and implies that you need to live up to your superiority by not succumbing to woman-like tendencies. Of course, this is all just societal nonsense and there’s nothing wrong with wherever you fall on the gender spectrum, but sometimes it’s hard to get out of habits like calling people “faggots.”

6. Tall and muscular with chiseled features is only one of the many ways you can be an attractive male and you don’t need to feel bad if you don’t fit into the men’s version of ideal beauty.

Your masculinity is not defined by how tall or strong you are. There’s a similar pressure for men to be as physically perfect as there is for women, and it’s something we should acknowledge more often (though the women’s side of things is admittedly worse) the truth is that we allow ourselves to be unnecessarily self-conscious and stressed because we don’t like our appearance because we compare it to an unrealistic standard. A woman (or anybody, of course) will love you not despite the fact that you aren’t the picture of masculine attractiveness, but because you are just you.