Man\" -- Defined the Word

¶ … Man" -- Defined

The word "man" is a simple noun that has taken on many complex connotations, or implied meanings, in contemporary language. At its most basic essence, a man is a member of the male gender, as distinct from a female person. A male is an adult, as opposed to a boy. But when a boy is told to "be a man" by his father, clearly the phrase means something more than simply have the necessary anatomy or chromosomes that connote masculinity. Being a man is an active state, the father is implying, not simply having the anatomy or the age of an adult man.

It is true that sometimes, being a man is equated with just simply being human, as in the phrase 'mankind.' This definition is problematic, since it means that women are excluded from the definition of humanity, or encompassed in a definition of manhood that excludes femininity from generic personhood. "The political philosophy of republican citizenship, which Americans originally borrowed from European Enlightenment thinkers, equated the 'rights of man' with the rights of all citizens. Since men were the only voters in most nineteenth century political contests, voting rights and citizenship were directly linked to manhood. This connection between citizenship and manhood shaped the language, strategies and objectives of political and social reform" (Estes, 2005). Advocates of female equality have rightly protested this easy association of being human with being a member of the male gender, preferring the word 'humankind' to mankind, when speaking about all persons.

This does not mean asserting one's manhood has to be a bad thing, however. In fact, one of the reasons that talking about the 'rights of man' was such a radical act in many nations was that claiming manhood as a synonym for one's identity was a powerful rhetorical statement, for members of certain disenfranchised groups. "In the 1780s, the British Society for the Abolition of Slavery adopted as its official seal a woodcut of a kneeling slave above a banner that read: 'Am I not a man and a brother'" (Estes, 2005). This implied that freedom was synonymous with humanity, and to acknowledge someone's manhood meant to acknowledge he was free and part of the brotherhood of humankind. The lack of respect for Black manhood in America, as even Black adult men were called 'boy' in a dehumanizing fashion during the era of slavery and segregation made calling a Black man a 'man' and a 'brother' a politically radical act.

In his famous opening to Invisible Man, American Black author Ralph Ellison wrote: "...I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me" (Estes, citing Ellison, 1952). For Ellison, manhood was about the flesh, but also about the intellect and having societal substance. Being a man was being socially acknowledged as such, and possessing certain rights. Civil Rights historian Steve Estes adds: "the ever-present threat of lynching for supposed sexual improprieties meant that their [Black male] survival could depend on their ability to mask their masculinity" (Estes, 2005). Being able to express one's sexuality and desire in an open, healthy fashion and not feel in danger of persecution, in Estes' view, is a critical, but often unacknowledged part of being a man.

Closely guarding the rights to claim the status of man is not particular to America's racial history. "The early modern Spaniards...also assumed that manhood was revealed, in large part, through a person's behavior," through what today might be called "machismo" (Behrend-Martinez, 2005). To be a man in Spain, included "keeping one's word, supporting one's family, heading a patriarchal household, demonstrating sexual prowess, sobriety, maintaining one's independence of thought and action, and defending family and personal honor" (Behrend-Martinez, 2005). Stressing the ability to keep one's household made manhood an aristocratic institution, as maintaining a certain lifestyle was synonymous with manhood. A parallel might be found today, in a man's demonstration of his ability to support his children, a wife, or even the ability to drive a certain type of car.

Scholar Edward Behrend-Martinez writes that more so than what a person possessed or did not possess physically, manhood in Spanish society depended on how a person acted and that this can be seen, even today in modern Spain (and North America), when "a woman behaves courageously enough, acts like a 'man,' she can be said to be cojonuda, she has 'balls' (Behrend-Martinez, 2005). Conversely, in modern Anglo society, when a man seems unduly preoccupied with female pursuits like attention to personal grooming, the arts rather than sports, or spending money frivolously, he is called a 'metrosexual,' in an implied insult to his manhood and heterosexuality.