Being a man was, is, and will always be a matter of choice and everyday actions.
As Brett perfectly laid out years ago in the video that 2Rocky shared, there are vast differences in how masculinity can be perceived and defined as in society.
Truth is:
1) Being born a male does not make you a man.
2) Bulking and looking stereotypically masculine does not make you a man.
3) Spinning plates and high "notch counts" does not make you a man.
4) Being "alpha" (whatever that means nowadays) does not make you a man.
5) Etc, etc, etc
Think about it this way, in a society/community/tribe/etc what type of person would make you feel safe and provided for. There lies a foundation for masculinity. We can go back to our beginnings and study human evolution and we can clearly see very defined roles that made society work and progress. One of those critical roles was of men willing to put everything on the line for their own. That is a man.
However, we have become a culture of egos and self-preservation. An individualistic society if you will. So identifying "manhood" or "masculinity" will always be (and has been since the beginning of our evolution) directly correlated to our tribe. Men are defined by the tribe they live in and therefore defined by their fellow men. As Jack Donovan said (more or less) in his book "The Way of Men" we find the way of men within the complexities of tribe survival and growth.
I've always been a believer in the "fight club" philosophy. Believe me, I like to ride my motorcycle, build, exercise, and eat alone, I simply enjoy my own company but I also believe in the importance of having a brotherhood. In the good ol' days, there were roundtables, gatherings of men discussing theology and philosophy, tribes of hunting men, armies of 300 men fighting oppressors, etc. Nowadays modern culture/society has isolated us, divided us, and distracted us.
We have been bamboozled.
I actually liked the idea of
@Bethatsocialguy and I think
@eli77 also suggested something similar before of having weekly or bi-weekly gatherings (ideally in person). There are several companies like mine that gather men in this way. That has always been one of the many goals for Modern Man Advice.
Modern Man Advice