What Makes You Feel Like More of A Man?

[gilligan]

Wearing a binder and going by my masculine name. I feel more manly when others treat me as a man, even if it is just my friends who (on occasion) let me know how much I don't pass. But I'm slowly getting to where I pass more.

[austin86]

Oh man there's a bunch of things. Going to Cabela's and Home Depot, wearing a tie, wearing boxers and flannel PJ bottoms, drinking beer, watching the game at Buffalo Wild Wings with the guys, sweating, sitting with my legs open, grabbing/itching/adjusting my junk/packer, wearing men's cologne, enjoying a glass of scotch and a cigar, carrying a knife, firing a gun, wearing team apparel, flirting with women and checking them out up and down, shaving, lifting weights, owning two big dogs, having a wallet, itching my chin, having my Playboy subscription, helping my friends move, owning a truck, using power tools, mowing the lawn, lifting heavy items,  being asked to open jars, pulling up my dress pants before sitting down, eating meat, grilling and so many more.

[Nikolai_S]

Oh god, I love that one.  But for me, it's when there's a bunch of guys together and they take turns trying to open it before handing it to me like "okay, Mr. I-do-martial-arts, show us what you've got," and then -pop-  of course most of my guy friends are artsy nerds and hate working out more than anything so shouldn't feel that great about it... but i do 

This is definitely an anti-manliness situation for me. My thumbs are double jointed and as a result are weaker than normal and angle badly. Can't get a grip on caps. Plus I'm an artsy nerd too and would fail at it anyway. Random girls open things I can't. *sigh*

[Kitpup]

Sadly, I have really sensitive skin and have to have my girlfriend open most sodas for me (my skin will get irritated and stay red for hours).

I make up for it by smoking a pipe and having a swagger.

[some ftm guy]

gotta say scratching my chin, or any other part of my face that will grow hair...or scratching anything.
wearing a binder and packing feels so much better than not wearing those, soothing really.
getting my clipper/shave hair cuts they look like how the one in my pic does.
getting guy clothes
opening jars, boxes, bottles lots of stuff my mom can't because of her arthritis. doesn't really mean I'm a strong dude, it just means her knuckles are so swollen and sore all the time she really can grip next to nothing and no one else is around. it still makes me feel a little masculine lol "who can open pickle jars? I CAN!"
grilling chicken even though it's on a George Foreman inside the kitchen but....it's still grilling and i still get to put a lot of barbecue seasoning on it. yuuuuum lol.
that's about it, which is not much really. I'm the nerd type i suppose.

[jmaxley]

Wearing a tie and lifting weights, definitely.  Pulling my wallet out of my pocket.  When girls flirt with me...oh yeah. When out and about, being called "dude" and "man" by other dudes.  The hitting-fists thing.  When my friends remember to call me "he" when we're in public.  Admiring the little bit of hair that came in on the bottom of my forearms when I was on DHEA.

[Miniar]

You know... I don't know.

I don't feel any more or less of a man from day to day or situation to situation.
I feel more "myself" when I do things I like for my own sake, or things that are in line with my sense of honor or sense of self.

[Quicksand]

For me, doing things that aren't typically masculine is what makes me feel masculine, mostly because of the reactions.  For example, when I play a ballad on a piano for someone and they tell me after that they hadn't expected that I was into that sort of thing, that makes me feel more masculine, because it tells me I'm getting read as masculine enough that I can do whatever I want and not have it impact how others perceive my gender.  Also ditto to what Miniar said...something along those lines as well.

[Lachlann]

Gonna have to agree with the last two posts.

[Lukas-H]

You know... I don't know.

I don't feel any more or less of a man from day to day or situation to situation.
I feel more "myself" when I do things I like for my own sake, or things that are in line with my sense of honor or sense of self.

This is how I feel too. I've been pretty self-sufficient since childhood and my parents did really well to reinforce/praise me for that, but when other people don't quite get it, it makes me feel quite weak. I do as much as I can on my own and readily help people out in whatever way I can. I'm a bit of a laze-about but I don't mind at all doing physical stuff so, lol.

Edit- When I first started binding my breasts down, wear more male clothes, wearing a packer and using hygeinic products associated with 'male' I felt pretty good but now it's just routine to me and I don't get that feeling anymore but it doesn't bother me.

[Lord of the Dance]

Just gonna echo everybody that said "working out." I'm a bit of a scrawny weed at the moment, but I feel myself getting stronger and stronger as time goes on and it feels amazing. Too bad I'm too scared to join a gym!

It's also kinda dumb, but about a month ago I bought myself a desk, hauled it up to my bedroom and put it together myself. It just felt really good, especially accompanied by the radio deciding to play Lady Gaga over my crowning moment of manliness

[Lee11]

Gotta say in addition to my last quote....today with four days growth on my face definitely makes me feel more like a man....gotta get a pic taken later!

[tvc15]

The biggest thing for me is wearing clothes that fit. I've never really done that before. When I went through puberty I wore huge men's clothes to hide my body, and it's a habit I haven't kicked until very recently. After I got my hair cut, I could finally look at myself in the mirror and I realized I needed to dress a lot better. Since then, I've been getting more pants and shirts that fit, and I feel amazing.

[Bahzi]

The biggest thing for me is wearing clothes that fit. I've never really done that before. When I went through puberty I wore huge men's clothes to hide my body, and it's a habit I haven't kicked until very recently. After I got my hair cut, I could finally look at myself in the mirror and I realized I needed to dress a lot better. Since then, I've been getting more pants and shirts that fit, and I feel amazing.

I can relate.  I always wore baggy clothes from middle school on since I was comfortable with my body and it's curves. *shudder*  Now that I'm thin enough that the curves aren't so obvious, I like buying closer fitting men's clothing. 

Like others have said, workout out is one of those 'manly activities' for me.  I'm still pretty scrawny, but I've got some definition on my arms and my shoulders now, and being covered in sweat feels pretty far from feminine to me.  I recently joined a gym, and it can be discouraging when you get to a machine and it's set to like 160 pounds and you can only do about 70, but I still enjoy it.

[Miniar]

Yeah..
The first time I wore 100% bloke stuff, packer and binder and all, it was really quite liberating.
Felt awesome, cause it fit "Me".

[Al James]

Holding my wifes hand as we walk down the street, carrying her bags for her,opening doors and hearing her call me handsome

[DRAIN]

hmm....wearing my leather bracer and boots, having that "i own this place" swagger, hiking and being in the woods, working out, talking about working out and soundind like i know what i'm talking about, packing, wearing a suit and looking snazzy, watching star wars and other geeky shiz, playing video games (especially violent ones like god of war), writing......

i could probably go on XD

[Noah G.]

This could be just as much (or more of) a rite of passage/acceptance kind of thing, but I've been watching football games lately with my pops unless I've been working on something else or wanted to catch something else on Tv. So watching ball games with him and talking about them in that "guys watching the game" sort of way, while wearing a binder, especially when checking online for the score and following that at the same time (because often we're behind when watching it on Tv) and jesting with people online about the game/teams...it's probably just as much the feeling he's accepting me more as his son as it is a case of it being such a stereotypical guy thing. Plus for years I couldn't watch games on Tv unless I was really invested in them because I couldn't get into them like I could if seeing the sport in person or playing it, so it's also kind of a case of..."arrival" in a way.

I have no idea if that made any sense whatsoever...

[King Malachite]

Strutting around like I'm an MMA Fighter

Playing UFC Personal Trailer

Imagining that I'm a Russian Soldier and walking like one (don't ask)

Shadow boxing

[Sephirah]

Imagining that I'm a Russian Soldier and walking like one (don't ask)

You really shouldn't have said that, now I have to ask...