In a similar predicament I had a step-family member invalidate my masculinity purely on the basis of the fact that I like cats and have two. According to him, hating cats is an absolute and irrefutable requirement of manhood. Evidently it has escaped his notice that there are a hell of a lot of "real men" on this planet that openly and secretly alike... like or (*gasp*) even love cats and are owners of them. In fact so many are "coming out" about it, that it made the news a while back (unfortunately I can't seem to pull that article up but it nevertheless happened). Yet, they're "real men". Amazing. But you know what I know that was? His inability to find an actual way to validate that opinion into fact. He couldn't do that so he thought up the most bland stereotype he possibly could to invalidate my masculinity, and to "validate" his own opinion. It didn't work. Oh yes and apparently another rigid requirement is to be on the constant prowl for sex, anywhere and anyhow and with anyone you can. While minimally true on average and more-so for men, I find myself quite exempt from that. But then there are again "real men" out there who are also in the same boat in that same department as myself (e.g. Asexual). So, go figure.
You see stereotypes are not the end-all, be-all rule of life. Stereotypes are actually opinions. And opinions really are like sphincters in that everyone has one and uses it on a daily basis. Not everyone will agree with everyone else on every thing. Most often, it is personal opinion(s) that prevents people from being able to tolerate one another and which cause the vast majority of the problems in this world (e.g. they are the number-one and root cause of war throughout all of world history). As it is for everyone, peer pressure is a real ***** of a thing. And that is precisely what this is, in a way. You have to be strong enough to not let it get to you, to influence you. Don't let it change you.
Now I don't care what race, gender, nationality or religion anyone happens to be... there is one absolute truth in this world: people are, each and every single one, unique. I mean personality and every other way there is to be. There is no right or wrong way to be who you are (although I'll hasten to add a "within reason" as I'm certainly not endorsing pedophilia, rape, murder etc. but outside those lines, anything can and does go and is not beyond the possibility of being tolerated by others; should be tolerated by others. Unfortunately again hypocrisy is another rife facet of this world).
Unfortunately it again is also a universal truth that the more taboo someone or something about someone is in whatever that taboo happens to be, the more flac they're going to get over it. People fear what they don't or else simply cannot know or understand, and for many that scares them. When people get scared they most often lash out (fear makes people insecure). It is just what happens. Unfortunately, we're about on the bottom of that hierarchy. No matter what we do or don't do, we're always going to be ostracized and criticized by other people throughout our entire lives unless of course we're stealth and can pass almost or totally all of the time. It is just part of the territory. Another unfortunate truth is that you simply can't please everyone, everyone will take offense to something or another thing about someone else. If the whole world suddenly got along with everyone and everyone with everyone else, well... that would be a wildly different universe. It sadly just isn't possible.
Before I get sliced and diced over the already stated, I'm absolutely not saying you shouldn't be upset (you have every right to be) but I am saying this is inevitable and each of us needs to find ways in which we can deal with these things and preferably without it upsetting our lives or worse our emotional state. And again I don't care what gender or anything else anyone is, we all have emotions. Even psychopaths have SOME degree of emotion (which I personally find astounding but nevertheless, that's the truth based on hard facts). That is itself the human condition. Even for "real men", whatever the hell that actually is.
You know what really puts me at ease in these and other circumstances? Knowing that 'normalcy' is about 30% of the entire human populace of the world on average. I would hardly call that enough for 'normalcy' itself to even exist. That's going right back to the fact of how everyone and everything is absolutely unique. Similar, yes... but unique. There is no 'normal', only the ideal and perception of it. We, and everything else, simply are as they are and is as it is.
Just don't allow these things to have power over you. How you find to not let that happen I can't say or suggest, but just find it and use it.