[Jamie89]

I don't think things like how someone dresses and acts affects how masculine someone is because they're just social constructs, they don't have anything to do with the natural differences between men and women. They never really have though. Traditionally, men were the bread winners so they dressed a certain way perhaps to demonstrate their wealth/social status? Whereas now that isn't something that's relevant for most people. Nothing's changed in terms of biological masculinity, it's just that there's less of a social need for a facade. But I suppose someones attitude on it probably depends on how much they rely on appearance and facade in judging another person, as well as how much importance they place on their desire to be judged by other people as being masculine, instead of just being themselves. Most of us are probably affected by traditional roles to an extend though. I reckon I hold doors open for women more often than I do for men without really thinking about it just because that's how my mum brought me up. So there are probably a whole load of examples like that where it's a behaviour that's deemed as 'masculine' but the reasons for having that behaviour don't actually have anything to do with your own perception of masculinity, rather it's just something that you've been conditioned to do. I think it's definitely a good thing though that gender roles are changing, it just means that as time goes on people will feel less of a need to put on an act in order to conform (and it's probably the 'type' of kids who wear pink "I love Britney" t-shirts without caring how people are going to react who are the trailblazers of that change).