What Do You Mean “Man Up”?

Here in the SheSociety office, we’ve noticed a certain phrase being used a lot lately, calling out to men to ‘man up.’

We are just as confused as they surely are.

There’s the constant complaint over men being emotionless and not showing their feelings, yet when they do, they are seen as timid and weak and told to ‘man up’.

We saw it on Married at First Sight when Charlene told her husband Patrick to man up after he divulged that he’s scared of being rejected in their final date.

But by Patrick wanting to express his emotions and where he’s head’s at is a healthy way to approach a burgeoning relationship. What he says and how he expresses his feelings shouldn’t be shut down by an outdated phrase. This just makes men more self conscious and unsure of their emotions, and sooner or later the lid on their bottled up feelings will be screwed shut indefinitely.

Men can still be strong whilst displaying emotions, it’s a not an all exclusive offer. Unbeknownst to most, the phrase ‘man up’ can be detrimental and is re-establishing stereotypes that should have been abandoned by now.

Double standards is another issue floating around and what we might not realise is that they can surface on both sides of the gender spectrum.

Just last week, pop singer and American idol judge Katy Perry kissed a contestant, Benjamin Glaze on the lips even after he told the judges that he’d never been in a relationship and that he can’t kiss a girl without being in one.

While Benjamin said that he didn’t feel sexually harassed by Katy Perry, he did say that that he was a “tad bit uncomfortable” because he wanted to save his first kiss for his first relationship.”

If the tables were turned and a male judge decided to kiss a female contestant without their consent then there would be major uproar including dismissal from the show. While Katy Perry may not have realised at the time and thought it was harmless fun, her actions still should be called out.

Double standards are apparent everywhere in each gender and we need to get on the same playing field if we ever want to reach true equality.

The SheSociety team has many wonderful men in their lives; husbands, fathers, sons, brothers and friends and we just want them to know that we have their backs. It seems to be a very confusing time for our male counterparts and to be asked to ‘man up’ is only adding to this confusion. What do you think ‘man up’ means?