People Share What Screams "I Need To Prove My Masculinity"—And We're Cringing

Fragile masculinity is super toxic, and utterly laughable because of how unnecessary it is. Guys, you don't need to prove yourselves through violence or hookups. Real men pet kittens and puppies.

cHoOsEyAuSeRnAmE asked: What screams "I need to prove my masculinity?"

Submissions have been edited for clarity, context, and profanity.


What are they trying to prove, exactly?

Being a dick to your friends whenever there's a girl around.

therealkyleyates

Or being a dick to your girl whenever friends are around.

Jesus-balls

If you straight up call them out on that it really takes the wind out of their sails. "Dude, why are you being a dick? Are you trying to impress her?" Hard to come back from that.

returnofdoom

This ain't something to be proud of.

Bragging about the many times you've come close to getting busted with a DUI. My sister once brought a boyfriend over who started rambling on about this within the first month of dating. Same age as me but I couldn't help but think to myself, "What a f*cking idiot, why are you proud of this?"

SearsActivewear

A sleazy guy at my wife's work was hitting on her, knowing full well she was married, and tried to impress her with his rap sheet. He asked if I had ever been arrested and tried to emasculate me because I hadn't, dude wore his petty theft and probation violations as a badge of honor." Your man ain't a real man, real men are willing to serve jail time, your guy sounds like a wimp." My wife was stunned at this stupidity. She kindly informed him that no woman in their right mind would agree with him and that she would have less than zero interest in him even if she were single. "Real men" have much more than a criminal record to brag about.

Villa-Strangiato

That always kills me... like why do people think thats cool?

"I'm so dumb I constantly get caught and waste years of my life. I'm so great and the best criminal ever!"

xonist

This douche.

Some dude tried to fight me at the bar, but we weren't even talking to him. Just got in my face, told me not to talk sh*t, and asked what the f*ck I said about him. We were not even looking in his general direction, playing some pool, and he came from outside.

I'm gonna go with people that have to try and prove something to strangers.

pineappledaddy

Had this guy at a bar come up and try to start sh*t once like this.

There was a pong table set up at the back of the bar , to his credit we didn't see the list of those who were next, only an empty table. So me and my buddies start setting up a game. When Mr.Friendly came over, maybe 5'3", probably over 200lbs as his Aeropostale T-shirt was struggling to contain his chest and arms.

He comes up to me with a look of pure contempt, and says "Hey asshole, we were next, the list is right fking there use your eyes." Caught me a little off guard and my Go-to reaction for that is laughter, so I giggle and say hey no worries man, didn't see the list. I go to turn to my buddy at the other end of the table to tell em we gotta wait till the next game before I can..

"You think that's f*ckin funny!?"

Before I could even ask wtf his deal was he slapped a full beer out of my hand and the glass shattered everywhere. I just stood there in pure disbelief at what just went down , and the dude was looking at me with his chest puffed out and a face that said "I f*ckin dare you". Then it hit me that he's just looking for a fight and I burst out laughing, his face got red and he shoved me back and that only made it worse. The bouncers came over and kicked both parties of people out, I did my best to explain my case but no dice, we had to leave.

We got one last look at the fire ball in the parking lot, getting into his lifted F150, and had one last laugh at the stereotype as he flipped me off and peeled out.

Bgrum

Nice try tough guy.

When I was 22, I went to Vegas for my now wife's 21st birthday. There just happened to be a Pacquiao fight that same weekend. The morning after the fight, I was pumping gas with my wife on the car before we left town. A car pulled up, coming from a whole different part of the city, and a drunken belligerent boxing fan immediately exited his vehicle, and approached me as though we were arguing already. It was clear that he was pumping with testosterone and looking for a fight. I continued pumping my gas while he yelled at me, and his wife was profusely apologizing to me. He eventually got in his car, then got right back out and screamed "what did you say?!" Then approached me again asking what I was looking at. I finished pumping my gas, and left Vegas.

I don't understand why men want to fight after watching a fight. I like watching boxing and MMA as much as any other man or woman, but don't get all amped up to engage in it myself. Why risk fighting a drunk man, on concrete, with both of our respective significant others watching. Are we lions or something?

Felt bad for his wife. Her reaction and facial expression implied this was not his first time acting this way.

letsgetreadytoroomba

One day someone will knock him on his ass and I bet he has his lawyer on speed dial.

TheFlyingSheeps

Yeah. I thought about fighting him to because my blood got pumping when he approached me so aggressively, but weighing out my options in that particular situation, I didn't want to risk getting hurt, especially in front of my then gf. I'm a tall lanky fella, even skinnier back then, and not much of a fighter unless I have to. There's always a bigger bully out there though, and you're right, he's probably been knocked on his ass multiple times by now.

letsgetreadytoroomba

A quick spray with the fuel nozzle would have set him straight.

5redrb

You mad? 

Constantly telling people stories about how you solved problems with violence or by threatening violence.

ElToberino

Dude, I had a "buddy" on a job-site who bragged about running a car full of teenagers off the road, then threatening to kill them after they ... wait for it... threw a plastic bottle out the window at his truck.

Unrelated: I was busy everytime he wanted to hang out after that.

Onein1024th

threatening to kill them after they ... wait for it... threw a plastic bottle out the window at his truck.

Post a video of someone littering on Reddit and you'll have people saying they deserve to die and sh*t. Littering is bad but people need to prioritize their anger.

MackDaddy_Khalil

If you have to constantly brag...

I'm surprised nobody got here first: CONSTANTLY talking about sex and how much of it you have. With everyone.

sikanrong

Do people still do that after high school?

Fun story, in like 9th grade there was this guy that constantly talked about how much he was getting. It was annoying. We had this awesome teacher and she told him once in front of the class that it is general knowledge that those who are talking about it aren't getting it. Shut him right up.

HiddenTurtles

Oh yeah? I will have you know I had three sex last night. When was the last time you had three sex? I did not think so.

AcetylcholineAgonist

Who's the master here?

Just to give a different answer than everyone: owning a poorly disciplined strong dog(s).

There was this manly-man neighbor I used to know who owned 3 rottweilers. Only he would walk them, and you could see him struggling to keep them at his pace.

Bro. There's nothing manly about not being able to control your pets. Them looking tough just makes you look like a douche.

Certal

The irony is - those dogs owned HIM, not the other way around. When you are struggling to get a dog to walk on a leash, it's taking you on a walk.

austinmonster

Nope.

F

rockrulesme

'A man who says 'I am the king' is no true king'

I feel like this is the same thing.

goreblood001

Whoa, fragile.

Shooting your teenage daughter's laptop after she messaged a boy 🙄🙄🙄

ArizonaDirtbag2020

In r/trashy and r/iamverybadass there's a post of a dad showing the aftermath on Facebook or something. The best part is it was a school issued Macbook, he's going to have a pretty hefty bill for that childish stunt.

Not to mention how creepy it is when dad's go all "NO MAN CAN TALK TO OR DATE MY DAUGHTER" as if he was in a dedicated sexual relationship with her.

usernam1824

Not fooling anyone.

Tapout apparel.

austinmonster

When your shirt says UFC, but your body says KFC...

SephiHakubi

Surely the more apt one for that brand would be When your shirt says Tapout, but your body says takeout...?

DJ1066

What's your favorite toxic masculinity story?

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