A study conducted in 1939 amongst university men concluded that what men most valued in a future wife was kindness, domestic skills and reliability. Men also valued chastity more highly than intelligence! But seven decades later, men have significantly different ‘requirements’ of a future spouse – now they wish for love, emotional stability, and viable financial prospects. Something has obviously changed – do we now see the emergence of the modern man? And how does he differ, if indeed he does differ, from “traditional” men? By what tenets should we measure a man? Ask what it is that makes a man, and you immediately run into controversy, complexity and diverging opinion! There are in fact no universally valid concepts of masculinity – they vary greatly from culture to culture. In very broad and simplistic terms, in Western society a real man was traditionally perceived as being physically strong, courageous, independent, assertive, a leader, and protective towards those who are weaker.  Machismo is a more exaggerated form of masculinity that is driven by power and the need for dominance. It has largely come to be seen as ‘toxic masculinity’ that carries very negative connotations.  What is toxic masculinity? The topic of toxic…