I think that it attributes a generally considered good look/attitude towards your appearance to homosexuals and says it’s something common for them that someone heterosexual is also a part of.
It does much more damage than good though. It implies that heterosexual men generally don’t look good or care about their appearance. It implies that behavior is a factor in sexual orientation. It sets a standard that homosexual men all have to look “good”. It suggests that being homosexual is generally a bad thing, something that if people assume of you you have to create a term to let them know that you’re not “one of those”.
It’s something that just screams insecurity and stupidity.
People are always going on about “what it means to be a man” and “learning to be a man”. In the sense of boy to man as in child to adult, I understand that. But in terms of gender it’s just bizarre. Constantly hearing things like “he’s a real man” or “a real man doesn’t do this/that” is ridiculous.
It’s talked about as though it’s some kind of achievement and better than the alternatives, being a woman or transgendered. A gender is not an achievement.
You can behave or make yourself appear more masculine but you do not gain extra gender from that. Your gender is a category you’re placed into, it varies in type not volume. Meaning that when someone is treated like “less of a man” and that’s considered a bad thing, the other categories they’re supposedly part of are lesser/worse.
Weight, personality, interests, sexual orientation, appearance etc. do not define gender. Your gender is usually defined by your genitals, your born and your gender is noted. Occasionally someone may feel that they don’t fit that category and come the the conclusion that they aren’t the gender they were categorised as being. But that is a conclusion for them to come to. Not something to be decided by others based on what you decide makes someone male or female.
It’s unfortunate that “not being a real man/enough of a man” is such a concern to many considering that there are much more important things to aspire to be. You can create things, you can change/improve things. You can’t improve on being a gender you already are.
Ultimately I think the only things this kind of thinking good for are selling products and fueling sexism. It makes people feel awful about themselves and honestly if you’re feeling good about yourself merely because of your gender, I pity you as you clearly have nothing of actual value or substance to take pride in.
