MAN UP

Ever hear this term?  It’s so often exchanged between boys, telling their friends, or themselves, or from father to son that the person being spoken to ought to ‘man up’.  I was browsing the newspaper today looking for something to do a current event report for school on and I came across a letter to the editor that was written as follows:

BOEHNER: Man up? Just shut up
Re:  “Boehner needs to man up” (letter, 1-10).
    My hackles raise whenever I hear the stupid phrase, “Man up.”  What does it mean, other than something disparaging to women?  Or is it possible for females to “man up”?  We never hear “woman up.” Is “man up” strictly a male, testosterone, warrior, hero thing, allowed only to the “superior” gender?  You know, the gender that has done such a fine job wrecking this planet.
    Yes, behind the phrase is not too subtle belittlement of the little lady -- the poor, weak, feminine, emotional, discombobulated, easily flustered, and wholly cowardly female 51 percent of the world.  It’s a spit in the face of the strength and bravery of females since time immemorial.      We need not even think of Boudicca, Joan of Arc, Catherine, Elizabeth, or Theresa, but rather consider our own mothers whose grit, determination, and pain tolerance in passing us through the birth canal shamed many a tottering husband swooning out at the sight, or thought, of it.  
    [Here, the author, present some political views which are not relevant to this topic]    To those who suggest that someone “man up”, I say shut up.  There is nothing inherently strong or tough about men.  Better to be specific in whom to emulate.  How about “Alexander Up” or “Joan Up”? Now, that, at least, makes sense.
Gig Harborhttp://blog.thenewstribune.com/letters/2011/01/10/man-up-just-shut-up/

A couple of weeks ago, Malea and I brought up the topic of embracing femininity. The lady who wrote this appears to be fairly touchy on the subject of women vs. men.  In the original letter “Congress:Boehner needs to ‘man up’”, the author was not poking fun at women, he or she (I am unsure, as the name is bisexual) was merely using a phrase that has become common in nowadays society as a way of saying that the person needs to be stronger.  

It’s so hard to remember, sometimes, that not everything is biased or sexist.  Likewise, it is easy to fly off the handle and get fired up about something that doesn’t really matter.  The author of the original article probably wasn’t even thinking about the use of the term ‘man up’!  We need to be fully aware of the tone of the voice, if we’re going to take offense, and even then, consider whether or not it’s something worth taking offense over.

The term ‘man up’ is defined by Wiktionary as:

Etymology

man + up, with influence from own up, buck up. Used frequently in military circles.

Verb

to man up (third-person singular simple present mans up, present participle manning up, simple past and past participle manned up)

1. (idiomatic) to "be a man about it"; to do the things a good man is traditionally expected to do, such as: taking responsibility for the consequences of one's actions; displaying bravery or toughness in the face of adversity; providing for one's family, etc.

This definition was probably instigated years ago, when men were stronger than women physically, and often emotionally, and  the term just caught on. It most likely was not even originally used to express ‘stop being such a woman’ but more like ‘stop being such a child’.  Or ‘take control of a situation rather than letting the situation take over you’.  To ‘stop whining’, or some such degrading expression of frustration.

In conclusion, we need to be careful of what we take offense to, and, if it is worth taking offense to, how we will react to that offense.  Blowing up and writing angry articles will not prove strength, especially when the original article was hardly referring to the topic of women vs. men.

Women are totally different creatures then men, and to re-emphasize the point we made last week, while we are equal, we are different, and that’s just how God wants it to be.  Thus, we should not fight this difference or get angered when we think someone is addressing women as unequals.