GC Supreme Court Case I: The Man Question

Chief Justice Schmahlo

The first case of the GC Supreme Court has been heard and the decided ruling is as follows:

We were posed a serious question with serious choices and this is how we responded, seriously.
Question: Given the choice, would you prefer a relationship with a sensitive romantic man or a more traditional manly man?

The votes have been counted and the side of the traditional manly man as won with a vote of 4-1

Official Ruling:

Ron Swanson quintessential manly man, role model to all 

It's not for nothing that the manly alpha male is the traditional idea of how a man should be. There are reasons we are biologically primed to prefer them to their more emotional counterparts. Now this is not to say that a man who has an emotional side cannot be an alpha male, we are just looking at the extreme for the sake of the argument. For instance, take Ron Swanson from the hilarious hit comedy Parks and Recreations; he's basically everything that epitomizes a manly man, however this does not make him a douchebag who hasn't acknowledged his emotions ever since he was beat up in the fourth grade for giving out girly valentines. No, instead he does all the manly things; he hunts, he holds a government job, he has an awesome mustache, I mean he carves for crying our loud! THIS MAN IS A MAN! Now he stills knows that relationships are important and for those of you believe that alpha men only prefer weak submissive women counterparts, Ron Swanson has admitted, nay, proclaimed for the world to hear that he loves powerful women, in fact all his ex-wives have been super powerful, in-charge, ladies.

Now as for the reasons we love the manly man, and they are many.

We don't have the spare their feelings all the time:
You know how sometimes when you're talking to a friend and you know what you want to say will just make them cry like little babies, and so you hold back? Well I think in a perfect world NO ONE WOULD HAVE TO HOLD BACK! And when I said friend I meant boyfriend. Sorry significant other, that sweater makes you look like a school-boy bitch.

Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy when your girlfriend is crying about something that basically makes no sense what so ever? Probably not, well we already have to deal with ourselves when we aren't making any emotional sense, we don't want to deal with you as well. Now this may sound harsh and almost like we're advising you to supress all those emotions and, you know, suck it up, but in fact I'm saying the opposite. EXPRESS YOURSELF! Just don't be all dramatic about it, we can have a rational conversation about emotions, I DO IT ALL THE TIME! Being emotionally available does not mean a hot mess ready to happen. Guys complain about their needy-ass girlfriends all the time, I've heard it, now it's time for the shoe to be placed upon the other foot, as it were. So, you know, don't be a hot mess, it's not hot.

He is the yin to my yang:
This is similar to the previous reason but there are some subtle differences. I am not a man. Sorry ladies, I know I'm kind of desirable but there are the facts. I do not want to feel like the "man" in the relationship. Now this does not mean I don't want an equal amount of power in the relationship. In my mind masculinity does not equal "he has all the power" but I do believe there are different types of power to be had. I'll go over the whole strong capable woman portion later, but for now, I'm just going to say I don't want to feel like the man. I think this has a lot to do with being taken care of. I want a man who is strong enough and confident enough to be able to take care of me when I need it. This will not be all the time, after all I am a strong capable woman, but occasionally I can be overwhelmed and I want someone there to be able to stand by me. And likewise strong men know when they need their partners and can admit it, BOOM!

There has to be balance in any relationship and that can't happen if you and your partner are too similar. I know there are a lot of thoughts out there about comparability (thanks eHarmony) and how like attracts to like. While this is true for the most part, after all we're not going to hang out with someone if we have nothing in common with them, it is also true that people get bored if there isn't enough diversity in a relationship. For example, while I enjoy reading, I won't go out with a guy who's only "thing" is reading,. I got ht e reading covered sir, time for you to bring something else to the table, like lumber-jacking perhaps?  It won't be very interesting or fun if our only group activity is sitting on a couch reading different books. Okay that may be a bad example because that sounds kind of fun... but I digress, different interests/strengths make relationships stronger. Like when you weave two types of cloth together, they become stronger together than they were separate (sorry for the cheesy analogy).

They can do cool shit around the house:
Now I, Schmahlo, am a very handy person to have around. I can mend stuff, and fix things, and I just generally can get shit done, but does this mean I wouldn't prefer to have someone else equally capable by my side? There is nothing more annoying than a man who doesn't know how to put up shelves. COME NOW, I'm not going to say "If I can do it, anyone can!" because let's face it, I'm pretty god damn amazing, but it's really not that hard to figure out power tools. It's just a wonderful feeling to know that someone else is capable of handling things if you don't feel like doing it. My parents are a perfect example, my mother can get her shit done but my dad does a lot to fix things around the house because he enjoys being handy and helpful, AS ALL MEN SHOULD.

Another point was also brought to my attention, that manly men are usually capable of "taking care of" various insects and other vermin that you happen to come across. I have a very strict rule with myself about spiders for instance. If I find a spider in my living space, i.e. inside my apartment, I will hunt that bugger down and kill it, but if it's outside it may live another day. Now this rule is one I follow religiously because there is nothing worse than knowing there is a spider somewhere in your room BUT YOU CAN'T FIND IT. It means that when you least suspect it that spider is going to land on your shoulder, or crawl down your forehead, or something equally chill inducing will occur. So I hunt spiders, but I don't relish the experience, it would be grand to have a hearty, fearless man to kill that spider so I don't have to muster my nerve and do the deed myself.

They appreciate powerful, capable women:
A manly man is someone who is secure in his masculinity. He does not feel threatened by a capable strong woman, in fact he loves and admires her. I mean, come now, strong women don't usually want a weak partner, they want someone who can keep up with them, and challenge them. Why is it so hard to believe it is the same for men? I love that women are achieving more and more equality in our society. We are showing the world how strong and capable women are and real men appreciate and help to cultivate that strength. In this day and age the definition of a "real woman" has shifted from the classic 1950s housewife stereotype and I love that and a true man will love that as well, A REAL MAN SHOULD WANT A REAL WOMAN! And just to clarify, real woman are strong and capable!

They also don't expect women to be weaker than they are. I realize that strictly speaking an average women is probably going to be physically weaker than the average man, but that does not denote true weakness. The manly man can recognize the strength in his partner, and realize that though those strengths are not the same, they are by no means unequal. Again people, two different cloths wound together make one fucking strong rope.

I think it comes down to this. We believe that manly men are best because they are strong enough not to hold us back, caring enough to understand us, but not be overcome by our awesomeness. I don't want anyone who's reading this to think that I am belittling emotions or men who feel confident enough to express those emotions, that was not the point of this exercise. Instead I'm focusing on the attributes of my ideal man, who may indeed have other qualities besides these (like the ability to express himself), but the point of this was not to add qualifiers but to say it straight out. I'm focusing on how a true "manly man" has all these sterling qualities and more.

The GC has spoken and we give you in an (almost) unanimous vote that the traditional manly man the most desirable partner.