Men constantly talk about the “idea” of being a man – ranging from discussions with friends to upholding the views commonly found in media outlets, such as songs, movies and TV shows.

Why is this critical? Perhaps it’s because one of the main “attractants” to women is a man that acts like a “manly” man (at least when it comes to certain situations) or even that men needed to understand their ranking in a hierarchy when it comes to other men.

The Evolution of the “Manly” Man

Something unique to men as compared to women is aggression. A lot of being a man revolves around aggression.

• As a polygamous species, male-male competition over females developed through millions of years of evolution and has remained steady in humans, up until recent centuries, at least.

The more polygamous the species, generally the more aggression that can be found (as well as size difference between males and females).

Today, humans are relatively tame compared to many animal species, where males will often kill other males, not only over females, but also over things such as territory and resources (perhaps we’re still not so tame on the latter).

When it comes to male-female interaction, males – for the most part – choose females based on looks. Women, on the other hand, have a more complicated choice-making system. Looks – referring to the “good gene” theory – do play a role; however, extremely critical, especially in ancestral populations was the ability for a female to choose males with resources who would also protect the mother and any children they had together (at least to an extent).

Over millions of years, this high selective pressure led to women’s ability to pay close attention to the subtle clues signifying a man’s “manliness,” aka his ability to protect her. Too much aggression and he might be a danger to her; too little aggression and others might be a danger to her.

Although that takes a relatively simplistic view at a complicated subject (and men are rarely accused of being complicated), men might even be more sensitive to other men’s manliness. The majority of animals roam around in groups or tribes, much like humans originally did. The hierarchy of males within the group often dictates mating success.

For that reason, men’s attention to other men would have also likely developed.

Are Less Manly Men Evolving?

In Richard Dawkins’ book “The Greatest Show on Earth” he outlines examples of Evolution in progress. One clever example discusses the counterbalancing of aggression and timidness. Animals in the wild often appear “braver” than what we’d consider ourselves; in other words, more manly. This gradual shift of humans to be more timid has taken place over thousands of years and is likely speeding up faster than ever given the population explosion.

Dawkins’ case is this (paraphrased):

Animals in the wild – where food is scarce – naturally evolve personality characteristics revolving around bravery. Timid animals would simply not be able to compete for food if a more aggressive and less timid animal shows itself.

But here’s where Dawkins’ hypothetical scenario for external influence on counterbalancing comes into play: If you took a landfill and placed it in the middle of the forest, and assuming it lasts forever as a plentiful food source, animals who were more timid would have a better chance at survival.

So the gist of evolution is: when selective pressures are mellow – such as the case for humans today – aggression lessens.

The argument of many people is that evolution has occurred over millions of years to produce who we are today. This is very true; however, the speed at which natural selection acts over many generations is being found to be quicker than originally thought. Rather than taking thousands, or even hundreds of generations for significant alterations in a population to take place, evolution likely takes place in only a handful of generations (at least when it comes to relatively simplistic alterations). This is, after all, the purpose of reproduction via sex – to create a higher amount of variation, subsequently preparing the species for an ever-altering environment.

• So in today’s society, where people live longer, food is plentiful, and people can nearly always find a mate – are men becoming less manly?

Well…it’s not gone yet, but slowly and surely, don’t be surprised if your future male offspring centuries from now rejoice in the beauty and manliness of Twilight.