Surrender your man card here

[qguy]

I'm officially a man now

/Receives man card./
/Surrenders man card./

[kkt]

Well, back to my earlier point (in my original post to this thread), what even is a very masculine opinion about body hair, or a very masculine opinion about [insert subject here]? Who decides, and how do they decide? Isn't establishing that and discussing that part of the concept of this thread as well?

Most masculine traits are decided by society, but body hair isn't one of those things. Men simply have more body hair. To then remove that hair is very nearly the definition of un-masculine. It's a defining trait of our sex.

Taste among females in male body hair does vary over time, though.  Throughout much of the 1970s, it was 'the more the better', then it wasn't.

Mike

But everyone in the 1970s thought smoking and brown cars were cool also.

Not everyone, at least for smoking.  I didn't, my parents didn't.  By the 1960s the statistics made it pretty obvious that smoking was not healthy.

[Max Rockatansky]

Well, back to my earlier point (in my original post to this thread), what even is a very masculine opinion about body hair, or a very masculine opinion about [insert subject here]? Who decides, and how do they decide? Isn't establishing that and discussing that part of the concept of this thread as well?

Most masculine traits are decided by society, but body hair isn't one of those things. Men simply have more body hair. To then remove that hair is very nearly the definition of un-masculine. It's a defining trait of our sex.

Taste among females in male body hair does vary over time, though.  Throughout much of the 1970s, it was 'the more the better', then it wasn't.

Mike

But everyone in the 1970s thought smoking and brown cars were cool also.

Not everyone, at least for smoking.  I didn't, my parents didn't.  By the 1960s the statistics made it pretty obvious that smoking was not healthy.

Sarcasm doesn't convey well unfortunately in what I write, of course it wasn't 100%.  Even still, it was far prevalent to see smokers out in the open the further back in time you go.  I want to say public smoking was still acceptable until the late 1990s when it kind of finally became taboo.  Then again my perspective is from what I saw in the blue collar Midwest, it could have become taboo faster in other regions.   

Regarding the excessive hair and weird choice in car colors pallets, yes those were fads that lasted into the early 1980s. 

[JoePCool14]

I'm officially a man now

Happy birthday. To celebrate, how will you surrender your man card?

EDIT: Are you going to change your name to Roadgeekman now?

Not until my 20th birthday.

No, no, it needs to be "Alangoatman."

Yes, but not until Alanland is re-unlocked on some future April Fool's Day mysteriously reenters our realm once more.

Alan Merritt decided it wasn't worth the trouble to be in our reality, what with the coops and having to endure people who don't even own a fish hat trying to depose him for no reason, so he had the pi houses of Parliament enact a Alæxit bill.

We should turn the Illinois isn't flat thread into the new Alanland thread. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm officially a man now

Happy birthday. To celebrate, how will you surrender your man card?

EDIT: Are you going to change your name to Roadgeekman now?

Not until my 20th birthday.

No, no, it needs to be "Alangoatman."

Yes, but not until Alanland is re-unlocked on some future April Fool's Day mysteriously reenters our realm once more.

Alan Merritt decided it wasn't worth the trouble to be in our reality, what with the coops and having to endure people who don't even own a fish hat trying to depose him for no reason, so he had the pi houses of Parliament enact a Alæxit bill.

We should turn the Illinois isn't flat thread into the new Alanland thread. 

I question sometimes if Alanland is flat.  You don't really hear much talk about it's geographic features.  It has some gross mountains though in Virginia and Pittsburgh Oblasts.

[NWI_Irish96]

I don't know that I could have survived if I had been born earlier. I'm highly sensitive to cigarette smoke. My first flight wasn't long after smoking was banned on domestic flights. When I started my job in 1999, older co-workers talked about how everybody used to smoke right at their desks.

[1995hoo]

I remember in the late 1970s/early 1980s going to games at the old Capital Centre arena in Maryland and if you sat up in the nosebleeds, you were looking down at the floor through a haze of cigarette smoke. So glad they banned that sort of thing.

At one point during one summer in college, I worked two days (via a temp agency) at an office where the secretaries smoked at their desks. I was very glad to get out of there. Had the assignment not ended quickly, I would likely have resigned from it.

[Jim]

Re: smoking, I'm old enough to remember the days when the door would open to the teacher's lounge/office suite at a school and smoke would come billowing out.

[jakeroot]

Asking my grandparents about it (they are in their late 70s/early 80s), they tell me that it was pretty much expected that every home would, in one way or another, accommodate smoking. These days, of course, smoking indoors at a private residence is not well accepted, even by regular smokers themselves (the few I know still choose to walk outside).

[NWI_Irish96]

Asking my grandparents about it (they are in their late 70s/early 80s), they tell me that it was pretty much expected that every home would, in one way or another, accommodate smoking. These days, of course, smoking indoors at a private residence is not well accepted, even by regular smokers themselves (the few I know still choose to walk outside).

When I married my wife in 2003, her step-mother's family all smoked in the house. When we went for Christmas, it was unbearable. We told them we wouldn't be back next year if people were smoking in the house while we were there. Even then, the stench of smoke made it such that I couldn't tolerate being there more than 2-3 hours.

[JayhawkCO]

My parents smoked in the house when I was very young, but when I was 7 or so they only smoked in the garage or outside.  My mom quit a couple years later, but my dad still smokes.  Always only outside.  I very clearly remember having ashtrays on our coffee table when my sister and I would play with toys on said table.  My how times change (and in this case, much for the better).

Chris

[Roadgeekteen]

My uncle smoked, he may have quit I'm not sure.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

My dad quit for a few years when I was young, but got back into it probably due to a roommate who smoked and did so for the rest of his life after that, and it seemed like he smoked more and more toward the time of his death.

[Takumi]

My dad and stepmom, and as far as I know, all three of my stepbrothers, smoke. My mom used to. It's never bothered me, but I've only ever done it occasionally, and don't at all anymore.

[webny99]

Asking my grandparents about it (they are in their late 70s/early 80s), they tell me that it was pretty much expected that every home would, in one way or another, accommodate smoking. These days, of course, smoking indoors at a private residence is not well accepted, even by regular smokers themselves (the few I know still choose to walk outside).

Not least because it would probably damage the resale value of the home.

[Max Rockatansky]

Asking my grandparents about it (they are in their late 70s/early 80s), they tell me that it was pretty much expected that every home would, in one way or another, accommodate smoking. These days, of course, smoking indoors at a private residence is not well accepted, even by regular smokers themselves (the few I know still choose to walk outside).

Not least because it would probably damage the resale value of the home.

Certainly affected the resale value of cars. 

[JoePCool14]

I'm very glad I'm alive when I am. All this talk of cigarette smoke being everywhere sounds awful. There's a lot of bad things about living in 2021, but at least this isn't one of them.

And for the record, I haven't smoked a thing and I never will.

[webny99]

....
Personally, for example, I feel much more strongly about being tan than I do about the presence or absence of hair. I think there's plenty of people on both ends of the hair spectrum that look great, while there are not many very pale people that look great. But that also might be somewhat outside one's control, and again, that's just my taste.

This is one of those things where your age and other considerations start to factor in. When it comes to being tan, I agree it may look better than being relatively pale, but as to my own appearance, I don't especially care anymore because health considerations trump the appearance issue–the dermatologist was very clear about my needing to be cautious about sun exposure due to some spots that were removed from my lower back (the biopsy thankfully came back negative). I spent a lot of time in the sun when I was growing up and the bill for that is probably going to come due at some point. I don't go to our neighborhood pools (if you saw my recent post in the "Minor things that bother you" thread, you'll see one reason why), but if I did, I'd wear a shirt even while in the water.

That's totally fair. I respect that, and realize that it is somewhat of a generational thing. It's quite likely that I'll think differently about it when I'm older. Thus far, I would consider myself to have spent a reasonable, but not excessive, amount of time in the sun. I work indoors, but try to get outside for anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours per day, and that's enough that I'm somewhat tan, but not unhealthily so - at least I don't think so, but I suppose only time will tell. I also try to avoid a strong farmer's tan, which deters me from spending a lot of time in the sun on an everyday basis unless I'm somewhere that I can go sans shirt.

[LM117]

I'm highly sensitive to cigarette smoke.

Same here. Breathing it burns the hell out of my throat, and I often end up coughing and choking if I breathe it more than a few seconds. My mom usually smokes Pall Mall cigarettes, and I don't know what kind of chemicals they use, but goddamn it's brutal. How anybody can smoke is beyond me.

If people want to smoke, have at it. I'm not gonna judge since we all put our pants on one leg at time. Just keep that shit away from me.

[NWI_Irish96]

Asking my grandparents about it (they are in their late 70s/early 80s), they tell me that it was pretty much expected that every home would, in one way or another, accommodate smoking. These days, of course, smoking indoors at a private residence is not well accepted, even by regular smokers themselves (the few I know still choose to walk outside).

Not least because it would probably damage the resale value of the home.

Certainly affected the resale value of cars. 

Yeah I remember looking at a used Camry once that was listed by a small independent dealer for well under the going rate for similar cars. I was certain there would be something wrong with it but decided to check it out anyway. Immediately after opening the door I was overwhelmed by the smoke smell, and the salesman had the nerve to try and tell me it hadn't been smoked in.

[xcellntbuy]

There may be a few of "us" on this board, but in my case, some people thought I lost my "man card" when I came out of the closet 34 years ago.  Funny, but all of my interests and hobbies are overwhelmingly dominated by males and I have been told I act too "straight."

[zachary_amaryllis]

Re: smoking, I'm old enough to remember the days when the door would open to the teacher's lounge/office suite at a school and smoke would come billowing out.

my high school had a student smoking area, around 1986. at the time, minors couldn't buy cigarettes (well, they still can't...) , but they seemed to look the other way on this.

[NWI_Irish96]

There may be a few of "us" on this board, but in my case, some people thought I lost my "man card" when I came out of the closet 34 years ago.  Funny, but all of my interests and hobbies are overwhelmingly dominated by males and I have been told I act too "straight."

I have a gay friend who's one of the biggest football and hockey fans I know.

[kkt]

Listen to your dermatologist.  I'm seeing mine twice a year now, for a while it was 4 x a year.  There's usually something to biopsy and about half the time it needs a followup visit to remove it.  I have the sheet about post-surgical care practically memorized (even though it's pretty common first aid).

[Max Rockatansky]

Listen to your dermatologist.  I'm seeing mine twice a year now, for a while it was 4 x a year.  There's usually something to biopsy and about half the time it needs a followup visit to remove it.  I have the sheet about post-surgical care practically memorized (even though it's pretty common first aid).

Skin cancer sucks.  I've had a couple abnormal moles removed before they morphed into anything else.  They usually have to dig pretty deep down to make sure they get it all.  I have of picture from one of the surgeries, it looked like an uncooked piece of steak.