I agree.I haven't given much thought of how I want to raise my son into a man. My dad is coming over to the house today and my wife always stresses because she feels he is critical of how we keep our house and yard. I freely admit he's judgmental, but try to tell her not to sweat it because his opinion doesn't matter.
Still every time he visits she wants the house clean so I help out on my days off while I watch my son. This week I vacuumed the 1st floor of our house, mopped the kitchen, cleaned up all the surfaces, and clean the microwave. As a treat, because the less stressed she is the better my life is, I also cooked her dinner on the final day. Her comment when she got home was to say I was so domestic.
She's always been one to think that house hold cleaning was women's work. I've developed the school of thought that as long as I do it right and not half assed, then it's as manly as anything else I could be doing. To me, manliness is tied to having pride in the work I do.
I've fixed leaky toilets in my home, replaced fence posts in my back yard, and mowed the law. I've also done the laundry, the dishes, and the household shopping. I take care of my son for most of the week. I'm the only dad at my son's weekly play group. The rest are their with their mothers or grandmothers. Never once have I felt that this reflects poorly on me as a man.
Being a 'man', or being a 'woman', is defined in the pride you take in your actions and that will never go away.
I'm not one for the stupid "gender is wrong! We shouldn't be labelled!" argument but people who look down on men for cleaning up a house are pretty pathetic.
I do think men are being pussified though. You need a male figure in your life growing up. There's no doubting that people bought up by a single mother aren't as capable in some respects as those who have both parents.