Does gynecomastia tell us something about our manliness?

[LoverBoy]

Hello forum members! I have been reading on this forum for a while and now decided to sign up just to share my thoughts - which i know are quite weird - and hopefully get some more logical insights or discussion. I have tried to search on the internet for an answer but i am not really finding anything.

I´ll begin telling you a little bit about myself. I am a young man of 20 years old. All my life i have been pretty fit but since a young kid i always had more breast tissue than most other boys. This kind of bothered me and made me feel like less of a man, but it was and is not bad at all, just like a small body insecurity but something i could live with - overall i was always happy with my body and never really had any problems showing myself shirtless. Now i work out a lot and as i flex my chest looks more "buff" than anything else but i would really like to have a flatter chest since i think it looks more manly. But here we come to the weird part...

Why does it feel like men with a flatter chest has more "manly" features over all? I am not talking about 45 + men, but young men, men still growing. Always the athletic ones with the good manly features such as broad shoulders, ripped jaws, strong arms and hands tend to also have a flat chest. And the ones with puffier chest seems to be not as athletic, not as handsomely manly.

Even in locker rooms i have made the observation that men with flatter chest often have the bigger penises.

I have also read that gynecomastia is caused by more estrogen in the body, so could growing up with a bigger chest mean that some had a constant flow of excessive estrogen making him less manly than he could be? I have barely any facial hair, not such a deep voice and my dad has a huuuge penis where as mine isn´t to impressive.... I also store fat mainly on my thighs, chest and chin which seems like more feminine places to store fat.
I don´t know how hormones work, but if some has bad hormone levels during puberty - is this what makes him less athletic and less manly? And gyneomastia - even if mild could be a symptom?

I am sorry if i am asking a very dumb question, but basically, is there any correlation between gynecomastia and less manly features?
Thanks for reading, cheers.

[Michael D]

I've asked the question to those in a men's group: what IS manliness and rarely received a consistent answer, For some it was having a penis, others being  buff-tall muscular, tanned, etc. most said seeming to be a guy was enough, I don't feel the need to look in everyone's pants to determine their genitals before responding to them as a women or man. Women have long ago appropriated ALL of men's clothes, I've even seen boxer shorts for women with a unopenable fly! Of course it's acceptable for women to ALSO have all of the MANLY characteristics like a muscular body. For me, the one or two things that tell me that the person may have a Y gene it if they have an Adams apple or facial hair, I also note that motorsports are by large male, especially wrenching on the vehicles!  

[hammer]

To me, being a MALE, is being a good husband, father and male role model to my children and grandchildren! If you watch children, females act differently then males, so there are differences between them! That's not saying that they can't fill each others roles in life, that's just saying that they are not the same as far as the way they think or act!

[p.r.1974]

It has been my experience that the definition of being manly is largely a construct designed by current culture. The difference in my understanding is more akin to what Hammer said about being a good parental figure. It seems to be the difference between being a child and being an adult. I would much rather be known and respected as a person of character than being what society deems as easy on the eyes.

[LoverBoy]

Thanks for the inputs guys! I agree with what you said, but i think i might have formulated my question a bit weird. 
What i am wondering is how this gyno/hormone/male sexual characteristics are all related?
I think we all can agree that gyno is caused by hormonal imbalances, and NOT by genetics. These same hormones are the ones responsible for penis growth and other male characteristics, but i never hear someone say that your penis is this size because of how hormones worked durnig your adolescence. The it´s always only genetics.
So, if these same hormones (test, estrogen, dht and such) are responsibly for gyno, why are they not responsible for how your manly features develop? 
I am basically worried that gyno, atleast during your younger years could be like a symptom of not fully developed male characteristics.

[Athena12@]

Loverboy, I think you are over thinking thing  Being a man means not only what Hammer said but having the ability and willingness to do the right thing, to do what is ask of you.  Being in the Navy for 20 years and then being a contractor to the military for the next 26 years I was not the best of fathers.  I was gone all the time and travelled all over the world but that meant I was away from my family.  But I did provided for them and now have a daughter with a PHD in Chemistry and a son with a Masters in English and Special ED. So I most have done something right. I never had much of a beard, hardly any chest hair or hair on my legs but it never bothered me.  I just took that for granted, it was me and my wife never complained.  I was never hung like a horse and never wanted to be but had enough to keep the wife happy, What else do you need?

[hammer]

Loverboy, I think you are over thinking thing  Being a man means not only what Hammer said but having the ability and willingness to do the right thing, to do what is ask of you.  Being in the Navy for 20 years and then being a contractor to the military for the next 26 years I was not the best of fathers.  I was gone all the time and travelled all over the world but that meant I was away from my family.  But I did provided for them and now have a daughter with a PHD in Chemistry and a son with a Masters in English and Special ED. So I most have done something right. I never had much of a beard, hardly any chest hair or hair on my legs but it never bothered me.  I just took that for granted, it was me and my wife never complained.  I was never hung like a horse and never wanted to be but had enough to keep the wife happy, What else do you need?

Chief, you dont need to be hung like a horse, or have all the body hair, or any hair at at! You did your job as a good father and a good provider! You were also one of our brothers in arms that also put country first too!

So your were a good father, provider and countrymen all at the same time!

Thank you for your service brother!

[Athena12@]

Thanks Hammer and thank you for your service as well.  Being in the military now means even more separation than we had.  With the cuts in the military over the previous decade or service members are spending even more time away from home.  All though I will say that when I joined my first ship in West Pac during the Vietnam War on the  Kilauea (AE-26) she spent very close to a year  there providing ammunition, fuel and supplies to Carriers, cruisers and destroyers.  We even had the honor of suppling food and ammunitions to the Heavy Cruiser New Port News (CA-148).  It was an honor to serve and I am glad I did it.

[hammer]

I did a lot of work on the New Port News as it was in Little Creek when I worked out of there at SIMA!

I had my share of deployments while on the Danials! In 21 months we made 2 med 3  Caribbean's, then our 3rd med we went to the Indian Ocean, 57 days out to sea with no stops then stopped in Pirth, I got off after that in Diego Garsia and then 25 hours in a C130 back to Norfolk!

Then I had about 3 weeks of waiting time to get out even though I still sold back a ton of leave time. I spent this time as a master of arms when I wasn't in debriefing, I held a top secret clearance because I was first a CTT before I was an HT!

[Athena12@]

I know what you mean I flew from Travis Airforce Base to A, to Alaska, to Japan and then to Clark Air Force base then In Dress blues and then had a three hour ride to Subic Bay to pick up my first ship. I also had a TS clearance for most of my Naval Career except for my four years teach the SPS 49 Radar in Norfolk.  After I retired I had a Secret government clearance as a civilian contractor.  How the hell did you go from a CTI to an HT?  That is one hell on a step down.

[hammer]

I know what you mean I flew from Travis Airforce Base to A, to Alaska, to Japan and then to Clark Air Force base then In Dress blues and then had a three hour ride to Subic Bay to pick up my first ship. I also had a TS clearance for most of my Naval Career except for my four years teach the SPS 49 Radar in Norfolk.  After I retired I had a Secret government clearance as a civilian contractor.  How the hell did you go from a CTI to an HT?  That is one hell on a step down.

My hearing went to hell so I couldn't take Morse Code any more, and I had no desire to switch CTA or CTO!

I was a welder before going in the Navy so after the 3 weeks of fire fighting school I tested out of all the rest of the HT A school in 1 week!

When I became a Ham Radio operator I tested out on Morse Code my sending only because I  still can't hear. The VA provides all my hearing aids. My hearing was damaged by a real bad double ear infection.

[Athena12@]

Sorry to hear about the hearing loss.  I have haring aid too.  I think mine was because of the work environment. When you work around the old teletypes and radio transmitters (Very noisy fans).  In fact when I finally force the corpsman on the Iowa to test our transmitter room for noise abatement.  Under protest one of them came down and after less than a minute he and his meter came out and slapped a Hearing protection sign on the door.  We had around 20 WSC three transceiver, 8 URT transmitters and 4 VHF transceivers all in the same space. That many fans 24/7 make more noise than people would believe.  All so lived with 3 inch, 5 inch and 15 inch guns. Funny thing is  the 3 Inch guns made a worse cracking sound than the bigger guns.

[hammer]

After the Navy working on Huey's in the Army Reserves made my hearing loss even worse I think! The VA doesn't skimp when it come to hearing aids!

[Athena12@]

Back to LOVEBOY'S question.  Growing breast has nothing to do with the growth of your penis or your sex drive.  However age sometimes does.  My wife 's sex drive died a sudden death when she hot menopause,  There are drug to prevent it but she didn't like the possible side effect so she would take them.  Sort of left me stranded.  As I got older less things turned me on so my sex drive went south but I am 70 years old.  You are much younger and gynecomastia should have nothing to do with your sex drive,  Just read some of the comments on the SEX topic under the main menu,  So kep the pecker up and carry on,