Meanwhile a revolt against crude notions of masculinity-and against the orthodox binary of male and female-has complicated the " boy" part of the equation, too.
So Nick feels some British men are still tied up with the idea of masculinity-these are the characteristics traditionally thought to be typical of men.
Boys are held to absurd, rigid norms of masculinity --told to renounce the feminine emotionality of sadness or fear and to embrace aggression and anger as markers of real manhood.
There was perhaps no other man alive on the planet who was manly enough to handle Martha Gellhorn's strength, and she could keep up with Hemingway's need for adventure.
But the most effective way to release these emotions is the one most men stay away from which is crying and this is because men do not think it is masculine to cry.