Al Mohler has a good post up on the confusion faced by young men in our times as to their roles in life. One quote that stuck out was from Mark Peters recent article in the Boston Globe:

How to act like a man is a humdinger of an issue if you are one. The late Steven L. Nock, a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, said in an e-mail to me last year that it doesn't take much for women to prove that they're "real women" in the widely accepted senses, but men are in a more slippery situation, especially with the role of father/protector/provider not considered as necessary or desirable as it once was. "[M]asculinity must be continuously earned and displayed. It is never won," Nock wrote. Without a traditional role to embrace, being a man requires constantly defining yourself in opposition to all things female: "No wonder things like man-purses attract attention."

For those who have not seen this, Harvey Mansfield (yes, the name is ironic) put out a book in 2006 which chronicles the decline of Manliness. An interesting read as well.