Real Men

Bugger surgery, hormones, binding, packing, pronouns and name changes... the true test of a Real Man is whether he leaves the toilet seat up. And another one just passed today. Which reminds me, I heard this the other day at the Show and almost cried- both at remembering some glimpse of my youth and realising that I really do like Joe Jackson a LOT. Here's his Real Men lyrics:

Take your mind back
I don't know when
Sometime when it always seemed
To be just us and them
Girls that wore pink
Boys that wore blue
Boys that always grew up better men
Than me and you

What's a man now
What's a man mean
Is he rough or is he rugged
Cultural and clean?
Now it's all changed
It's got to change more
We think it's getting better
But nobody's really sure

And so it goes, go round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are

See the nice boys
Dancing in pairs
Golden earring, golden tan
Blow-wave in the hair
Sure they're all straight
Straight as a line
All the guys are macho
See their leather shine

You don't want to sound dumb
Don't want to offend
So don't call me a faggot
Not unless you are a friend
Then if you're tall, handsome and strong
You can wear the uniform and I could play along

And so it goes, go round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are

Time to get scared
Time to change plan
Don't know how to treat a lady
Don't know how to be a man
Time to admit
What you call defeat
'cause there's women running past you now
And you just drag your feet

Man makes a gun
Man goes to war
Man can kill and man can drink
And man can take a whore
Kill all the blacks
Kill all the reds
If there's war between the sexes
Then there will be no people left

And so it goes, go round again
But now and then we wonder who the real men are