It's true. I remember my brothers when they were young. Such tender hearted boys. And they still are. Sensitive, emotionally intelligent, romantic. And yet still "manly" in the traditional sense in many ways. I think our parents raised us well.

One of my brothers is a builder, who skydives and swims in the ocean, runs marathons, and explores nature in his spare time. Who listens to Dostoyevsky and Sherlock Holmes audiobooks while he works. Who gives the most thoughtful gifts. Who once write a romantic fantasy story for his crush where she was the heroine. Who melts into "awwww" when he sees a young child, because he's a born father.

I still remember him aged 5, getting upset at me and his older brother for something we did, saying "I put up with this because I'm too nice", and crying. I don't even remember what made him say that, but I still feel sad that our thoughtlessness could hurt him. Because he WAS that nice. And unlike so many who lose that part of themselves, at 27 he still IS that nice. Just a genuinely good person, through and through.

Young boys are beautiful, innocent beings, just as much as girls are.

And adult men are beautiful complex creatures. I love them. A fully awakened and emotionally aware man is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

I remembered when my partner and I watched The Mask by Jim Carrey, and I suddenly saw in Stanley a mirror of my partner and realised why he was showing this movie to me. I turned to him and told him, and he teared up, because he felt seen. And the more I show him that I see him, and that I love him in all his aspects, the more he unfolds into a deeply strange yet wonderful shifting mercurial being.

Men are so much more than society likes to portray.