The XX Factor: What women really think.

What Makes a Man

Esquire is running a series of pieces that revolve around the idea of what it means to be a man. While others here took issue with another feature in the magazine, the cover story, "What Is a Man?," a rather ham-fisted take on what supposedly makes the 21st century man that comes across as more cartoonish than reality-based, I'm of the camp that while there's plenty of talk these days about what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a man remains one of the great under-discussed subjects of our time. Tom Chiarella may come across as Norman Mailer redux, but, heck, at least he's trying to sort it all out, right?

For what it's worth, another piece in this issue, "Interviews with Regular Guys," is a worth a look. The magazine asked a dozen so-called "regular guys" what they've learned thus far in life. My favorite comes from Gil Duran, a 32-year-old, D.C.-based communication director for Senator Dianne Feinstein.

My mother was the most important man in my life. I remember her being six months pregnant with my sister, crawling around under trucks with a rivet gun in a Grumman Olson factory in Tulare, California. With a mother like that, you don't need a father.

It bears keeping in mind that what makes being a 21st century male so complicated has a hell of a lot to do with women.