This article is missing information about men’s clothing, education, family lives, history, and work. Please expand man valentine box article to include this information.

Further details may exist on the talk page. A man with a beard, wearing a checkered shirt, with his arms crossed. A man is an adult male human. Throughout human history, traditional gender roles have often defined and limited men’s activities and opportunities. Trans men have a gender identity that does not align with their female sex assignment at birth, while intersex men may have sex characteristics that do not fit typical notions of male biology.

Karyogram of a human male using Giemsa staining. Human males typically possess an XY combination. In humans, sperm cells carry either an X or a Y sex chromosome. For men, primary sex characteristics include the penis and testicles. Adult humans exhibit sexual dimorphism in many other characteristics, many of which have no direct link to reproductive ability. Humans are sexually dimorphic in body size, body structure, and body composition.

Men tend to be taller and heavier than women, and adjusted for height, men tend to have greater lean and bone mass than women, and lower fat mass. Photograph of an adult male human, with an adult female for comparison. Note that the pubic hair of both models is removed. Secondary sex characteristics are features that appear during puberty in humans. A voice that is significantly deeper than the voice of a child or a woman. The male reproductive system includes external and internal genitalia. The male external genitalia consist of the penis, the male urethra, and the scrotum, while the male internal genitalia consist of the testes, the prostate, the epididymis, the seminal vesicle, the vas deferens, the ejaculatory duct, and the bulbourethral gland.

The male reproductive system’s function is to produce semen, which carries sperm and thus genetic information that can unite with an egg within a woman. Testosterone stimulates the development of the Wolffian ducts, the penis, and closure of the labioscrotal folds into the scrotum. While a majority of the global health gender disparities is weighted against women, there are situations in which men tend to fare poorer. One such instance is armed conflicts, where men are often the immediate victims. Male sexuality and attraction vary from person to person, and a man’s sexual behavior can be affected by many factors, including evolved predispositions, personality, upbringing, and culture. Michelangelo’s David is the classical image of youthful male beauty in Western art. Although masculinity is socially constructed, some research indicates that some behaviors considered masculine are biologically influenced.

Standards of manliness or masculinity vary across different cultures and historical periods. While the outward signs of masculinity look different in different cultures, there are some common aspects to its definition across cultures. In all cultures in the past, and still among traditional and non-Western cultures, getting married is the most common and definitive distinction between boyhood and manhood. Platonic relationships are not significantly different between men and women, though some differences do exist.

Friendships involving men tend to be based more on shared activities than self-disclosure and personal connection. Perceptions of friendship involving men varies among cultures and time periods. Anthropology has shown that masculinity itself has social status, just like wealth, race and social class. In Western culture, for example, greater masculinity usually brings greater social status.