Real men don’t ask; they tell.
Real men are dominant.
(Following an explosion on the spaceship, ZOE is in critical condition, and WASH, her husband and the pilot of the ship, is in the medical bay with her. The captain, MAL, enters.)
WASH: Come on, baby. You’re strong, strongest person I ever met. You can do this!
JAYNE: She gonna make it?
SIMON: Please. I need to work.
MAL: Wash. Wash, I need you on the bridge.
WASH: Zoe’s hurt.
MAL: And the doctor is gonna do everything he can. Meantime, I got to have you on the bridge. We need to know how bad it is.
WASH: How bad? It’s bad, okay, Sir? My wife may be dying here, so my feeling is it’s pretty damn bad.
MAL: Wash.
WASH: I’m not leaving her side, Mal! Don’t ask me again.
MAL: I wasn’t askin’. I was tellin’.
“Out of Gas”, Firefly season 1, episode 8, October 25, 2002.
Real men are protectors.
Real men don’t ask; they tell.
Real men are dominant.
ANGEL: I need you to be out of here.
NINA: That’s typical. You sleep with a guy and he sends your entire family out of the country. No, wait, that’s actually not that typical at all. You couldn’t just not call?
ANGEL: It’s not safe here.
NINA: Is it ever? I want to be with you if there’s trouble.
ANGEL: You don’t want to be with me. You don’t want to be near me.
NINA: Because I might get hurt?
ANGEL: Because I’m the thing that’ll hurt you.
NINA (holding up plane tickets): What do you call this?
ANGEL: How can I convince you that I want to be with you?
NINA: Show me a fourth ticket.
ANGEL: Okay. If I get through this intact, I’ll come for you. We’ll have time.
NINA: You’re the most amazing man I’ve ever met, but you’re a crappy liar.
ANGEL: Go. I’m not asking.
NINA: I’ll go. Why on Earth would I stay?
“Power Play”, Angel season 5, episode 21, May 12, 2004.
Real men don’t ask; they tell. (Real men don’t care what others think.)
Real men are dominant.
DR. MANHATTAN: Pay attention. You will all return to your homes.
RIOTER: Oh, yeah? And what if we don’t, ya big blue fruit?
DR. MANHATTAN: You misunderstand me. It was not a request.
[The rioters disappear.]
LAURIE: Jesus.
DR. MANHATTAN (internal monologue): The next day, I am reading in the paper of two people who suffered heart attacks upon suddenly finding themselves indoors. More would have suffered during a riot, I’m certain.
Alan Moore, Watchmen issue 4, December 1986.
Real men don’t ask; they tell.
Real men are dominant.
DALET: I like that you talked about your grandmother, but when you need to be a man, are you okay putting your foot down and letting me know that hey, this is the way it’s gonna be because of this reason?
Conveyor Belt of Love, Season 1, Episode 1, January 4, 2010.
Real men are dominant.
Real men are primitive.
Real men don’t care what others think.
Real men don’t change.
“Now Ms. Wolf has to make the unfun Gore fun. She has come up with her most un-feminist notion yet: Urge a gentle, new-age beta male to act like a Fight Club macho alpha male, the sort who bares his teeth and drags women off to his cave.
“She has a point. Women are impressed by swagger and paternalism in presidential candidates, just as men are.”
—Maureen Dowd, “Liberties; The Alpha-Beta Macarena,” New York Times, Nov. 3, 1999.
![Real men don’t ask; they tell. (Real men don’t care what others think.)Real men are dominant.
DR. MANHATTAN: Pay attention. You will all return to your homes.RIOTER: Oh, yeah? And what if we don’t, ya big blue fruit?DR. MANHATTAN: You misunderstand me. It was not a request.[The rioters disappear.]LAURIE: Jesus.DR. MANHATTAN (internal monologue): The next day, I am reading in the paper of two people who suffered heart attacks upon suddenly finding themselves indoors. More would have suffered during a riot, I’m certain.Alan Moore, Watchmen issue 4, December 1986.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kx4eavfscQ1qzdhk0o1_500.jpg)
