I've always felt they were mostly just a product of how our culture views socially acceptable gender standards. I'm a man, yet I don't like what the stereotypical man likes. I'd rather spend my time doing something creative and artistic like music, or reading, or generally something that's intellectually stimulating. I don't like action movies, I don't have that much of an interest in sports, I don't have an interest in "picking up" women (not that I don't want to meet women of course, but I think there's a difference between meeting and trying to pick up and bed), I don't have an interest in violence, I don't have an interest in giving off an image of "tough," or really many of the socially viewed stereotypical male interests/qualities. I also like to care, which apparently isn't quite a male quality either. I think it's really up to the individual, as someone else said.
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