Cooking? Professionally it's all men. But in most households it's women

It's absolutely wild that the ability to cry when you need to is considered to be a trait exclusive to women. It's absolutely essential for a healthy mind, and I've gotten quite good at it despite my useless Y chromosome.

I'm a woman and the manliest thing I do is woodworking, the husband sews clothes (occasionally from fabrics I weave).

I also do bodybuilding, but that's hardly masculine anymore, yay!

It’s kind of ridiculous that any skill is gendered.

Cooking. Maintaining a clean household. I'm the cook/baker and cleaner and I'm male.

I've always been one that tries to fix before we replace, and that's lead me to a few things like soldering some loose connectors on electronics, or basic small engine repair like an oil change and installing a spark plug. I like making things so I've been slowly expanding my experience levels with various interesting power tools. I can install insulation, mud and sand drywall, stain and refinish furniture, that kind of thing.

However, if I think about things that are truly flipping the script on gender roles, probably the most masculine "skill" I have is the ability to assertively ask for what I want and delegate tasks to others. It seems almost foreign to other women outside of a business context.

This was particularly noticeable when I lived in the American south as a caretaker for a family member. Some of the conservative biddies we had over to visit sometimes would make little passive aggressive snarky comments and the exchange would go something like this.

"Oh, I didn't know where to put my trash, the bin is just overflowing with garbage so I left it on the counter"
"You're right, we usually put the trash in the bin in the garage, spare bags are under the sink, just make sure to close the lid when you're done"
"Oh, uh..." (palpable confusion)
"Thanks for helping out!" (direct eye contact, pleasant smile)
(flustered acquiescence)

It would throw them for a loop so hard it was consistently hilarious. They clearly expected me to bashfully apologize or get all defensive or shamed at the state of the house in some pecking order power play. Lol. You brought it up, have fun getting it delegated to you.

Nursing. I can produce milk from my nipples. I haven't been given a chance to see if it can sustain an infant, but I have asked many times.

I arranged the flowers for my wedding.

Having a barely passable sense of style and cooking, I guess.

The amount of male to female ratio of comments on this post is wild. We’ve been tackling the female taboo skills so much in the last few decades. Obviously we’re not done but it’s time for the men to make progress too.

Also I guess I can code. And while it’s hardly weird for a woman nowadays most of my field is still 80-90% male

Intimacy. Emotional intelligence. Not subscribing to "manliness."