Masculinity as Competence

Recently failed at a simple task: hammering some nails into a bookcase. Got somewhat upset. My father later remarked that different people have different skills and jobs, and that if someone asked him to write a paper on some subject, it'd take him ages. Partly I was just annoyed at myself for my lack of competence at what ought to be a relatively easy action, but my failure got wrapped up in gendered notions about what a man "ought" to be able to do that I thought I was more or less past by now. Evidently not.

Technical competence (in terms of craftswork, tool use, etc.) is not my thing, and never really has been. Thus, when I went and subscribed to MAKE magazine recently, I found myself asking why I was doing it. True, I'd like to expose myself to a wider range of hobbies and communities and DIY sounds fun. But I also wonder whether part of me might not be hoping to gain just a bit of masculine cred by building up some competence in this milieu.