All boys, I think, want on some level to do manly things, when quite young even. I am old enough to remember when westerns were a major genre on American television - Gunsmoke, Bonanza, a few years later How The West Was Won. And, of course, cop shows, superhero shows no matter how hokey - Batman for one. GI Joe. I played pretend "cowboy" when I was pretty little, as a teenager I got into Sci Fi and watched Kirk be macho and the red shirt guy always bite it at the hands of some alien, so McCoy could say "He's Dead, Jim" right on Cue. And of course, Commander Robinson and sidekick Don were always brave despite being Lost in Space, even little Will Robinson showed bravado, unlike the sniveling coward Dr. Smith.