Many of Hemingway's men turn to the drink. The men in "Out of Season" and "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" exhibit thinly-veiled aggression. Masculinity is an especially problematic subject for Hemingway. On the one hand, masculinity is a sign of health and success. Pedro Romero in the Sun Also Rises would represent the healthy type of masculinity. Interestingly, however, Hemingway implies that women sap the natural and positive masculinity from men. Brett claims leaving Romero specifically so that she would not hinder his potency, which he should channel into his bullfighting. The idea that women sap the potency of men is common in of Hemingway's stories. For instance, Mr. Elliot built up his male potency through years of celibacy, only to lose his manliness to marriage...

Marriage seems especially poisonous for male-female relationships largely because marriage enforces traditional gender roles that place the male in a position of power.
Yet stereotypical masculinity can be detrimental to the physical, emotional, and social health of both male and female characters. The man in "Out of Season" exerts his male-derived dominance over his wife and thereby appears to lose the respect of his Italian fishing partner. Masculinity becomes distorted and pathological in Our Time and in the Sun Also Rises. Men become impotent by the very act of clinging to their socially-sanctioned position of power. Without viewing or treating women as equals, they cannot help to achieve self-fulfillment or happiness in any relationship.