This is about impressing dweebs at a bar, or impressing an 18 year old girl who hasn't figured out yet that macho and asshole are often synonyms.
As a WSO/EWO - and you lose HUGE macho points if you have to explain what your job is - I've spent lots of time with fighter pilots and test pilots. Some are truly outstanding men, and some are just self-serving jerks - but "I test fighter jets" is pretty high on the cool list.
Me? I've done Mach 2, gone M 1.6 at 500', done .9M at 400' at night, I've been in combat, as a youngster I cut down trees for a living for a while...but in my 50s, I'm at that happy stage in life where folks look at my bifocals, and don't even ask.
And with my marriage at 23 years and climbing, my house paid for, 3 kids, 1 granddaughter and 2 more on the way...I don't give a rat's rear end about what other folks think. I'd much rather go ride my horses than hang around a bar and try to impress strangers. (And yes, I'm old enough to wear a helmet doing it...)
