They identify as a man because gender is defined externally to the individual. They were born, the doctor saw a penis, said, "it's a boy" and those around them reinforced male norms onto them: parents tend to cuddle boys less than girls; enforce stoic principles (men don't cry); encourage rougher, more violent play; and encourage more independence. There's plenty of references for these points so I didn't feel the need to provide any.

Most people don't challenge their identity if they don't need to and changing parts of your identity can be traumatic (ask queer person what coming out was like for them). The crisis of masculinity, as with any cultural crisis, is just a conservative, reaction to something that challenges them.

Gender is cultural and temporal so changes all the time; high heeled shoes used to be worn by rich Persian men, pink was the color that boys wore because pink was thought to be a watered down red, the color of the British army that they would, of course, eventually join. The Male Breadwinner model is an interesting way to frame the idea that the man is provider for the family. Prior to the Industrial Revolution the whole family provided.

Aspiring to be some vague archetypal construct of what a man is seems silly to me. I think people should aspire to have certain values and scruples. Most valuable men I've met were defined by their behavior and actions, rather than image and projection.

Yeah we have a crisis of masculinity because the patriarchy has decided that manhood is important, but then also anyone with any logical ability notices that gender is a social construct. So men who feel like they benefit from patriarchy and want it to continue must wage a war. Against women and feminists. Against anyone queer. Against any man who doesn't tow the line that a penis and a sports pendant on the wall of the man cave are like the most important things to ever happen.

I don't know how to be anything else but myself and I'm not even really good at that. But to be fair, my gender never meant much to me, so the question why be a man, never crossed my mind.