[crashryan]

In "The Net," once again a repressed, plain, insecure woman is identified by wearing eyeglasses. When Bogart--that is, Vic Wills--womanizes her she sheds her glasses and suddenly she's beautiful. As someone who always had to wear glasses this trope always irked me. Comic book men who wore specs may have been bookish but they didn't have to lose the glasses to win the girl. Simply punching a bully's lights out accomplished that. Even so there remained the impression that wearing glasses was a personality trait and real men didn't really need them. Rip Kirby frequently removed his glasses when the action heated up and he saw fine without them. Including when aiming his gun at distant targets!

I remember a skit in some long-ago TV variety show. The boss' lovesick secretary removes her glasses and he exclaims, "Why, Miss Smith--you're beautiful!" Beaming with joy, arms wide, Miss Smith runs toward him, misses him, and falls out the open window.

Link to the book: Romantic Secrets 41

[The Australian Panther]

Crash, Clark Kent is still hiding his identity as,

a repressed, plain, insecure man, identified by wearing eyeglasses.

As was Peter Parker pre John Romita.   
I wear glasses. I was called Specs and Four-eyes in primary school. I got over it. To top it off, I wore government issue glasses with round lenses which I hated until I got to high school, where I got rid of them. And immediately, John Lennon started wearing them and made them look cool. My bad timing!
I think Brando started wearing Raybans and made sunglasses look cool. Or was that General MacArthur?
What was that about Real Men? You are right, tho, I believe that was a deliberate Hollywood trope. Which is probably why they invented contacts. 
I have sunglasses, and both close-up reading glasses and distance glasses which I can wear outdoors or while driving - but don't need to.
Glasses are high fashion these days.