Tears – Not a Biased Emotion.
Written by Nazia Tabasum A (Author| Blogger)
Being human, we often express our feelings through mixed emotions. Among those, tears are one of the universal emotions. But from ages, there is a misconception that this is biased towards a specific gender.
Crying is seen as a weapon of women and they are considered weak when they become emotional. But when it comes to men, they are very embarrassed to share this emotion openly because they don’t want them to be mocked for being sensitive.
There are many thoughts behind this concept which have been incorporated from ancient times. These are mainly formed by social, cultural and historical factors.
Historical Norms:
Histories mostly portray that men are courageous and victorious. But their emotional expressions are often not depicted openly.
Cultural and Societal Norms:
Right from their childhood, men are taught to be bold and tough because they are the providers and protectors. This gets deeply etched in their hearts and if any situation arises where they have to break down emotionally, they are bound to suppress and hide their vulnerability.
Media Stereotypes:
Media representations also plays a major role in normalizing this theory. Male characters are often shown as emotionally reserved, but female characters are allowed to be more expressive.
Impact on Health:
When it comes to mental health, this emotional suppression of men often turns into depression. This is out-shown as anger and frustration and also impacts their physical health.
According to the American Psychological Association, research was conducted among 7000 individuals from 37 countries. Women’s average crying rate was 30 to 64 times a year and for men, the average was 5-17 times only.
But another scientific piece of research on crying carried out by Universal Channel in 2000, on modern middle-aged men was quite interesting. The findings showed that the current generation of men are more likely to cry twice as much as their previous generations.
“Real Men Don’t Cry” – Although this myth is still instilled in the minds of most men, they should understand that crying doesn’t make them weak.
Rather than being numb and showing rage emotions, men should openly start expressing their emotions in sensitive ways without any hesitation.