Why It Should Be Socially Acceptable For Boys To Cry | The Odyssey Online
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Lifestyle

Society Has It All Wrong, It's Okay For Guys To Cry

It's more manly for a guy to express rather than suppress their emotions as it shows that they are relatable beings rather than emotionless robots.

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Society Has It All Wrong, It's Okay For Guys To Cry
Photo by Kat J on Unsplash

There is an unspoken social and stereotypically expectancy that boys (used as an umbrella term for all males) should not cry. In society, it's 'proper' for men to be more collected emotionally, and are therefore expected to suppress the will to cry. Boys are taught at a young age to subdue their emotions and act more manly. All these unrealistic expectations put a huge strain on boys, as if they act otherwise they are ostracized and laughed at for not 'being a man'. All humans have emotions, some that are too overwhelming to express any other way than to let it out by crying; and men are not an exclusion of this classification.

Suppressing the will to cry is actually really unhealthy as it teaches us to bottle up our emotions which will only cause us to break down later on. To restrain expressing or avoiding emotions of any kind can lead to physical stress on one's body such as memory problems, aggression, anxiety, and even depression. These, in turn, could lead down a darker path of suicidal thoughts. Society needs to take a stand, in realizing that men have emotions that they need to convey or be at risk of hurting themselves.

Boys Don't Cry is a YouTube video that "explores the negative impact of stereotypical expectations of masculinity on boys and men, including pressure on young boys to prove their masculinity to their peers and in our culture." - G. Tina Wolridge The video focuses on a young African-American boy who was told that boys don't cry, so through tears he questions what he is. This is a very twisted view of today's culture that is very harsh on the standards of how boys should act that to the point that they question their masculinity. True masculinity, however, should be defined as how to properly express your emotions and the courage to do so.

This all to say that it's okay for boys and men to cry, to express their emotions; as even Jesus, the Son of God cried. The perfect example of a human who did no bad wept, and not just once, the Bible records three times of Jesus crying. He cried when his friend Lazarus died (John 11:32-26), He wept when He witnessed humanity's sins (Luke 13:34, 19:41-42) and He shed tears while praying before He was to be executed (Hebrews 5:7). God gave us the ability to cry as a way to express our emotion and if Jesus who did no wrong cried, then it's fair to conclude that crying is a natural part of humanity that is not wrong in any way. As a child, crying is one of the few things we knew how to do and even though it's good to learn to talk as a substitute to crying, that doesn't mean we have to eliminate it altogether. In a way, we still cry for the same reason as to when we were young, we do it as a way to express our emotions when words fail us.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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