BOYS! MEN! MALE SPECIES! LISTEN UP

Okay, now that I've caught your attention, there's something we seriously need to discuss.

Emotions! Now I know many of you may see that word and think:

Really though, it's something to talk about. I've noticed through friends, relationships, family members, that it is a societal norm for men not to have or show emotions. It some how emasculates a man to show emotions, let alone have them.

Why is that though? There's all these unwritten rules that we somehow agreed upon for the genders. For men, you can't have emotions. For women, you're too emotional and show it too much. There's just the underlying theme of "DON'T SHOW EMOTIONS." We've been taught that somehow, it makes us weak or less of a person if we display our emotions to the world.

Why are we so content with these unwritten societal norms?
Who made these norms?
Who decided that repressing emotions is the way of life?
Who decided that it makes a man "less of one" for being human essentially?

Emotions are useful, emotions are needed, emotions are IMPORTANT.

I've had conversations with guys about this and a lot of what I get back tends to fall along the lines of:

"I was always told to man up" or "be a man."

Why is it that being a man is seen as somehow being stronger than being a woman?

"Be a man...don't be such a girl." Since when did this become some sort of standard of how tough or emotional you are?

Listen guys, I honestly think that one of the strongest, "manliest" things you could ever do is express your emotions, especially in a time where everyone acts so cold-hearted. If you can open up to at least one person and identify how you feel and how it makes you feel, you're in much more control of yourself than you think. You're in-tune with your feelings and that can help relieve a lot of your stress, especially because when you repress your emotions that increases you stress level. It will make you a stronger person and provide the tools to be in touch with other people. It can allow the opportunity to make much more closer bonds with friends and intimate relationships.

There needs to be an understanding that emotions are not something that will hinder us. We need to stop telling people to be more like one gender and less than the other. It's okay to have and show emotions. It doesn't make us weak, it makes us so much more stronger than people realize. Emotions are how we connect with each other and they help us process the events we experience throughout our daily lives.