To every guy reading this I hope you learn something new and can grow as a person.

To every girl reading this remember to value yourself as more than just a caretaker for others. An outdated saying goes behind every great man is a great woman. Over the past few decades, women have fortunately stepped out from behind men and are attempting to make a place for themselves.

While they have been making great headway, they are lacking in one of the most fundamental aspects of a person's lives. Platonic (friendship) and romantic relationships are a minefield for most women. Unfortunately, many women have found themselves in the situation of being the friend that their guy friends go to when they finally drop barriers.

While women are statistically shown to lean on each other during hard times men have been known to rely solely on the women in their life. This is not due to any particular biological mechanism but instead is due to socialization within our culture.

To elaborate, women haven't had the same penalty for showing their emotions.

This leads to maladaptive coping mechanisms such as substance abuse or eventual mental health issues that typically go unacknowledged. During or before this men tentatively try to reach out to various partners to make an emotional connection and support that they can lack from friends and family members. Unfortunately, by this point, they've been harboring years of baggage that can bog down someone they care about. Even real therapists have their own therapists for this exact reason. You can't be expected to carry someone else's history on your shoulders, as much as you may want to.Talking about issues can be helpful but without help from an outside source, depending on the severity, both parties can come out of this at a loss.

So how do we go about fixing a problem that is built into our society?

We start small, by acknowledging that it's a real issue and not just something that happens during our formative teenage years. First, we break down the idea that men don't have feelings or mental health issues. From then on we can start dismantling the toxic idea that men don't have that ability to form lasting relationships with each other. Unfortunately, this time education isn't going to cut it, we need action in the form of starting ourselves off every day by acknowledging our flaws as humans.

We have a need for emotional support but it absolutely does not have to come from a third party every time. By acknowledging emotions you can learn healthier coping mechanism instead of destroying yourself. Then when you think you have a better handle on your emotions instead of spewing them at anyone who will listen you can reach out to people you can learn to trust. A college or high school relationship isn't meant to last. If that is your only form of emotional support, you need to expand your horizons. You need to have a healthy mix of support from both friends and family for all the things you can't talk about to each side.

To conclude, I hope this was an educational experience for both sexes.

Both men and women have their own ways that they have been affected by societal expectations but we can work towards helping boht parties reach their fullest potential.