How do men learn sadness? Justin Lioi, LCSW, takes on the fear and feelings we can’t avoid.
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Can you remember seeing your dad cry?
It wouldn’t be that strange if you said ‘no’ or if you really had to dig deep to remember. Maybe it was at a wake, maybe a wedding. Was it hidden? Did he try to leave the room or fool you into thinking it was something else other than tears?
For all the progress we’ve made in the world, it remains the traditional job of the man to remain strong and, somewhere along the way, remaining strong meant not shedding tears.
Crying can be a great release, but it’s not everything. We can cry for so many reasons. My reason for starting this piece off with tears is how it’s such a very outward sign of a feeling. Of a feeling that’s a pretty vulnerable one.
Men are given the message that they don’t do vulnerable.
- “There’s no crying in baseball!”
- “Run it off!”
- “Get back on the horse!”
There are few messages that say, “Feel that.”
- “Know deeply what it feels like to experience loss, to grieve, to have your heart broken, to feel pain.”
That’s just crazy talk, right?
The problem is, these feelings are going to come up, they are going to happen to us. What most of our dads taught us is that those feelings aren’t supposed to happen. If you never observe your father really sad, or hurt, or scared, you get the message that YOU should never be—especially if you’re a boy.
You learn how to have feelings by watching your parents feel. Not by what they teach you with words, but by their actions. And sometimes that action could be sitting in a chair and sobbing, deeply, because a best friend just died.
Many men “get” anger. Many of us have seen Dad get angry. Whether it’s a physical rage or a controlled fury, we’ve experienced that from our father.
But are you really going to try to convince me that your dad was never scared for the thirty years, give or take, that you knew him? I’m not sure that’s actually possible. Maybe it was about his job, maybe it has to do with his relationship, but at some point he was scared.
He just didn’t show you.
Or maybe he showed you the anger that was a better costume for the fear. That was more acceptable. Maybe the other people around knew he was expressing that fear in the way he felt was acceptable.
But they were adults, you weren’t. You didn’t see the fear. You didn’t know that was his fear.
So how did you feel when you felt fear and you wanted to curl up in a ball and shiver? Did you think it was unmanly? Did you think it meant you were being a “sissy” or any of the other emasculating words you were deathly afraid of being called?
We need to do a better job in teaching our children—certainly our sons—about these other emotions. We need to show them that men experience a wide, wide range of feelings. All the feelings, really, and none of them are to be ashamed of.
Can you do that?
Do you even believe it?
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Photo: Alexandre Normand/Flickr
In jobs like police officers, fire fighters, and in the military, men are not allowed to expressed their full range of emotions. In the military, there is an old saying “wipe the smile off your face.” and in civilian life, people are telling you “what are you smiling at.” Another problem is men are not allowed to laugh anymore.
You also have other men particularly bosses who despises other men for being emotional and not even allowing men to express rage and anger when a situation justified the rage and anger.
G-So much truth in this. And there are places and times when expressing and processing emotion may get in the way of staying safe or keeping others safe. Even more important for people in these careers to have a space to express the full range of their emotions even if it’s at another time.
Every time in my life I have displayed fear or shame for not doing enough or being a good enough boyfriend, my girlfriend has consoled me at first, only to turn around and really drive home the point just how lousy I’ve been doing. Yes, we need to teach our children that men too have more emotions than rage, anger and mourning. Because as long as women will despice a man for being emotional, for not being the solid rock to HER emotional turmoils, the average man will keep on pushing his emotions under the lid to get the job… Read more »
You bring up an important, and all too familiar, point for many guys. Often the very people telling us to be more emotional–and often these are wives and girlfriends–are the same people who are uncomfortable with our vulnerability. Thanks for sharing that.
Thanks, Justin, for putting this out there. We have so much work to do – both mothers and fathers – to get to a place where we “even believe” that men experience a broad range of feelings other than anger, and that there is beauty, not shame, in that. An then there’s the work it takes for us to feel comfortable – or even willing – to show those feelings. I was just teaching week three of six-week course I run called Raising Boys!, and last night’s topic was on aggression, the feelings that underlie it, and what we can… Read more »
Tosha
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. The work you’re doing sounds awesome and is so valuable. I hope the piece will be helpful with your students.
Justin