*A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. The Modern Minstrel observes the world around him and shares it with us as lyrical story. This series was inspired by Luke Davis, whose eye for story and ear for lyrical prose are featured here.
—
They say that men don’t feel; that we are stoic, strong and reserved; that we hide our own feelings so we can play games with the feelings of others. The media says we do, it must be true. Cultural stereotypes say we do, it must be true. Some women think it’s true. Some men will try and convince you it’s true. Yet the truth is a fickle thing handed a mask and told to be what it is not. It struggles to break free of the act it must play and punished with shame when the mask is loosed. It is misunderstood and maligned in its natural form, yet praised and glorified when bent and twisted into something unrecognizable.
The truth is that we feel, we feel a lot, we feel the same things women feel and we feel them to the same intensity. Yet our role is different, we are the protectors, the providers and the pillars of strength. While we are put in these roles how can we be the defenseless? How can we be the ones cared for? How can we be the sail that needs a tether in a storm? We know we cannot fill two opposing roles so we remain strong, stoic and reserved because that is all that is allowed us.
We are bound by our feelings to act, to solve, to resolve. This is what marks us as different from women, that which is most often complained about is our tendency to fix, but these are our feelings shining through and you sometimes misunderstand us as much as we sometimes misunderstand you. Our feelings are problems which need to be overcome and fixed. This we have learnt from our past, from our peers, from our parents, from the very culture we live and breathe. We learn that our actions are suspect and our decisions while feeling are unwise, so we hide them from ourselves and the world around us. Our bodies when young course with testosterone making us more likely to aggress, to take risks, to take initiative, to dominate and to become more anti-social. Our feelings, intertwined in this hormonal cocktail, we must learn to curtail, to control and to focus. These feelings ride side by side with testosterone and you can’t control one without controlling the other. A decade or more we spend achieving this balance between wisdom, feeling and action yet at the end we still do not trust our feelings. This is because after a decade or more to us the loss of emotional regulation is loss of choice, loss of deliberate focused action and loss social standing.
Women want us to show our feelings yet sometimes misunderstand the perspective we have on feelings. Woman like romance, a feeling of excitement, mystery and feeling special yet to us this requires action, something with a solution so we will buy her flowers, take her to a special restaurant and make an effort to make her feel special. We do not always understand that women do not necessarily want the actions; women want the showing, the looks, the attention, the allure that comes with a man focused solely on them. In the end women can feel as if their feelings are being bought and we can feel as if our efforts are for naught, neither understanding that each other’s feelings are mutual yet simply expressed differently. When women show us their feelings, when they cry, or hurt or are upset they want someone to join them in their discomfort, to understand what they feel, to empathize. When we hear a women’s pain we do empathize, we do understand but we don’t show that we do. We see your hurt and feel it inside and we want to make it stop, we don’t want you to hurt and so we want to act, we want to fix the hurt so we offer solutions instead. So women can think we are not listening and we can think we are not being taken seriously, neither of us understanding that each other’s feelings are mutual yet simply expressed differently.
We are capable of showing our feelings but there must be trust, and there must be strength. We must trust that we will not lose social standing with you, and we do lose social standing because too many women see it as a sign of weakness. We must trust that you will not use our feelings against us, and we do have our feelings used against us because too many women are far better at wielding our feelings like weapons against us. Strength, it is not men who need strength; it is women who need strength because we will not show our feelings to someone incapable of absorbing them and showing us that those feelings can be understood. If you do not have the strength to be unafraid of our fears, our insecurities or the strength to bear witness to our pain and grief we will hide them. When you ask us what we are feeling, when you ask for us to show our emotions you are asking us to lose control. You are asking us to forgo decades of control. You are asking us to no longer act but to release. We cannot do that unless we know you have the strength to bring us back.
If you want us to open up it cannot be done by asking us to share, it will not happen that way. We have far too many years of control under our belt to simply let go in that way, we simply can’t. If you want us to open up then you will need to prove to us that you are the stronger. Join us in our actions as we mindlessly chop 1000 logs for firewood we don’t need, ask us how we plan to solve our problems. Understand that our solutions are just words, they are not actions but the intent to solve the problem of our feelings. Our feelings are hidden, even from ourselves, but we know deep down that we have the need to act, to do and to plan. If you help us in our actions and planning and guide us, steer us away from unwise decisions, we will see that you have the strength to listen. As we talk through our plans and actions slowly will our feelings become clear, even to ourselves, and if you are by our side you will see them too.
RSVP for
Conscious Intersectionality Calls
What’s Next? Talk with others. Take action.
We are proud of our SOCIAL INTEREST GROUPS—WEEKLY PHONE CALLS to discuss, gain insights, build communities— and help solve some of the most difficult challenges the world has today. Calls are for Members Only (although you can join the first call for free). Not yet a member of The Good Men Project? Join now!
Join The Good Men Project Community
All levels get to view The Good Men Project site AD-FREE. The $50 Platinum Level is an ALL-ACCESS PASS—join as many groups and classes as you want for the entire year. The $25 Gold Level gives you access to any ONE Social Interest Group and ONE Class–and other benefits listed below the form. Or…for $12, join as a Bronze Member and support our mission, and have a great ad-free viewing experience.
Register New Account
Please note: If you are already a writer/contributor at The Good Men Project, log in here before registering. (Request new password if needed).
◊♦◊
ANNUAL PLATINUM membership ($50 per year) includes:
1. AN ALL ACCESS PASS — Join ANY and ALL of our weekly calls, Social Interest Groups, classes, workshops and private Facebook groups. We have at least one group phone call or online class every day of the week.
2. See the website with no ads when logged in!
3. MEMBER commenting badge.
***
ANNUAL GOLD membership ($25 per year) includes all the benefits above — but only ONE Weekly Social Interest Group and ONE class.
***
ANNUAL BRONZE membership ($12 per year) is great if you are not ready to join the full conversation but want to support our mission anyway. You’ll still get a BRONZE commenting badge, and you can pop into any of our weekly Friday Calls with the Publisher when you have time. This is for people who believe—like we do—that this conversation about men and changing roles and goodness in the 21st century is one of the most important conversations you can have today.
♦◊♦
We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.
◊♦◊
“Here’s the thing about The Good Men Project. We are trying to create big, sweeping, societal changes—–overturn stereotypes, eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia, be a positive force for good for things like education reform and the environment. And we’re also giving individuals the tools they need to make individual change—-with their own relationships, with the way they parent, with their ability to be more conscious, more mindful, and more insightful. For some people, that could get overwhelming. But for those of us here at The Good Men Project, it is not overwhelming. It is simply something we do—–every day. We do it with teamwork, with compassion, with an understanding of systems and how they work, and with shared insights from a diversity of viewpoints.” —– Lisa Hickey, Publisher of The Good Men Project and CEO of Good Men Media Inc.
—
Image ID: 1421246543
I’m slowly going through all your articles on the GMP: I just love how you write and open up the internal and emotional world of men. I find it deeply moving and I’m learning from you things that I had never really understood before and worse, used to dismiss. You’re right, as a woman I recognize that I am afraid of men’s vulnerabilities and find that I shy away from their sharing of their deepest feelings. If my protector and provider is afraid then who is going to save me and my children? Is this an echo of something ancient… Read more »
Silke said much of what was on my mind. Between counseling and journaling, I as an adult have done hours, days, months of hard emotional labor and work on myself. The thesis of your article feels like you’re saying if I want a partner to meet me with the same kind of awareness and strength I have to not only create the perfect conditions for him to do so, I have to sure he feels and understands that those conditions are present. If he doesn’t share his feelings with me, it’s now my fault, my inadequacy. I didn’t make him… Read more »
This is a beautiful piece and does a wonderful job of explaining the internal world of many men. Ultimately, no human being can be open without emotional safety. Women often say they want men to share their feelings, but not every person has the emotional strength and discipline it takes to let their partner take off the mask and be seen.
Well said.
Hey you’re not alone in writing these great articles about men’s issues. I myself want to become a coach for men, just need some more time to develop. Anyways check out Graham R White (what evolved women want, the modern masculine man on facebook). There’s David Deida who is of course the pioneer of this field, as well as Bryan Reeves, Nicole Moore, Annie Lalla/Eben Pagan, Kelly Marceau, Adam Gilad … Those are just a few coaches I have on my own friends list! They are out there. Find them and network/collaborate … Keep spreading these wonderful messages 🙂 thank… Read more »
Impressive Luke.
Impressive.
Hi Luke I like your article and hope you will write more on this issue. The comments I make is not meant as negaive comments ,but me sharing my thoughts on how you see this. You write “The truth is that we feel ,we feel a lot,we feel the same things women feel and we feel them to the same intensity” “Our feelings are hidden even from ourselves”. I am sure you see the contradictions here Luke. But the main thing I want to say is that here you ask women to be a caretaker to help men to find… Read more »
Thank you, Luke Davis.
Just, thank you.
I’m speechless.
Hi Luke, thanks for writing this piece. It is very close to my experience in relationships. What I really like is the way you described the urge to “fix” things, and how that impulse is borne out of the very empathy we are so often told we are lacking. That being said, recently I am trying to resist the urge to immediately offer solutions when my wife or friends are sharing, or even when I am experiencing intense emotions myself. Instead, I am simply feeling the emotion – I even tell myself ‘just feel it’ – without taking action. For… Read more »
Thanks Hahz. I found the same thing too with fixing. One of my first articles was about this
https://goodmenproject.com/the-good-life/kt-mr-fixit-how-do-you-not-fix-something/
But I also found while I could meet women halfway (or almost halfway, the tendency to fix is strong), it wasn’t the same in return. Hence this article.
I may not be right about everything, it’s a personal perspective, but I seem to be the only one trying.
This is such a beautiful piece. I personally never thought this was true because I’ve never really been ONI a relationship but this made me so emotional and it’s really convincing. I loved it!!!
Thank you Eme. I’m not sure how old you are but relationships are worth it but they take work by both sides. I hope your first partner convinces you of that.