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As a man that grew up in this modern-day westernized Society I believe I can speak for most men when I say that Society portrays us as not being very emotional and when compared to women it would seem as if men are from a Faraway less-developed Planet than our female counterparts.
Part of the problem is that as men we have bought into this false belief that we are not emotional and we’re not supposed to show our emotions because it makes us less manly.
The media in the past and today has played a major role in that false belief. I remember as a little boy going to the movies and watching the classic westerns where the men with the fastest draw would gun down as many men as they could and show absolutely no emotions, the only time the emotions were shown was if a woman was involved and she would show emotions for the loss of a friend or loved one but on the other and the men were shown seeking Revenge.
The way young men see our parents behave especially our fathers become our blueprint for how and what is appropriate behavior.
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If we fast-forward to present day it is obvious that the more things and Times have changed the more they remain the same. Every year starting in October the toy manufacturers start bombarding the airways with what they say will be the latest toys for little boys and girls and for boys their toys in some way shape or form usually involves guns, soldiers, tanks, cars trucks and girls usually involves dolls, babies, dolls houses and dressing up,
These images help to shape our emotions as men from a very early age and they play a huge role in who we become as men.
Contrary to popular belief men are no less of an emotional creature that are our female counterparts, we feel the same level and intensity of emotions as woman because the emotional process for a man is the exact same for a woman the difference is that women are usually more in tune and therefore more aware of their emotions and as a society not only do we expect we also encourage women to show their emotions so it would seem on the surface that women are more emotional than men, and even more of a contributor to the lack of emotion for men is the household in which young boys grow up to become young men, this is the training ground for all the Motions whether good or bad.
As men, we experience the same four basic emotions as women, those emotions are
(1) SADNESS
(2) ANGER
(3) HAPPINESS
(4) FEAR
A lot of man including myself either did not grow up with a man being a constant part of our lives or we grew up with fathers who were emotionally distant and rarely did we see men who cried or Expressed their affection outwardly.
The way young men see our parents behave especially our fathers become our blueprint for how and what is appropriate behavior.
Of these four basic emotions, happiness is the most universally accepted however universally men are taught not to show sadness and fear.
The question therefore is, where do these emotions go, because we have them just as women do, however, women in general, have no problem in expressing sadness or fear
Do these suppressed emotions of sadness and anger eventually express themselves in the form of anger after a while just like they do in the shoot em up westerns?
The point is this, contrary to popular belief men are no less emotional than women, the difference is that women are taught ways in which to express and not suppress their emotions from very young girls, and on the other hand men are taught to be tough and not show emotions, and therefore we are not taught to suppress, but that is what happens because these feeling have to go somewhere, so they get suppressed sitting inside of us like a ticking time bomb just waiting for the right moment to explode.
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Your article echoes with those of Mark Greene on this website.
Gggggg: Yes! There are some similarities in message delivery. Thanks for being a regular reader and commenter!