Intuitively, many believe that men and women handle their emotions in different ways. But, there are certainly men who are more emotional and women who are not. It could be a societal aspect where men are taught to “man up” and keep their emotions in check while women are told they are the nurturers in a relationship and should express emotions more readily.
The book, “Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus,” lays out why we are different from each other. It could be that these differences complement each other and help to round out a family. Of course, men and women will continue to complain to their friends about the opposite sex. It makes you wonder if this is simple posturing. There are plenty of stories that play off these differences.
While women may believe man are callous and cold, the truth is men do experience emotions. They just do it in a different manner than women. Many men do get choked up when they see an emotional movie. They just try to keep it from coming to the forefront. Some men have no problems with expressing those emotions.
There are women who don’t want their men to be too emotional. They view them as being weak and even when overdone, as being effeminate. It’s a delicate balance as they don’t want their men completely emotionless.
Hollywood movies often reinforce the stereotypes between men and women. People who grew up watching John Wayne movies saw the Duke as being a tough guy. Men would model themselves based on his characters. It’s not much different with the movies shown today.
Another factor that may explain the differences between how men and woman express emotions is one of biology. Women have different hormones than men. These hormones can affect how people feel those emotions.
It’s important to note that many studies on the differences between men and women are centered around the study of the brain. While science has come a long way in the past 50 years or so with these studies, the brain is still a highly complex organ. In the grand scheme of things, we know very little about it. Therefore, how much do we know about emotions in either sex? What will we know 50 years from now about the brain? No one can say for sure, but it is likely to be very different than what is known now.
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