Do you feel one group is more emotional? And is the belief that women are more emotional spread by men?
this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2025
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I think the main difference is in how men and women express their emotions, and to whom.
Go on...
Well, I really do believe men are often encouraged to suppress emotions of sadness, loneliness, and vulnerability, and women are more likely to receive support from both genders for expressing the same emotions.
I also believe women are judged more harshly in professional and public settings for being assertive and confrontational even when it’s justified. These emotions, along with signs of aggression, are tolerated more coming from men.
I try not to make such generalizations, especially since people’s culture and upbringing also play a large role in how they manage and display emotions, but those are the two I have observed most often.
Women are allowed to express "weak" emotions: heartbroken, lonely, ashamed, anxious, panicked, etc. Women are also encouraged to work through their emotions and understand them. If women express emotions that can be associated with strength, they can be seen as not womanly enough: too much confidence is manly. Too brave is manly. Too proud is manly.
Men are allowed to express emotions of strength. Too much might be rude or classless, but there's no issue with it not being manly. OTOH, too much of the emotions of "weakness" and it's womanly.
I think men are seen as being less emotional because it's "manly" to suppress both "strong" and "weak" emotions. Athletes are given some of the most leeway in how they're allowed to act, but a male athlete who cries after losing is often seen as weak. One who celebrates a win too strongly is seen as a bad winner. Compare that to a lawyer who isn't really allowed to be sad after a loss or too proud of a win.
Women are expected to tone down certain "strong" emotions, but encouraged to display and talk about most other ones. Nobody would expect a women's team who lost the world cup final to be stoic. Crying is not only permitted, it's expected. But, if a female athlete goes too far in celebrating or taunting it's unusual at a minimum.
I suspect that men and women experience emotions similarly. But, I think male emotion is probably more destructive because men aren't encouraged to find healthy ways to express normal emotions.
We are all expected to behave like Jeff Bezos warehouse robots anyway. Society does not want people, it wants bots that work.
We are just an (in)convenience until AI replaces us.
Yep, men are assertive women are bitches. And you're right, men are expected to smother emotions that aren't "manly"
Perfect explanation that doesn't just blame or diminish one side or the other
I think it’s accurate to say that most women express emotions more frequently, which is healthier, whilst men are more likely to bottle up emotions and thus have more noticeable and chaotic outbursts.
Of course, neither of these are hard rules, but they are observable societal norms
Have there been any studies showing if that is due to biological/hormonal differences or just societal norms?