Fierce #4: The prejudice against crying out loud, especially for men and much more…
Tears. The only thing after blood and flesh, which we are essentially required to be smothered in, when we arrive into this world. Something so miraculous, that a cute little baby is expected to cry when its being born, yet looked at as an ‘annoyance’ when it cries helplessly just a few weeks later. The baby gets to know nothing changes when it eventually grows up, and is still confused on whether it can cry about it or not.
The protocols which do surround crying, are plain confusing. What’s all the fuss about, you may ask? A baby’s cry is almost always a nuisance. A girl crying is just an accepted norm. But any sort of crying from a man, is downright unacceptable. How we’ve managed to formulate these constructs, on how to associate certain sects of people to an emotion that is deeply personal is indeed quite fascinating.
Tears are actually a sign of health, both medically and psychologically. They naturally lubricate your eyeballs, and are said to bathe your eyes in lysozyme, an extremely effective antibacterial and antiviral agent. They also reduce stress and aid people to deal with emotional problems AKA ‘feeling better’.
Tears are actually a sign of health, both medically and psychologically. They naturally lubricate your eyeballs, and are said to bathe your eyes in lysozyme, an extremely effective antibacterial and antiviral agent. They also reduce stress and aid people to deal with emotional problems AKA ‘feeling better’. But in a fast paced world that is so demanding, tears don’t really seem to have a place. They are brushed off as a sign of weakness. It is sad that we imbibe from a young age, that crying is associated with shame and is something that girls do. First off, girls don’t just cry to get all things done. Do you think all those strong, independent women just cried it to the top of their respective fields? So ‘Don’t cry like a girl’ shouldn’t really be an acceptable sentence.
Men on the other hand, are put into a tight spot when it comes to feelings. Well, a part of me wants to say this comes from their own happy claim, of having positioned themselves in the ‘non-emotional creature’ category. But nevertheless, I think they’ve now got the hang of how even a spark of the slightest emotion from them is not welcome. This is definitely not good news. Emotions are a unique feeling that humans are bestowed with, restraining it surely leads to imbalance. There have been cases where people engaged in physical abuse instead of expressing their feelings. Controlling emotions doesn’t imply that you’ve got your life in control.
So ‘Boys do not cry’ should certainly not be propagated. So what if boys did cry? Crying doesn’t deter or determine your strength or masculinity. I’m not saying you must burst into tears at any given juncture, but don’t suppress them on the basis of what others may think. Crying proves you’re very much human, possess a tiny heart with some feelings filled within, which is (almost) always a good thing. It is basically high time we realise tears are just as natural as breathing.
