‘Boys don’t cry’, has been a painfully real gender stereotype that has suppressed the full gamut of male emotional expression for generations. We are, it seems as a society, uncomfortable with the idea of male sadness, or male weakness, or male fear and vulnerability. Naturally, as it so often is, responsibility for this problem is thrust upon the laps of men and fathers, with yet more catchphrases of ‘toxic masculinity’ this, ‘patriarchy’ that. But I’ve always wondered why mothers are so rarely part of this discussion, they are after all the parent who spends the most amount of time raising and socialising children. Are mothers simply immune to gender stereotypes themselves? Are they any less human, or flawed, than fathers? So it was interesting to read the recent research of Professor Kristen Thomassin who found that mothers do actually play a central role in perpetrating harmful gender stereotypes onto their sons – however like all of us, they just aren’t aware of it. So - is it time, for the sake of our boys, that we put down the swords and shields, ended the gender war, and each accepted our own portion of responsibility for the problem? Is it time we stopped shrieking meaningless catchphrases, stopped pointing our fingers and shaking our firsts, and actually talked about how we *all* are active participants in this society? So tell me about your childhood, what emotions were allowed, which ones weren’t, and why? ~ Study  University of Guelph Globe and Mail Images by Nathan Dumlao, Gradienta, Kat J, Artem Nedzelskiy, Andrew Neil, Finn N, and Kiwi Hug from Unsplash. Illustrations by Alice Noir and Alex Muravev from Unsplash. #boysdontcry #boyscancry #genderstereotypes #psychology #mencancry

2023-01-11