“Women are taught to internalize their feelings, men are taught to externalize them.” Do you agree with this statement?

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

To add more detail to this, women are taught that they’re “emotional” and that their emotions are inherently a problem so they’re taught to internalize them, not in a “keep it to yourself” way but in a “You need to figure this out and stop making people feel bad” kind of way. Meanwhile men are taught that their emotions that are sometimes mocked are often best expressed through means of external factors such as a kind of grandiosity or addiction (ie becoming horrendously drunk when depressed or angry) and in response are told that their feelings matter.

Yes

No

[OneViewpoint]

You obviously have no clue what men carry around in silence. Women call men "emotionally unavailable", closed off, etc. And then you turn around and proclaim men to be the open communicators while women hold everything inside. LOL, women never shut up about their perceived problems yet hate it when a guy opens the door even a tiny crack on the things he's dealing with. That's why you'll never have even a tiny clue anything is going on in our career, family, relationships, finances, health, etc.

What we show women is all rainbows and unicorns. Because we know there is nothing good coming from sharing any hint of anything less than an image of a perfect impenetrable solid rock with a woman. So you get silence. And you easily believe that means all is OK. Because that's what you want to believe. The fact that we express anger more easily leads you to believe we're the expressive ones. That's just the superficial frustrations boiling over. You'll never have access to what we're really thinking.

[dustybiker2]

Taught? Genders? Eh.

I tend to see more political connections than gender. One party is definitely louder and more crass than the other being the more conservative and silent.

I grew up around all guys. Some are more emotional than others. It's not frowned upon and it's not a weeping thing. They are simply more tender to accidents or when people are hurt.

Same with woman. Some woman just shut off when you would think they would be emotional.

Of course you have to factor in mental illness too. They say autism for example is on the rise due to environmental toxins, and that can lead to both genders having social issues. When someone on the spectrum is emotional they feel it but do not always show it or on the flip can over display. Depends.

There are too many factors aside gender.

[Apple1996]

100% agree. As a woman I've always felt the need to hide my emotions and feelings because of the stereotype about women being too emotional. Men will say they are the ones suffering in silences but guess what? We are all always hearing about their suffering because they express it and make themselves loud and clear about their feelings

[Sirenboobzilla]

It's been the opposite, in my experience. Women are expected to be emotional. There are comments that say as much about us in politics. The sole reason PMS jokes exist. Meanwhile, men are typically taught to keep their emotions in check. They're effectively made to feel like it's a weakness.

[Justneedtokno]

I believe this is very true. Men are taught to express their feelings through physical practice like sports. They have an outlet as children as women were told to keep it in and like the movie Chicago pin up energy doesn’t go well and especially if they’re not listening or understanding no one‘s taught to understand us or we’re not given the same outlets. I think the world is evolving now where we’re given the same avenues to do that we even have a Powderpuff league

[Yoursweetgirl]

I disagree. At least where I'm from men are taught to be reserved and being able to hold it in and not letting all feelings out is considered more of a masculine trait. Women are more "emotional" and for women to let it all out wouldn't be as much shame as for men.
Everyone is different ofc you'll see reserved women and emotional men here too but that's what we're tuaght since childhood

[rtj1211]

I cannot speak so much for 2025, but when I grew up in the UK it was the exact opposite way around. Men were expected to 'keep a stiff upper lip', which basically meant never show your feelings, ever. The reason so many blokes were rabid football fans was that football was perhaps the one place where men could externalise feelings, even if the 1970s a lot of it was dark and rather violent.

[DishLady]

Absolutely not. Guys tend not to WANT to share their innermost thoughts because it's considered "effeminate".

[AudreyPom]

More like men in general are more emotionally stable

[DishLady]

@AudreyPom No, definitely not.

[AudreyPom]

Reality check says yes.

[DishLady]

@AudreyPom Ok, dude. Whatever tf you want.

[Jarkaz9000]

Why you assume she is a dude? You think that when a girl says some truth about the advantage that men have over women (millions) is a dude?

[DishLady]

@Jarkaz9000 Someone protesting that much over one person's opinion is overshooting for a reason. Also the defensive "reality check" is a dude move.

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

She’s either just a horny man, or a short-sighted teenager with a lot of internalized misogyny

[DishLady]

Meh. It’s not important. Block the trolls and move on.

[Communicationisking]

It is literally the opposite of what happens in reality for the most part

[Razp_Sorbet]

Depends on the feelings. Women are expected to not get angry whereas people are okay with men expressing their anger. But the opposite can be said about being sad

[Jason4040]

I've actually noticed the opposite. I was never allowed to have feelings and emotions or show them in some ways but my sister was allowed to have all emotions and be very emotional which I think is fine but I think guys are stopped from showing feelings or even mocked by other guys if they show feelings.

Maybe that's just what I've seen

[MannMitAntworten]

I thought it was rhe exact opposite. Or, for us men to suppress them entirely.

[Cormac995]

What? This is completely and totally backwards? IT's the exact opposite of this!

[WhiteThought]

It's the opposite. Men, generally, have better control over their emotions. Women, they let that spew out all the time when they get heated or upset.

[EmmaMary]

@cupcakethedestroyer

Generally speaking, I agree.

[Nikki1989]

Generally speaking, yes. This is rooted deeply in gender socialization.

[AudreyPom]

I think you live in the opposite world.

[Kingofkings1992]

What? Whoever said that idiotic statement is clearly whacked out of their mind on drugs. It’s the total opposite of reality

[KylieKitten]

I've always experienced that guys don't show what they are feeling that much.

[AndrésC64]

Absolutely not. You have it completely bass-ackwards.

[Jarkaz9000]

No it is the opposite. Women wouldn't even survive being in men's shoes.

[WonderingManII]

I don't we are taught to behave this way. I do think that our culture influences it.

[JB_Brady]

To a certain degree. I think the bigger factor is your parents and how they raised you.

[CupcakeTheDestroyer]

Yes, this is the main source of it, parents, peers, and media socialize and teach us certain ideas about how to express ourselves as men and women.

[WhitneySnow]

I agree with you

[grega239]

Its the opposite.

[captain_voidwalker]

As a man I was taught to not have feelings at all

[CaptainZeb2]

Do a 180 with this and you'd be correct

[Xawyx-2]

I disagree.

[Notherndude84]

Generally yes.

[qwerty2469]

The exact opposite