Dougherty 1

Caleb Dougherty

14 April 2022

College Comp Pd. 3

Mrs. Cramer

Socially Contrasting Emotionally Equal

Among society today, women are regarded to as the emotion bearers whereas men as a

whole are forced to be made into emotionless beings associated with physical and technical

standards of life. Unfortunately, men have been taught and conditioned to believe misleading

mantras such as “real men don’t cry” or “what doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.” As

a result, men suppress their emotions to keep from looking weak. Men are equally emotional

compared to women, but they are buried away in a chest locked by sexist moral standards, fake

understanding of masculine culture and social condemnation. Men and women both were created

to be emotional beings, to show and express that emotion. (Bible, Isaiah, 58.1) Though women

are more pronounced in expressing emotion, men feel the same amount of emotion. Although

they display it differently, men and women are equally emotional because women show strong

emotions, and men feel equally, but display emotions in contrasting ways.

To begin with, the fact that 69.68% of suicide deaths in 2020 were men shows that they

have deep and complicated emotions that are evidently there but hidden away. (Suicide

Statistics) It’s unfortunate to say but when anyone is at this point in their life, they have a large

number of negative emotions raging and taking control of them that that is the only substant

feeling guiding them in that season. According to Martinez-Morato a social study has proven that

a majority of the population believe that men are less capable than women of feeling and
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managing emotions. This statistic shows that men do have the emotions that society never see.

This is due to the fact that they hide the emotions away, so they don’t get looked at as weak. Men

feel equally but tend to express themselves in different ways than society wants to see. Women

cry and outwardly show emotions whereas men go silent and stifle them away.

Some may say that men do not have emotion because they never show it. The air that is

breathed has never been seen with the naked eye, but it is apparent that it is there because it

keeps living things alive. This is similar to men’s emotions, though they are not seen when

studied and looked at closely there is proof that those emotions are there. Though the vast

majority of men do not show their emotions, mostly the emotionally cut off and ashamed ones, it

does not mean that they do not exist. Society has put a stop to vulnerable and strong men by

saying that they are weak and feminine for having emotions. This is not the case by any means.

Men who are able to control and express their emotions are seen to be less anxious and stressed

in their daily lives. “Martinez-morato looked at the link between nursing, and the emotional labor

of the female nurse, compared to that of the male nurse. The results of this study had concluded

that men that provided care in this atmosphere had managed their emotions equally, if not better

than, that of the female participants.” (Martinez-Morato) Even in the nursing field that is socially

regarded as a ‘woman’s job’ have men that are excelling in the field due to their ability to

control, manage, and healthily express their emotions. Proper emotion management and

expression has positive impacts on men, society seems to think that these striving men are weak

but for what reason?

Next, the reason society look at men as un-emotional is due to the fact that they are

comparing them to what they think emotional beings should look like. Women tend to be the

emotional ones with different hormone imbalances and complex emotional pathways; when in
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fact, “Many certified professionals such as sociologists and laypersons have agreed that men and

women occupy different emotional spheres, meaning that men and women are socialized to

experience certain emotions and avoid others.” (Lively) As you can see men and women were

created differently and will not express emotion in the same ways. Men tend to get quiet and

seclude themselves to hide away any form of what society calls weakness. John Mark Green

once said, “He needed to be strong and shut his feelings down, if he was to be a ‘real’ man.

That’s what they taught him. But nobody ever told him that the toughest battle he’d fight would

be how to open his heart up to those he loved.”

In concluding, men are emotional beings that have the paralyzing weight of societal

standards holding them back from the righteousness of being a prosperous man. Both men and

woman have different but equal emotions. Due to the peer pressure of society men are forced to

show their emotions by stuffing them away and secluding themselves whereas women are free to

cry and rant and show everything men can’t as they please. Men were taught at early ages that

emotions are a sign of weakness and that being vulnerable was to be feminine and wrong. These

standards placed on men are wrong due to the fact that men have equal emotions as women and

expressing and managing emotions in a healthy way has positive health benefits. Although they

display it differently, men and women are equally emotional because women show strong

emotions, and men feel equally, but display emotions in contrasting ways.
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Works Cited

Lin, Yi, et al. "Gender Differences in Identifying Facial, Prosodic, and

Semantic Emotions Show Category- and Channel-Specific Effects Mediated by

Encoder's Gender." Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, vol.

64, no. 8, Aug. 2021, p. 2941+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/

doc/A673449301/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=e8a10a4f. Accessed 29

Mar. 2022.

Lively, Kathryn. “Emotional Segues and the Management of Emotion by Women and

Men.” Social Forces, vol. 87, no. 2, Dec. 2008, p. 911+. Gale Academic

OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A192851603/

AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=a1ce5e46. Accessed 23 Mar. 2022.

Martínez-morato, Sergio, et al. "Emotion Management and Stereotypes about

Emotions among Male Nurses: A Qualitative Study." BMC Nursing, vol. 20, no.

1, 29 June 2021, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/

A666718907/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=7820a04f. Accessed 23 Mar.

2022.

Prochazka, Jakub, et al. "Do Men Conform More than Women in the Recognition and

Labeling of Emotions?" Studia Psychologica: Journal for Basic Research in

Psychological Sciences, vol. 58, no. 4, Dec. 2016, p. 251+. Gale Academic

OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A473924429/

AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=1f550f72. Accessed 22 Mar. 2022.

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Works Cited

"Suicide Statistics." American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, 17 Feb. 2022,

afsp.org/suicide-statistics/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2022.

Timmers, Monique, et al. "Gender Differences in Motives for Regulating

Emotions." Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 24, no. 9, Sept.

1998, p. 974+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21123349/

AONE?u=pl1949&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=3544d3ac. Accessed 29 Mar. 2022.