what is your point of view on crying?

Question

Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or stress relief. We have been discussing crying in our class during Debating. We were talking about why girls have the right to cry, but for boys it is a sign of weakness. Why do you think boys aren't "allowed" to express emotion to others?

I know I believe that everyone should and can cry. nobody should do or not do things with anybody's standards.

Answer 1

Great question..I am a guy and i was always thaught not to cry because "boys don't cry". I really cannot comprehend why do people teach us to kill our own emotions

My point of view is that crying is a great stress relief for you but for the ones around you it works the other way around..=)

Answer 2

Tears/crying can be many things. Of course they can bring relief to stress or fear or often anger! Everyone should let themselves cry when they feel it, unless doing so might result in harm (like when confronted by bullies or thugs...they feed on it, so getting angry might be better--this would be a case when crying COULD be considered a weakness!). As people have already said, boys and even girls have traditionally been taught that crying signals "weakness". But more people are realizing this is usually nonsense.

Crying can also be the result of depression, which is more extreme then ordinary stress or sadness. There are other posts here which deal w/that,so I'll focus on crying for normal reasons.

Another field of psychology, called "Bioenergetics", says that emotions cause energy in the body and if it's not released (say, sadness or fear released by crying), then it build up and produces "blocks" in the body (muscles tighten and energy can't flow). Exercises use body positioning to make crying (or expressions of anger, for instance) easier and relieve built-up energy, or "chi".

There are other exercises that release energy and types of therapy that make it easier to let out sadness and other emotions.Everyone who feels like they can't express themselves should try one of these.

The first link below is to the San Diego Institute on Bioenergetic Analysis. You can find out more there. Some traditional psychotherapists regard any kind of "bodywork" therapy as a sham, but, having experienced it first-hand, I can say it's the real deal...but very powerful.

The next site, timelinetherapy.net, is based on NLP, or neurolinguistic programming, which uses various techniques for accessing deep feelings and memories.

The third site, healthypages.net, is a generalized forum for psychological issues, and you can post there to get more info. from professionals and other people having the same experiences.

Finally, if you asked because crying is a problem for you, don't let people tell you to "keep a stiff upper lip" or that crying is a waste of time, that you must "move on", "live in the now" (that is good, unless they mean you should ignore a painful past). Deal w/your pain and then you can move on and be healthy.

Answer 3

A man should almost never cry in front of a woman. Women are sadistic, will regard it as a sign of weekness, and will use the thing which brought on the tears in future arguments to hurt him. Also, it will cause the woman to find him less sexually attractive. Men: Be warned. Not all women are this way, but odds are, your is. If you must cry in front of her, cry 'happy tears' because your favorite team won the super bowl. Or cry directly after sex, and tell her it's because it was so good.

Women shouldn't cry in front of anyone. Other women are sadistic, and will use it. (See above). Also, it's a man's world, and unless you are a stay at home wife/Mom, *and* a real lady, thensuck it up and take it like a man. Men lose respect for women who work with them as equals, and who compete with them in the workplace when they cry.

Crying is a good stress reliever for many, but it should be done alone.




Crying is percieved by most as a sign of weekness (whether they admit it or not.). It sometimes *is* a sign of weekness, or emotional/psychological instability.

Boys aren't allowed to express emotion as freely as girls because it will decrease the number of potential mates for him. Fathers know this, and encourage machismo (most of the time)..

That's all I got.

Answer 4

Because crying is associated as a sign of weakness. (Which I don't agree with.) Boys/Men have been taught for thousands of years to be strong, to be the head of the household, to be a leader. If George W were to get up on stage to address the nation in tears...we'd all be fearful. That's a good debate and I don't think there is a right or wrong answer.

Answer 5

crying is most definitely a sign of showing relief of sadness or anger. it is nothing to be ashamed about, but it is just for showing people that your hurting or reliving your self of some pain or sadness you have been keeping in.

boys do have the right to cry and express their emotions. over thousands of years, men have been rugged, brutal brutes who never show weakness. but crying isn't showing a sign of weakness for boys or men. it is letting people know that you have to deal with some hard stuff in your life, and its not that embarrassing if a boy crys when he is at a funeral or when someone he knows, like his dad, is badly hurt. it is a good thing for everyone to have a good cry every once in a while, even boys.

Answer 6

I love to cry. I think it's a fantastic stress reliever. As for boys; in our paternalistic society men are often taught from a young age that they are supposed to be stronger and that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. We have developed specific gender roles in society and those determine in a lot of cases how parents express the norms to children. More often than not boys are told not to cry while girls aren't admonished when they do it. I think as we grow more open minded, parents will stop reinforcing such harsh gender roles and boys will one day not feel guilty for crying or wanting to cry.

Answer 7

If I want to cry, I cry and I don't give a damn who has a problem with it. It's not a sign of weakness, it's stress relief, especially for women who cry a lot more than men, mostly for no apparent reason.

Answer 8

It is a stress of relief for the most of people. However, people should, especially boys should avoid to cry in public, because it signals weakness. What would you think if you see a boy cries?

Answer 9

I think crying was built into us for a specific reason, similar to a exhaust valve on an engine. One of the hardest things in life is learning how to be 'who you are', partially because each of us has to learn it from the people who are around us as we develop, therefor, if the males didn't exhibit it, it will be assumed to be "wrong", and not acceptable for males. I have seen many men cry, and all have felt shame because of it's not being 'manly'. What a shame. Almost everyone knows someone who refuses to cry, no matter how much they are pressured by hurt, fear, anger, loneliness, failure, etc. and I think that eventually their 'exhaust valve' will have to let the water out or they will burst like an over-filled balloon.

Answer 10

To me, it is the ultimate stress relief, and healthy. We now live in an advanced society in which we should be free from sexist motions like "Boys don't cry because they've gotta be the tough leaders, and when they cry, the chain of command breaks down", as used to be the case in Victorian times. So, come on boys, let it rip! Crying is cool.