Real men don't cry ... or do they? Lee Glickstein and Pete van Dyk founded a group dedicated to promoting crying as a therapeutic practice:
A few moments before 4 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, nine men ages 25 to 67, filed into a small, bare office in San Anselmo, arranged their chairs in a circle, sat down and prepared to cry.
Few knew each other. Some hadn't cried since they were young boys and wanted to learn how to cry again. A few cried often, and were thrilled to have found a safe space to do so.
These were the Men of Tears.
Wait till you find out the name of Glickstein's organization (it's WaterWorkers): Link (Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez / San Francisco Chronicle)
There are only three times when it is ok for a man to cry:
1) The death of your parent(s), child or dog.
2) When a man retires from any kind of sports endeavor.
3) During the movie "Field of Dreams".
If a man cries at any other time than those listed above, he's a pussy and should admit as such.
Otherwise, they need to reach down between their legs, grab their cajones and man up.
"I can comfortably vent my frustrations to a number of people, and yet most men I have known have no one."
True, too true. Lost my best (female) friend a handful of years ago over money borrowed and not paid back. (To be fair I gave her 2 years to pay back $600, not unreasonable IMO.)
Since then I haven't had anyone, really, to confide in. Luckily I have some rather evolved male friends that can serve in that role to come extent, but it's not the same.
I've never been averse to crying, but it's still the man-flavor of crying: Alone, quietly, with a bottle. I'm not comfortable crying in the company of other men, so much so that I've used CL to find like minded females with whom I can watch shows and movies that elicit tears (Buffy, Brokeback Mountain, Toy Story 3 etc)
The trope about women wanting sensitive guys who aren't afraid to cry is, as far as I can tell, an almost entirely hollow assertion. Success trumps substance ten times over.