How did this western societal idea of how a man should act, and what emotions are appropriate to show come about? How far back in western history does this idea of limiting men’s ability to emote honestly go? And how did these ideas change over time?
It’s interesting to me because I feel like these traditional and limited roles that western society puts on men (and women) are just that traditions. That it’s just something “that we do because past generations did them.” So my curiosity is why did past generations have these societal rules in place? was there a legitimate reason for it, did having men be almost robotic even in the privacy of his home and around his family have some necessary and important reason? If so is that still necessary today?
what do you mean by “having men be almost robotic”?
Maybe stoic is a better word for it. But someone that shows little range of emotions - angry, ambivalent, and happy (on a limited basis) but nothing else.
I don’t know if it’s genetic or just the way that you are raised. I was simply raised to never get too emotional. And crying was never allowed. I still remember my father saying, “stop crying like a girl.” As an adult the only times that I have actually cried were over the deaths of dogs that I had. Even when very close family members died I never shed a tear.
c/nostupidquestions might be a better spot to post this. asklemmy is more for silly open-end questions, or more poll-like questions rather than questions that expect a genuine, well research answer.
Well shit. I actually thought this was no stupid questions - I need to pay better attention I guess. Thanks for pointing it out. I will re-submit there instead.
If you haven’t, I always recommend reading bell hooks’ The Will to Change. It’s available as a free PDF under 200 pages on the Internet Archive but it’s also written to be very accessible to non-academics and so it’s also absolutely fine to skim and jump between chapters as suits your curiosity! The introduction and chapter 2 would probably get you a long way there 😊
