Thursday, January 27, 2011

On "Manning Up"

Let's get straight to the point: men really aren't encouraged to talk about their problems, let alone the emotions associated with them. Guys are encouraged to "man up" if they do, since apparently acknowledging your problems and/or emotions is something only women are capable of. I'm sure this is old news to everyone.

Here's the problem, though. I have problems, and I acknowledge them. I tried telling my mom about my body image issues and how I'm afraid I could be developing an eating disorder, and she didn't even take me seriously. She said I shouldn't worry about it, and it's probably because of my anxiety. No, it's because I'm fat and I go through long periods of self-loathing because of it, and because I feel like nobody would want me because of it. 

Which brings me to the main subject: why is it that men are expected to deal with their own problems? While I agree that some problems can be easily solved alone, many problems cannot. But a lot of men don't want to admit they need help, even when they really need it. Furthermore, when a guy tries to get help, it's often not there. At least in my own case. Yes, I'm reluctant to ask for help a lot of the time, but when I do, it seems like people think I should just be trying to deal with it myself, and if I get help or advice, it's usually not useful or reassuring. I've noticed guys tend to be really bad at giving advice.

Of course, I suspect this has to do with stereotyped gender roles. Men are "supposed" to be strong providers, so they're expected to deal with problems themselves. And really, guys are force-fed these memes from a very early age. The only problem is that I don't see anyone trying to do anything about it. There should be a campaign or something.

Anyway, I was hoping this would be a longer and more thorough post, one with actual content, but I'm really not up for it. So sorry that this is shit.

No music, either. I can't really think of anything.

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