Men are emotion-less robots who don’t have real feelings, don’t really care about anything and are not impacted by anything you do, right? All they want is to play video games and watch TV all day, or hang out with their boys and talk about meaningless things over beer and sports, right? Because that’s all they really care about… RIGHT? WRONG! Men are human, too, and believe it or not, the ones in your life have real emotions – love and fear, and everything in-between. It’s just that they don’t know how to address certain things in their lives because they are never taught how to. That’s correct – patriarchy doesn’t stymie only women. It stymies men, too, because of which they find it difficult to talk about these 5 things…
1. Their “soft” feelings
Love, sadness, anxiety, tiredness – these are examples of ‘softer’ feelings. Men are taught to “man up” and suppress these aspects of being human, or made to channel them into other things like sports, work, and even alcoholism! But, of course, they feel these things. Some men are aware of their inner lives, others are not. Of those who are aware, many find it difficult to put them into words not because they are bad people, but they genuinely don’t know how to!
2. Venereal diseases
Almost every woman has come across a man who refuses to get tested for STIs, or take any sort of ownership of his sexual health. Our society puts a premium on a man’s virility to the extent that it almost becomes his identity. Many men evaluate themselves, and their manhood, based on how well they can pleasure a woman. So, it follows that many men find it difficult to accept that their sexual health is fragile.
3. Performance anxiety
Whether it is under the sheets, or in the boardroom, men find it difficult to talk about performance anxiety. The reason is simple – men are socialised with a black-and-white philosophy on success and failure. There are very few parents who teach young boys that they can try again, or that failure is a stepping stone. There is always the pressure to win… when it comes to boys, the society is in the game of raising winners, not performers, if you know what we mean. So, every presentation, or act of sex, is about acing it, and when that pressure looms, anxiety builds. But, they’re in it for the win, right? Not to sit and whine about how nervous they are…
4. Financial issues
Once again, men are raised to be providers. They will go broke, put their own financial needs on the backburner, and spend on their loved ones nonetheless. For a man to step up and say that he may be in a financial mess is a huge deal because, like a lot else, his bank account is a reflection of not only his status but also his decision making skills.
5. Their fears
A man is not supposed to be scared. Men are fighters, and in a fight, there is no room for fear!
