[Meheret B.]

Why are women more emotional than men?

User Detail :  

Name : Meheret B., City : San Diego, State : CA Country : United States, 

[Andrew]

Because they're allowed and encouraged to be more emotional. Traditional sex roles don't penalize women for showing what they feel. Those roles, however, often label men as weak or girlish if they cry or let their feelings be known.

User Detail :  

Name : Andrew, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 35, City : Huntington, State : NY Country : United States, Occupation : Reporter, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Christopher D.]

Being alike in terms of emotions, men are simply better at suppressing their true feelings.

User Detail :  

Name : Christopher D., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 23, City : Arlington, State : TX Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Onewanda]

Just kidding. As has been stated, women are encouraged to be more emotional, men are encouraged to be the stoic protector who shows no emotion. I guess this is in some perverted way supposed to demonstrate men's strength and women's nurturing talents? I've never understood it.

I'm probably one of the least emotional women I know. I hate to cry, and I don't get overly outwardly emotional in either direction. It's not that I don't feel, it's just the way I am. I have to remind myself on many occasions, "Look excited, dear."

I long for the day when people are allowed to be themselves, and can express their feelings without having to worry about social convention.

User Detail :  

Name : Onewanda, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 27, City : NYC, State : NY Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Kerry]

Thank you, Christina! I know I'm not alone. While I do feel, I just don't get overwhelmed by it, and I feel no need to "broadcast" it.

User Detail :  

Name : Kerry, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 29, City : Ventura, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[Ken]

I don't think it's a question of men being 'better' at suppressing their emotions. I think both sexes are emotional. It's just that men are taught not to show their emotions, or at least specific emotions, that much. I could just as easily ask why women aren't as aggressive as men. It's not that they aren't as aggressive, it's that they have been taught (even in this 'more liberal' age) not to be aggressive. Not to yell and scream and get mad and get into fights and such, lest they be called 'pushy' or worse, 'bitchy.'

Men are permitted to be emotional as long as that emotion is aggression in some form. Men are not told it is OK to cry or be afraid, lest they be labeled 'weak.' And believe me, in private, they do cry and all of that.

So it's not that men aren't as emotional. It's that in this society, we are told to suppress certain emotions.

User Detail :  

Name : Ken, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 32, City : Chicago, State : IL Country : United States, Occupation : marketing, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[Emily]

First of all, the question begins with an assumption, that women are more emotional than men. However, as everyone is unique, there are several exceptions who have expressed themselves here who can refute this statement. I do not presume to be an expert, but chemicals are mankind's basic makeup, and the specific levels that regulate our emotional and physical differences do vary. Although women have a different genetic makeup than men that give them basic and obvious differences, emotion and its expression surely depend on individual chemical levels, and indeed quite significantly on one's environment, especially in the first stages of life. As a rationalist and a woman, half-Chinese, I do not express much emotion myself, at least not to strangers, and I believe that has as much to do with my own genes as my upbringing in a household of supressed feelings. Based on my own experience and my observations of others', I have seen enough to dispel most of these stereotypes of aggressive men and emotional women, and I hope that we can in the future acknowledge and appreciate the differences that exist between all people as we do here now.

User Detail :  

Name : Emily, Gender : F, Religion : Atheist, Age : 18, City : Escondido, State : CA Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, 

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