The truth about men's tears

Why did Vladimir Putin cry when standing in front of all Russians on the occasion of re-election of the president? What does the significance of President Obama's tears when the speech of gun security after a series of bloody shootings in this country mean?

Recent scientific findings and explanations show that many strong prejudices against men need to be changed.

What makes men tear?

Professor Ad Vingerhoets - tears expert, psychiatrist of Tilburg University (Netherlands), author of the book "Why only children who cry: Clarify the mystery of tears" - conducted an intensive tear study with the participation of more than 5,000 people in 37 countries. The results show that the causes of crying are mostly the same between men and women such as losing a loved one, when the relationship is broken or when homesick. However, women tend to cry for mundane problems such as quarrels, criticism and sometimes simply the computer is broken, because of the feeling of helplessness.

In men, meanwhile , crying is often a reaction to positive, positive events , such as when their team wins, when they succeed or achieve a certain outcome later. non-stop efforts. This explains a part of why in the speech to all Russians after re-election, President Vladimir Putin cried.

A study conducted by tissue manufacturer Kneelex in 2004 showed that men with many typical traits of women tend to cry more than men "manly". .

The moment President Barack Obama choked up when he mentioned the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. (Photo: IBTimes) .

Evolutionary biologist Oren Hasson of Tel Aviv University (Israel) also gave a hypothesis to explain how some leaders cried in their speech. Most recently, US President Barack Obama cried when a statement about tough gun management measures was needed after horrific shootings in the country. According to Hasson, in this case, tears are a sign of injury. Tears can reduce someone's vision, make them less powerful, no longer like a warlike person. It can make enemies think that the person is not really a threat, thus sympathy and compassion can easily arise. Tears were then a means of pulling men closer to their contact objects, forming a bond.

Why do men cry less than women?

According to biochemist William H. Frey, with the definition of crying is the state of tears from tears to sob, every month women cry about 5.3 times on average, while men cry 1.3 times.

Why is this phenomenon?The main cause is attributed to hormone levels. While testosterone - the more abundant hormone in men - helps to control tears, hormones prolactin - more present in women - can make tear production easier.

In addition, according to a study published in the American Journal of Anthropology in the 1960s, women had shorter and shallow tears leading to tears. Meanwhile, the man's tear duct is long and this may be the reason for the little eyebrow to cry.

In their study, Professor Vingerhoets found that women cry 30-64 times a year, while the figure in men is only about 6-17 times.

In terms of crying time, 66% of men asked revealed that each time their tears lasted less than 5 minutes, 24% said they would stop after 6-15 minutes. For women, the rates are 43% and 38%, respectively.

The rate of "tough" crying for 16-30 minutes in women is 11%, higher than the rate of 5% for men. The same is true for cases of "waving the rain" for up to an hour. Professor Vingerhoets explains: "The fact that men and women cry differently mainly comes from the difference in how to express emotions in emotional situations ."

Some other reasons explain why women cry more than men - in Vingerhoets' view: First , women receive and evaluate emotional situations that are different from men and often tend to shed tears. in situations where they feel useless; secondly , women and men have different "crying thresholds" that vary depending on psychological and physical factors such as illness, lack of sleep and even hormone levels.

According to researcher Vingerhoets, men are less crying than women because of their ability to control emotions better. This phenomenon is caused by the fact that the majority of boys rarely encounter their father's tears and because society thinks that crying men are an expression of weakness and unacceptability. Gradually, this inadvertently affects the way boys think and behave as they grow up.

In an article published in Independent newspaper (England), pen writer Chris Hemmings said that every month, hundreds of British men must come to death to free themselves from suffering. The pain becomes too much because they are not allowed to express their feelings or worries about mental health. These deaths will not happen if men allow themselves to shed tears.