Are men still expected to be 'stoic'/masculine in modern society?

[zenithfreedom]

I ask because this wasn't the case with my family. My parents are not originally European but they were pretty liberal in their gender views. My father wasn't at all the 'macho' man. He cried a few times and told my brother and myself that we could cry as well but sometimes it was better to be 'keep emotions together'. Nothing to do with gender expectations but rather society expects you to keep a certain face.

My brother and I are very comfortable sharing emotions and talking about stuff. And he's opened up about having depression/suicidal thoughts a few times especially during this pandemic

I thought this was normal until I listened to a friend in college who was gossiping about her boyfriend and how she felt uncomfortable when he started talking about his emotions especially because he's a man. That surprised me and saddened me quite a bit.

Reading online forums, it's not an uncommon sentiment. A lot of men on Reddit's /r/AskMen say that the reason their stoic isn't because they're against showing emotion but rather their former partners haven't been receptive to them expression sad thoughts.

I'm not sure what to believe. Perhaps it's a generational thing.

I definitely don't expect my dh or ds to be stoic. I think it does vary wildly from family to family though. I don't think dh would be comfortable crying in front of his mum. This isn't because he is male though. It's because growing up MIL didn't encourage any of her children, including the female one, to express their emotions. I don't think he'd cry in front of FIL for the same reason.

Yes I think there is still an overall expectation to be stoic as a man.

It definitely varies wildly, but I do think the anger you see in some young boys is because they don't feel comfortable expressing other emotions (including sadness). Unfortunately this doesn't just come from their parents but overall gender stereotypes including the types of media they are told they should like from very young (superheroes rarely cry as a positive plot point).

God no, I'd say that we live in an extremely emotional age. I watch pro cycling. These hard men who can cycle 60 miles with a broken bone will openly cry if they win or narrowly lose. Emotions rule nowadays. Stiff upper lip thing is long buried.