A Woman Who Sees Vulnerability in a Man as a Weakness isn’t Worth Dating

Over the past few decades, what it takes to be a man has changed. Being open with our emotions has finally been acknowledged as being important to how we interact with the world and maintain our mental health. In many ways, it’s been a huge leap forward for us as a gender.

But some women aren’t fans of this. They want their men to be emotionally repressed and to keep their feelings to themselves. Simply put, that’s not healthy. If a woman in your life wants you to remain emotionally subjugated, that’s a big ol’ red flag.

Becoming a New Man

It’s within my lifetime that men were “classic” men. That means they worked, got home, drank a couple of beers, and went to sleep. Then, they got up and did it all again. They didn’t do much with the kids or around the house, except for mowing the lawn on weekends.

From an emotional perspective, men were expected to keep it all locked down. A real man didn’t show any emotions and they sure as hell didn’t talk about how they were feeling to anyone, let alone their wives or families. That’s just how it was done.

Over the past several decades, those lines have blurred. Many homes are two-income families, now. Still, there are times when a family can afford for a family to stay home, and that is sometimes the father. Men do the cooking, the cleaning, and more, as we should. There’s no such thing as “women’s work.”

More importantly, men are encouraged to be more in touch with their emotions. They learn about their emotions and how to voice them in a healthy way. Not every man is doing that, of course, but we’re working on it. We’ll get there eventually.

Less Supportive Women

A big part of the push for this came from women. Starting in the 1960s and all the way into the 2000s, women often said they wanted their men to be more sensitive and compassionate. This was an extension of being raised by old-school distant fathers who hid from their emotions.

As such, many men put in the work to give women what they want. Not all of them, of course. It was more of a generational shift than anything else. A lot of us were raised in a world that asked us to be more in touch with our emotions. So that’s who we became.

Now, there are a lot of women who seem to be pissed off about that. They want manly men back, the ones who buried their emotions and died young from the stress. Even worse, there are also women who still don’t think we’re open enough. I’m not sure what to do with that contradiction.

Again, this seems to be a generational shift as many of these women were raised by emotional men. This might have led to them wanting more emotionally repressed men as their partners. Who knows? It’s just a really, really confusing situation to navigate.

Just Worry About You

Being a man has gotten incredibly confusing. Some women want us to be emotionally available while others want us to be more closed off. Even worse is the fact that there are women who want some strange between points. Essentially, men need to be open with their emotions when women want them to and closed off when they’re tired of it.

I experienced this with my ex-wife. She only wanted to deal with my emotions when it was convenient for her. The rest of the time, I was supposed to be quiet and complacent in her world. She didn’t want to talk about my feelings or deal with them if it was inconvenient for her at all.

If you’re in a relationship with a woman like that, walk away. Women are supposedly compassionate with high emotional IQs. Unfortunately, that aspect of feminity seems to have decreased to match men’s increasing levels of empathy. Simply put, if she doesn’t care about your mental state now, she’s not going to. Trust me.

Not every woman wants the same man. But there does seem to be a trend of women slamming emotional men on social media. As usual, it’s never quite enough for them. Guys, just do what’s good for your mental health. The right woman will understand that and support your journey.