Actually, Today Men Crave Love and Relationships More Than Women

On the myth of men’s ‘hardwired’ emotional stuntedness and its damaging consequences

Image licensed from Shutterstock

There aren’t many gender myths that irk me quite as much as the stubbornly persistent idea that men just aren’t into all that ‘emotional stuff.’

I suppose that’s because I’ve never really lacked examples to the contrary. My brother, male friends, and my current partner have never been shy about sharing their feelings, being vulnerable, or expressing themselves openly — yes, including when it comes to the romantic sphere, where the myth of men’s supposedly biologically ‘hardwired’ emotional stuntedness is particularly, and unfortunately, pervasive.

We so often see men portrayed as emotionally distant, unavailable, commitment-phobic lone wolves — whether in classic literature, modern rom-coms, or TikTok trends — you’d honestly think they crash-landed on Earth from some far-off place (possibly Mars) and simply can’t grasp what the creatures called women want from them, or why.

But I hardly think I’ve been lucky enough to be related to and stumble across the only emotionally attuned men on this whole planet.

Despite what society keeps telling us about men, emotions, and relationships, they aren’t…