The Male Emotional Suppression Cycle

I need to read more of Mark Greene’s site Remaking Manhood, but this 30 second video at the bottom of the page is remarkable for how it easily shows the process that most boys go through to encourage them to be the less emotional, vulnerable men we often become.

It’s not a given and it’s something that is absolutely taught. In just a few years all of the emotional fireworks of the infant and toddler can be suppressed and turned on itself leaving very few outlets. If it just vanished, as it often seems to in the movies with the silent hero maybe it’d be fine, but let’s look at some statistics:

It’s one of those things that we KNOW is a killer, but because we see it in the long-term, and because it’s emotional/psychological, we tend not to feel there’s anything that can be done about it.

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Justin Lioi, LCSW is a men’s mental health and relationship expert based in Brooklyn, NY (and online throughout New York State and internationally.) He received his degree from New York University and has been providing counseling for men and their families for over 10 years. Justin is on the Board of the National Association of Social Workers and writes a weekly column for the Good Men Project called Unmasking Masculinity. He can be found on local and national podcasts talking about assertiveness, anger, self-compassion, all with the goal of becoming the man you want to be.