Thanks for this very introspective article, I've been thinking about this very subject for many years now. I'd like to share this story that had a deep effect on me. It started when I was teaching a data analytics class. There were was a Brazilian psychologist that studied how emotions were processed in the genders.

A classmate made an offhand comment how men can 'compartmentalize' emotions easier than women (essentially saying that women are emotional and men are stoic in nature). He responded that this is completely false because negtive events affect both genders equally, it's just that society forces men to 'ignore' those feelings so they can be 'tough, silent types.' This in turn leads to the toxic masculinity that's ripping our world apart right now.

After that exchange I started to think about how I was raised and how society says things like 'little boys don't cry' and puts obstacles in the way for us to process emtions like a human being.