Why do women cry more than men? I'm watching Johnny into the wild. Eva Jinek and Merel Westrik stand together on a Mongolian plateau. Bewildered by such a large portion of nothing, and endeared by the families who live on nothing there. Add a flock of fluffy baby goats and you guessed it:the tears are flowing. Not just with them, by the way. I also don't keep it dry anymore. Hubby watches the scene from the corner of his (dry) eye. He knows all too well that he shouldn't joke about the "weak sex" right now. You never catch him crying at the movies. I myself am secretly curious:Why do women cry more – and especially so much faster – than men?
Table of contents
Ask the Average Guy:Why Do Women Cry More Than Men? Then you will probably get a simple answer. That's just a typical woman thing! Either they have to have their period, or they suffer from affectation. Sit down and cry a little while watching a movie, it's just a movie, isn't it? Most men save crying only for special occasions. Death, or if you are about to end it for example. I can already sniff when I watch a documentary about orangutans.
So what about really? Why do women cry more than men? Are we really emotionally unstable, as the opposite sex sometimes seems to think? Or is there more going on here?
You may not recognize the above story at all. And maybe you are one of those women who rarely, if ever, cries. Good for you, it saves you a lot of tissues. But it could also be that you, too, become more emotional at some point. During and after your pregnancy, for example. So be prepared, ladies. Time to answer the question:why do women cry more than men? And we're not just talking about crying at movies, but tearjerkers in general. Because let's be honest:they flow a lot more freely with us than with the gentlemen.
While I could have done a wonderful tutorial on this topic, I'd rather watch the expert. And the expert on crying is, surprisingly, a man! Ad Vingerhoets is a professor at Tilburg University. He wrote the book “Tears. Why people cry. “And according to him, there are several reasons why women cry more than men.
The first reason why women cry more than men is quite simple. We are more concerned with emotional matters. Emotional professions, but also movies, for example. A good tearjerker or a dramatic book; women are usually not averse to that. For most men, that's not really the case. Crying at movies, you don't catch the average man doing that. If you want to test your dude, try The Notebook. But probably only one person will be sniffling and that's you. The reason behind this is perhaps a bit more complicated than that we simply put on a crying film more often.
You may have wondered when they were coming, but of course they couldn't stay long:the hormones. And it's not so much our hormones that make women cry more than men. Rather, it is the male hormones that keep their eyes dry. The more testosterone a man (or woman!) has, the less likely they will cry.
There are certain phases in which your hormones make you a lot more emotional. And believe us:a 'simple menstruation' is usually nothing to do with it. During a pregnancy or menopause, for example, your hormones are really upset. And that can cause emotional fluctuations.
Since men generally carry a lot of testosterone with them, they don't cry that often. And so we're not really used to it when they cry. Or rather, it's a bit of a taboo. Going to cry during a men's evening is a scene that you will not encounter quickly. While women can sometimes sit down and cry together. Breathe in, don't you girls? In any case, we can say that crying is more socially acceptable among women. So feel free to let them walk now and then, those waterlanders.
Women therefore cry earlier, because our crying threshold is simply a lot lower than with men. Crying is more 'normal' for women. Men have more testosterone and therefore cry less anyway. And of course we women don't just cry when we're watching a rom-com… No, just wait until there is a crisis. A breakdown along the highway, or a child that does not want to eat, it can all affect our tear ducts. If a man usually reacts with anger, women are more likely to cry.
Men and women react differently to emotional situations. But no doubt we all surprise ourselves from time to time by reacting unexpectedly. Keeping dry when A Woman Comes To The Doctor in a cinema full of crying women, for example. I managed to do that again.
<3 Do you also want to read the book by Ad Vingerhoets? You can find it here.