[warfangle]

I never cried tears of happiness when the primary sex hormone in my system was testosterone. Now that estrogen is, I cry all the time. Not just from hormones, but also from how happy I am not not be living a lie anymore. And sometimes for absolutely no reason whatsoever. And it's emotionally cathartic as fuck.

This entire thing is so anecdotal and from-personal-experience, it's not remotely interesting in its attempts to generalize.

[wvh]

That's interesting. I've got a colleague who made the same change, and she claims also that crying "as a man" is rare and very hard – as if that pathway is somehow blocked – while it comes very easily "as a woman" when taking hormones and generally helps to relieve bad emotions (or fortify good ones?). If she stops taking hormones for a while, she can't cry anymore.

As a "manly man", I imagine a cathartic cry would help to get rid of deep frustration, stress and anger, but I couldn't cry even if my life depended on it. I'm not an expert, but I feel it's more about nature than nurture – I guess males historically were coping better exhibiting an aggressive "fight" response. It of course leaves men hanging out to dry in situations where an active fight response doesn't help at all, attacking isn't possible and you have to deal with being helpless or hopeless... Cue to male (murder/)suicide.

[bartvk]

> but I couldn't cry even if my life depended on it. I'm not an expert, but I feel it's more about nature than nurture

I couldn't either, but after seeing a therapist for some time (for a light depression), I became much more aware of my emotions. Crying became much more easy as well.

[slitaz]

Could be a cultural thing this difference in crying between the sexes.

[NoGravitas]

I suspect it is. Look at Chagnon's Yanomamo ethnographies, or at the Homeric epics. Or the Old Testament, or Beowulf, or Le Morte D’Arthur. Men cry at the drop of a hat in all of those.