Over the past several decades, there has been a massive movement – rightfully so – to be consciously encouraging to girls and women.
They’ve been told they can do anything and be anything and taught to get an education and take care of themselves, all of which is wonderful and necessary.
While boys and men may not need to be reminded as often to peruse their dreams, they need to be told that their emotional needs are valid.
The belief that boys and men need to be stoic and stay guarded in order to be a “real man” helps create many of the emotional issues they face.
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This conditioning is damaging, and one Tumblr user’s post about how she takes care of her boyfriend’s emotional needs is really putting things into perspective.
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Others are responding with their own stories about how they remember to take care of the men in their lives, not just physically, but emotionally, and how much they need the nurturing.
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The fact that women can feel unsure or uncomfortable when handing out compliments, sympathy, or encouragement to men is only proof that toxic masculinity affects everyone in our culture, not just men.
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Take care of your boys, yes.
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Or, you know…take care of each other. It’s the only way we’re all going to make it.
This article was originally published by our partners at Humans of Tumblr and was written by Trisha Leigh Ziegenhorn.
