A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology suggests that crying in a masculine-stereotyped setting can protect men from the negative judgments associated with male crying. The study found that people rate crying male firefighters more positively than crying male nurses.
Gender stereotypes dictate that women both feel and show more emotions than men do, and crying, in particular, is seen as stereotypically feminine. Study author Heather J. MacArthur wanted to explore certain contexts where male crying tends to be more accepted, for example, in competitive sports. MacArthur proposes that the perceived masculinity of certain settings makes it acceptable for men to cry in specific situations. She explains, “the extent that a man is perceived as strong and stereotypically masculine, he may be allowed to express emotion that would otherwise be deemed as weak or feminine.”
MacArthur conducted two studies. The first study had 250 university students randomly assigned to read one of four vignettes describing either a male or a female crying while working as either a nurse or a firefighter. All four stories involved crying over an injured child. After reading the scenario, the subjects rated the protagonist in the story in terms of emotional appropriateness, emotional strength, and workplace status. Participants were also asked to rate the masculinity and femininity of the protagonist.
Results showed that participants rated the crying of male firefighters as more emotionally appropriate and emotionally strong than the crying of male nurses. They also rated the male firefighters as having a higher workplace status than male nurses. Ratings of female nurses and female firefighters, however, did not differ significantly.
Moreover, mediation analysis showed that masculinity explained the relationship between occupation and each of the three variables. “Crying firefighters were perceived to be more masculine than crying nurses; masculinity in turn predicted how emotionally appropriate (male targets only), emotionally strong (male targets to a greater degree than female targets), and high in workplace status (male targets only) the vignette targets were perceived to be,” the author explains.
In Study 2, MacArthur wanted to see whether these effects would translate to the context of competitive sports. She also wanted to see whether men would report themselves more likely to cry in a masculine setting rather than a feminine one. The study involved 192 men and women who, again, read one of four vignettes. The scenarios described either a male or a female crying in the context of either a weightlifting or a figure skating loss. After reading the vignette, participants rated the protagonist’s emotional appropriateness and emotional strength and then completed four items that asked them how likely they would be to display a similar emotion to the protagonist.
Results showed that while female participants rated themselves just as likely to cry over a weightlifting loss as a figure skating loss, men were significantly more likely to express that they would shed tears for a weightlifting loss than a figure skating one. Similar to the first study, masculinity emerged as a predictor for ratings of emotional strength and emotional conformity for male targets. The more masculine the crying male athletes were perceived, the more positively they were rated.
One important limitation of the two studies was that participants were predominantly White. As the author explains, past research suggests that men and women of color experience different stereotypes when it comes to showing emotions. Future research should consider intersectional stereotypes around the display of tears.
MacArthur concludes, “the results highlight a continued and troubling social hierarchy in which femininity in men is devalued, and in which men who are most closely associated with femininity face social penalties not experienced by men perceived to be more stereotypically masculine.”
The study, “Beliefs About Emotion Are Tied to Beliefs About Gender: The Case of Men’s Crying in Competitive Sports”, was authored by Heather J. MacArthur.
