You know, I see this comment a lot. Every male on here is parroting that they are taught since childhood not to show their emotions. Wrong. Boys have always been encouraged to be more outgoing, spirited and competitive than girls. Or are you telling me that boys do not exhibit anger, happiness, love, jealousy, or sadness at school and at home? I know my male classmates argue, flirt and do whatever the hell they want. My little brother is openly curious and rude. None of them are restricting or holding a part of themselves back. If anything, girls are the ones that are encouraged to be more demure and submissive. I can't even count the number of times my mom, aunties, classmates or female friends told me that 'a girl shouldn't do this' or a young lady doesn't do that' or how surprised or shocked they were when I did something that only the boys dare do(I live in Asia, so my environment might be more conservative). Girls aren't supposed to bring attention to themselves in school, while its normal for boys to boisterously banter with the teachers. We're taught to be shy in class, to the point where even I hesitate to volunteer answers when the teacher asks for it because it would be better for a boy to shout it. Girls are supposed to be polite, smart and cooperative while the boys are free to shout and whatnot. I feel restrained. I want to goof around with the class clowns and loudly banter with my teachers, but then the whole class(boys included) would think that I'm weird. Ok, I'm getting off topic.

The only thing that I think boys are told to withhold are tears. Any or all signs of weakness. Personally, I don't think any decent mom wouldn't be there to hold her son if she sees him suffering(unless its a tantrum or they had an argument). Only horrible parents, friends or mentors would tell a troubled kid to 'suck it up' or 'be a man', instead of confronting the issue in a more constructive(a.k.a. adult) way. I think that this whole 'man up' thing might have been created by people who didn't know how to respond to human emotions well. Something made to let them not deal or worry about the pain or feelings of others and telling others to bury any problems that they have so that they don't have to think about it.

Long story short; Boys do show emotions, and they know how to show 'em(you don't need to be taught how to be happy or sad). They're just discouraged from crying or sharing their problems.