GQ had a humorous analysis on when guys should or should not be allowed by society to shed tears. "Male crying is not new," the female author notes. "It's been happening for as long as men have had eyeballs. But it was almost always done behind at least three closed doors." Here are some of GQ's rules about public crying for men:
- It is okay to cry if you're in extreme pain, like, say, a piano were dropped from a fifty-story window on your foot. If you're gonna cry from pain, it has to be at least an eight on the pain scale.
- It's okay to cry at certain works of art or film. For instance, if you don't get misty-eyes at Toy Story 3, you are a monster.
- It's almost weird if you don't sob the first time you hold your newborn baby. No shame in that, bro.
- It's definitely weird if you sob during a sports event, although you can cry if you are actually one of the athletes out there on the field. But even then, you should cry only if you win. And if you're just a fan, the rule here is much simpler: never, ever cry.
- Never, ever cry during an argument. As the woman who wrote the article notes, "Sorry, guys, but crying during an argument is kind of our thing."
Possible Preaching Angles: Men; Fatherhood; Father's Day; Masculinity—a humorous way to set up a sermon on the challenges of thriving as a man and as a father in today's culture.
