Swikriti Kafle
The spark is there in every boy; it just needs to be discovered and brought into light!
Oh no! You are crying ? Seriously? Don’t be a baby; boys don’t cry. Most of the boys often get to hear something like this. Right, boys? Boys at a very tender age are taught to suppress their emotions; they are told not to cry because nobody would like to see a boy cry.
We live in a society where men are pictured as strong and powerful. Living in a patriarchal society, our upbringing has taught us that since men have to protect their families, they have to be strong. This idea, if not directly, but in a subliminal way, has taught us that men have to be strong and emotionless. Society forget boys are human too. Living in the world which is mostly full of fake feminism, women mostly are understanding that feminism means bringing boys down to their feet . They love pulling men’s feet down so that they will be able to make this society a female dominated society. Is that feminism? No, definitely not..you know what feminism is? Well it means making yourself as strong as male. Being feminist, you need to fight for the equality of all the genders. You should work hard to make society balanced. Feminism is a strong quality and not every people can possess it. I would like to address one thing, with the increase in rape cases and acid attack cases in Nepal, most fake feminists are blaming the entire gender for this really inhumanly activities. What I say is, blame individual who does this, not the entire gender. Remember the old man who is working for you 24/7 is a man, remember that the brother who is always there to protect you is a man, remember the guys behind you who are there with you every day to cheer you up, your guys friend are men. Boys, it’s okay to cry when you are sad, it’s okay to cry when you fail and its okay to cry when you have heartbreak. Let’s normalize this. Change begins within yourself. You know what I have amazingly good father who supports me no matter what, I have amazing brother who is there to help me anytime I need and I never forget to mention I have amazing boys as my best friends who never ever let me be sad. They support my dreams and be there for me every time I need. I am really close to all the males in my life and being with them made me realize that it’s not easy being man. They have so much things to take care of. You know what? Boys are human like us. They do have emotions, please don’t suppress it. Open up. Open up as openly as you can and cry as loudly as you can. Ladies, give shoulder for them to cry instead of teasing him for crying. Be the support that guy needs, whether he is your friend, brother, father or your partner…if you want to make a world better even only for yourself you get to be nice to all of people. We need to keep our feet in other’s shoes. What we need to understand is that we all are human and we need emotional support from the people we love whether she is a girl, or boy or whoever it is.
And to all the Boys, what I want to say is that, when someone says :
“Stop acting like a girl!
Real men don’t cry
Girls don’t like boys who cry
Be a man
You are not a girl; you can’t cry
Quit whining
Toughen up
Man up”
I just want you to ignore them .don’t suppress your feelings.You too need to understand that you are as all of the other living creatures who cry when they are sad. Society normalize this! Stop saying that boys cannot cry. They definitely can. What we need to understand is that crying is not a sign of weakness; it is a way to express oneself. It makes you stronger, and helps you stand back up toughly for a fight. The fight for good future, the fight for making people who love you, happy!
At last I wanna end my words by giving an absolute answer to the question: Yes, dear society! Boys can cry too!
[Swikriti is a student of grade 10 at Koshi Saint James Residential Secondary School, Itahari, Sunsari.]