On men crying: Lear´s agony

... touch me with noble anger,
And let not women´s weapons, water-drops,
Stain my man´s cheeks!...
......
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart
Shall break into a hundred thounsand flaws,
Or e´re I´ll weep. - O fool, I shall go mad.
King Lear (II.IV. 271-281)

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King Lear vowed that because he was a man he would rather go mad or die than weep. Many adult male patients in psychoanalysis have just such an internal prohibition against crying, learned individually and often culturally encouraged, a prohibition that affects their hability to process loss, maintain intimacy, and accept vulnerability. It is suggested that the appropriate psychoanalytic rolle with these patients is to recognize and actively address this culturally supported prohibition. In addition, it is proposed that the prohibition against men crying may be a consequence of male envy of maternal traits and other feminine characteristics. Further, it is suggested that the development theory that the male child must "desidentify" with the mother memorializes a phallicism that often invokes the prohibition against crying in men and is itself mistaken.
...
My goals here are three: to identify and explore the personal and culturally driven prohibition against crying, exemplefied by Lear, as it appears in male patients; to make recommendations as to the appropriate psychoanalytic stance to take towards this phenomenon when it appears in treatment; and to consider the developmental and cultural factors that contribute to the etiology of this symptom. pp.1068

On men crying: Lear´s agony. Richard Reichbart, 2006, Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Vol. 54, 4.