Some men on Twitter shared what are some of the worst things about being a man after a woman named Caitlin Moran asked, “Men. Men of Twitter. What are the down-sides of being a man? We discuss the downsides of being a woman very frequently – but what's going on with you lovely guys?”
Here are some of their responses:
Ash Menon – We have very few avenues to emotionally express ourselves. We're supposed to fit this stereotype of being tough and only wanting touch if it comes with sex.
I want a hug and head pats, dammit.
Andrew Glover – when my wife leaves the room she blows out the expensive candles as they're ‘wasted' on me on my own…
Jamie McHale – no one will ever buy me flowers. I like flowers.
Pigs Feet – The pictures on the front of Men's Health Magazine. I never grew up with or saw any men who looked like this. I know women have always been bombarded with unrealistic womanhood from the glossies/TV, but now men are getting the same treatment. I sympathize.
Anyway off to the gym.
Brogan Holmes – Briggs – Making the first move all the time kinda sucks. You gotta be the one to ask, the one to message first, the one to put your heart out there (not a universal rule but 90% of the time it feels that way). Wanna give a big thanks to all the women who take the first step, really helps
Mike Searle – The two biggest ones:
– I genuinely struggle to open up emotionally to anyone other than my girlfriend. She pretty much carries me sometimes. I feel society is changing on this one though.
– In the summer my balls get stuck to my leg and it is so uncomfortable.
Joshua Flower – Trying to walk in a quiet street behind a woman whilst overthinking how you can reassure her you're not an attacker and simply just trying to get home, too – but only communicate that through your footsteps.
Marion B – I’m a woman but something I’ve noticed my husband and his friends struggle with is people being suspicious if they are friendly to kids, especially if they don’t have their own kids with them. Making sure they avert their eyes when walking past a playground, that sort of thing…
The Worst Thing About Being A Man For Me
Here's something that happened to me on October 22, 2018. I am a father to an 18-month-old boy. We are both stay at home parents. I gave up my career and built a small online business partially so my wife and I could be stay at home parents in San Francisco.
On this one fine day, I woke up at 6am to get to work, managing our investments and writing a new personal finance article on Financial Samurai until my boy got out of bed about 8:30am. From 8:30am – 10am, we played and ate until a professional photographer showed up to do family photos.
Although I find $1,200 to be an extraordinarily expensive cost when we could just have a friend take pictures with an expensive DSLR camera my wife owns, I agreed we wouldn't regret having such lovely pictures in the future. All I needed to do was work more to pay for the $1,200.
After the photographer left, we all played and snacked a little more before I needed a break at 12:30pm. My wife took our son down for nap time, and I took a 30 minute nap myself. I woke up at 1:10pm to the sound of my boy crying. My wife was so patient as to try to get him to sleep.
I decided to write another article over the next two hours so that I'd be ready to take my boy out in the backyard and play at least an hour or two after he woke up.
At 3:45pm, I got a text from my wife that he woke, and at 4:05pm my boy was up. I was excited and ready to play with him outside because I had been cooped up inside all day. But then she reminded me that this new babysitter we had hired was coming at 4:15pm.
I was bummed, largely because I couldn't spend time with my boy. And partly because I didn't feel like I was a good enough dad to be given the time to take care of him that afternoon.
I was going to just go back into my room and work some more, but I didn't let my forgetfulness stop me. Instead, we all decided to go for a walk together – 3-to-1!
We let the babysitter hold my boys hand as my wife and I walked ahead. There, I pretended to hold my boy's hand as I walked by our neighbors like I had imagined.
Because the majority of stay at home parents are women, men don't get the same amount of respect for taking care of children. There's not as strong of a confidence in a man taking care of a child than in a woman, and that's completely understandable.
I should have tried harder to be a stay at home dad, but overall I did a lot. And after all I had to work on my business to make money and provide for our family.
I've thought about going back to work at a traditional job, but ultimately haven't pulled the trigger. We thought about all the benefits of having a second child. And were blessed with a daughter in 2019. Being able to see her and my son at home everyday whenever I want is priceless.
Related:
Career Or Family? You Only Have To Sacrifice 2 – 5 Years At Most
A Day In The Life Of Two Stay At Home Parents Who Also Work
About the Author:Â Sam began investing his own money ever since he opened an online brokerage account in 1995. Sam loved investing so much that he decided to make a career out of investing by spending the next 13 years after college working at two of the leading financial service firms in the world.
During this time, Sam received his MBA from UC Berkeley with a focus on finance and real estate. He also became Series 7 and Series 63 registered. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $200,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, hanging out with family, consulting for leading fintech companies and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom.
FinancialSamurai.com was started in 2009 and is one of the most trusted personal finance sites today with over 1.5 million organic pageviews a month. Financial Samurai has been featured in top publications such as the LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal.