Dad asks if he was wrong to tell his son to 'man up' after losing writing contest.

Crying is a completely natural release of stress and emotion, and yet boys and men are still routinely bullied for crying. Despite the fact that crying, like any expression of feeling, is innately human and not tied to gender, decades of social conditioning have stigmatized the concept of men crying.

These attitudes are often reinforced from childhood on, where young boys are told to "man up" and push their vulnerable feelings down, which inevitably results in emotional repression and shame.

Sadly, the shame messaging around men's feelings is so pervasive it takes a lot of unlearning to break the cycle of repression.

In a recent post on the Am I The *sshole subreddit, a dad asked if he was wrong for telling his son to "man up" after losing a writing contest.

"AITA for telling my son to 'man up'?

My son recently lost a writing contest at his school. Basically before the school year starts students would submit an essay and the finalist would attend a ceremony where they announce a winner. My son was a finalist but not a winner. So he had to watch in the audience as the winners accept their awards."