Do you think crying is a sign of weakness or strength?

I think it’s a sign of strength if you can let others see what you are feeling. If something touches me so deeply it moves me to tears I don’t see that as a weakness. And anyone remember when Gretzky retired? Mark Messier was a tear factory. Want to call him a pussy?

It’s a sign of expressed emotion. Period.

That is, when it’s not a sign of illness, allergy, a foreign object on the eye’s surface or some other non-emotional cause.

@CWOTUS So if you got reprimanded by your boss and cried in his/her office, is that good, bad, or irrelevant?

I don’t think it really symbolizes anything. It’s just another way people show their affection.

I just don’t understand why crying is attributed to weakness by many while everyone is born with the ability to cry.

I sometimes cry too. And I’m not afraid of being called a wimp. I’m expressing my emotion, after all.

I remember the last time I cried was at the funeral of my grandpa. Everyone tried to calm me down, saying he had finally been rid of all his pain and I didn’t have to worry. I was the last person to hear about his death (five days after his death), so I guess everyone had already cried before me. My parents actually hided the whole truth from me until after I finished my exam. No one wanted me to be distracted from my work…

it’s like asking whether laughing is a sign of weakness or strength.

I cried at lunch on Wed. with a friend when she decribed how her mother committed suicide. We were in a public place.

@gailcalled Not really. I have heard several times that a man feels he needs to “be strong” for his family, and to him that means he cries in the shower and not in front of them. Not all men, of course, but there are men out there that will not cry in front of their kids. The same cannot be said of laughter.

I didn’t see my mom cry until I was in college… And have never seen my dad cry.

Neither—it is the healthy ability of a man, woman or child to openly express joy or grief. I’ve always been an easy crier, even more easily as I grow older.

Crying is a sign of experiencing emotions that result in tears – it could be sorrow, grief, frustration, anger, joy, or perhaps something else.

Having emotions is what makes us human. Showing ones emotions freely means that one accepts and embraces their humanity, and does not succumb to the pretentiousness that is unfortunately common in many cultures.

It is neither weakness nor strength nor a sign of either. It is merely an emotional output which I don’t think anyone really understands.
And sometimes it happens because the wind is so strong or there is something in there (dirt or dust).

@GloPro you are the one making subjective meta-analysis of someone’s overt display of emotion. If one cries at the photos of cute puppies frolicking… or at the cute puppies being slaughtered… and the cause is attributed to emotion, then you’re the one making the value judgement: “strength” or “weakness”.

One just displays emotion by crying. Period.

@CWOTUS So you don’t ever judge someone’s tears or lack thereof? If a man started crying at the Budweiser commercial during the Superbowl would he not incur the chiding of his friends? Again I ask… Why do so many people advise against crying in front of a boss?

I’m not stupid. I realize crying is a release of emotion. I am asking about perception, not cause. To imply that people don’t judge other’s reasons for crying is, to me, not realistic.

It depends on if it is sincere or not and what caused it. Every situation is different.

It can be either. And the last time I cried was watching a sad movie. I find it easiest to release sorrow when I’m not the source of it. Though I am learning. Tears are way of releasing stressful hormones in our body. That is how they are removed, if you don’t cry enough when you do your tears will burn your eyes. Emotional tears are a different chemical make up then tearing up from allergies or onions etc.

What makes you cry? It depends on my mood and the circumstances. I had cried more than my mother when my brother passed away. I cry openly in front of others at funerals. I sometimes cry when I’m depressed and for certain songs or movies. Sometimes I hold it in. Personally I’ve always felt better after crying, but sometimes I can’t hold it in while in front of others.

When was the last time? About a month ago while I was going through items in my attic (I’m preparing to move in the near future) and I had found some old toys that I remember playing with my deceased brother when we were kids.

Is it a sign of being weak, or being strong? Gender roles have little use in my life, so frankly I don’t care what others think of me for being unorthodox here. I don’t look down on others for crying, man or woman, in many scenarios, unless it’s simply used as a method to gain attention or get one’s own way.

I don’t view crying as being either strong or weak, but simply human. You feel what you feel, but not all of us express our feelings the same way, but you still feel how you do regardless. I can think of a few sensitive situations where I can justify hiding my emotions though.

For me it’s a stress release. I don’t cry often so every few years I’ll try to lol.

Although I haven’t written about it in some time now, I have always been open on Fluther regarding just how much I cry on a regular basis. The last time I cried was this morning, because I had a bad dream. Before that, I cried a couple nights ago because my significant other and I were making wedding plans for when we move. And before that, I cried in frustration because I felt as though I could have done a better job as an instructor this past semester. All of these examples are within the past week, and they are all for wildly different reasons. I also cried to different extents: a sniffle, a trickle, a bawl.

I am very frustrated by the perception that crying is a sign of weakness. Crying is crying, just as smiling is smiling (because we don’t always smile when we are happy), and laughter is laughter (as many other users have pointed out). There are just certain methodologies of bodily expression that humans have, and they are necessary and useful to communicate those emotions, even if it is only to ourselves.

I also get frustrated when people interpret crying as a gender-specific method of expressing emotion. I have seen my father cry more often than my mother. I have seen my younger brother cry more often than my older brother. I have seen my significant other cry and they have seen me cry. I cry more than all of my family members rolled up together (unless they are crying, silently, in secret, which would make me really sad.) I have cried in public, and choked on tears in private. I have cried at work, and under my blanket. I have cried in multiple states, and in multiple states.

I am also an INFJ—very emotional, very intuitive to the emotions of others. I would never judge another human being for crying whether it is a toddler whose treasured stuffed friend has been lost or a middle aged person watching their favourite team win.