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A comment on Aaron Swartz, Asking For Help, 119 Days Ago. Parent comment

Re:Aaron Swartz, Asking For Help, 119 Days Ago by nostrademons on Monday January 14, 2013 @06:01PM (#5057243)
It's not, though. There's a perception that showing emotion is a sign of weakness for men. However, think about how you actually react to men who show emotion. How did you react to Lessig's or Doctorow's posts about Aaron, with all their emotion? Did you think them less of a man for it?

I think there is a strong taboo against men appearing out of control of themselves or their situation. But that's not really gendered: when women appear out of control, we label them "crazy bitches".

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Re:Aaron Swartz, Asking For Help, 119 Days Ago by graue on Monday January 14, 2013 @06:10PM (#5057292)
> there is a strong taboo against men appearing out of control of themselves

Exactly. This applied to Aaron asking for help he badly needed for his legal fund. This did not apply to Larry or Cory. They may have been sad or angry, but they were not personally scared, threatened, unable to fund their own legal defenses, etc., so they did not violate the taboo. Their posts were more along the lines of a father mourning a lost son. Emotion is expected there.

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Re:Aaron Swartz, Asking For Help, 119 Days Ago by illuminate on Monday January 14, 2013 @07:11PM (#5057571)
"There's a perception that showing emotion is a sign of weakness for men."

Which is why berating someone with gendered terms is pretty futile, it encourages people to clam up and compartmentalize unhealthily.

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