Men are expected to be 'strong silent types' -- and it's breaking them, says Henry Rollins
And Sexton finds its roots in our fathers. “Of course, father issues are nothing new,” he writes, noting that many difficulties “mostly center on what is expected out of a man.”
My own father would boast about working all night at the office, taking the bus back to the house at dawn. He’d shower, shave, put on a new starched shirt and head right back to the office. He thought protein was a useful sleep substitute. By age 13, I was, and still am, a workaholic. From then to now, it's not about the money and it's beyond self sufficiency. It's what I think a "real man" must do. I am unable to shake myself of this, but at least I know where I got it from.
These standards — and postures many American males contort themselves to — are not without consequence. Beyond misplaced anger, feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness, the men who hold their emotions in check — like a stress position used to induce confession — sometimes break. White American males — mostly middle-age — accounted for 70% of suicides in 2017.
https://www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-review-jared-yates-sexton-man-they-wanted-20190620-story.html