Do Women Cry More Than Men?
"Women cry constantly; men almost never."
Women do report crying more often than men in the countries studied. But the gap varies by culture, and much of the story is how much social permission each gender has to cry.
What the data says
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No physiological difference in tear-gland capacity or basic tear chemistry exists between adult men and women. The difference is in threshold-to-tears.
Vingerhoets, 'Why Only Humans Weep' (2013) · 2013 · Review of physiological evidence
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Prolactin (higher in women) and testosterone (higher in men) are both associated with tear threshold — but the effect of social learning dwarfs the hormonal contribution. Boys and girls cry at similar rates until age 12.
Vingerhoets & Bylsma, Emotion Review (2016) · 2016 · Developmental review
Where it came from
Crying was not always coded female. Medieval European texts routinely described men — kings, saints, generals — crying publicly as a sign of genuine feeling. The gendering hardens in the 18th-19th century industrial period, where the archetype of self-contained male stoicism gets built and crying becomes a feminine weakness rather than a masculine virtue. The shift is cultural, not biological.
What this means
This one is real in the headline number and wrong in the interpretation. Women cry more because they're *allowed* to cry more — and the data proves it, because the gap is larger in countries where women have more social freedom, not less. Men's low crying rates are a permission deficit, not a virtue.
Frequently asked
Do women biologically cry more than men?
There is no tear-gland difference, no basic physiology difference. Prolactin and testosterone play a minor role, but the dominant variable is social learning.
When does the gender gap in crying appear?
Around age 12. Before puberty, boys and girls cry at similar rates. After, the gap widens sharply — consistent with socialization more than hormones.
Why is the gap larger in egalitarian countries?
Vingerhoets's interpretation: gender-egalitarian countries give women more latitude for emotional expression. Crying is socially easier. Men's crying rate in those countries doesn't rise to match — but women's is free to.
Is workplace crying unprofessional?
Research on workplace tears (Hess 2014) shows tears are judged more harshly when shed by women than by men, even in identical scenarios. The 'unprofessional' label often functions as a penalty for the form, not a judgment of the content.
Do men secretly cry more than reported?
Possibly. Self-report is notoriously unreliable for stigmatized behavior. But even private-setting studies show women crying more often — the gap shrinks but doesn't vanish.