When the question is asked, ‘who is a man or what characteristics define a man?, undoubtedly, certain words immediately come to mind: integrity, strength, resilience, protector, provider, honest and dependable. Rarely ever are words such as emotional or sensitive readily used to describe men. This is not to say that being emotional and sensitive are characteristics only akin to women but, society often stipulates that these features are more associated with femininity than masculinity, especially in the Jamaican society.
Emotional Intelligence or (EI) is the ability to recognise one’s emotions and the emotions of others, to discriminate between different feelings; allowing one to label their feelings and essentially express their feelings appropriately.The question, which comes to mind as a result of the implied societal definition of a man, is therefore, how do we label men who are seemingly more emotional than others? How do men feel about these implied and explicit societal definitions? And what impact, if any, do they have on their relationships?
“Man mustn’t bawly bawly.”
“So you mean seh, having a straight son is more important than having a strong son?” Evidently thrown by the statement it took DAVID, our first interviewee, a minute to process the question and respond with his answer. “I believe there is some truth to it, to an extent but, then that poses other questions. Like, who is “We?”. ‘Cause my mother raised me and I was able to express my emotions.”
“Man fi have nuff gyal and gyal inna bungle.”
“The statement is true and there is some validity to it.” AHMAD, a young budding, engaged entrepreneur, months away from tying the knot, explains how his upbringing is the reason he is not only secure about his sexuality but, able to be emotionally intuitive to his future wife.
To continue reading , purchase Vol. 8 #1 2015 issue
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When the question is asked, ‘who is a man or what characteristics define a man?, undoubtedly, certain words immediately come to mind: integrity, strength, resilience, protector, provider, honest and dependable. Rarely ever are words such as emotional or sensitive readily used to describe men. This is not to say that being emotional and sensitive are characteristics only akin to women but, society often stipulates that these features are more associated with femininity than masculinity, especially in the Jamaican society.
Emotional Intelligence or (EI) is the ability to recognise one’s emotions and the emotions of others, to discriminate between different feelings; allowing one to label their feelings and essentially express their feelings appropriately.The question, which comes to mind as a result of the implied societal definition of a man, is therefore, how do we label men who are seemingly more emotional than others? How do men feel about these implied and explicit societal definitions? And what impact, if any, do they have on their relationships?
“So you mean seh, having a straight son is more important than having a strong son?” Evidently thrown by the statement it took DAVID, our first interviewee, a minute to process the question and respond with his answer. “I believe there is some truth to it, to an extent but, then that poses other questions. Like, who is “We?”. ‘Cause my mother raised me and I was able to express my emotions.”
“Man fi have nuff gyal and gyal inna bungle.”
“The statement is true and there is some validity to it.” AHMAD, a young budding, engaged entrepreneur, months away from tying the knot, explains how his upbringing is the reason he is not only secure about his sexuality but, able to be emotionally intuitive to his future wife.
To continue reading , purchase Vol. 8 #1 2015 issue
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