…how on one hand there’s a male loneliness epidemic and women are partly to blame because we’re so picky - and yet on the other hand things like this.
How can we both be desperately needed for your emotional health but also be huge annoying burdens? I don’t get it.
It’s gas lighting, like a lot of the posts in response. Being socialized as a man sucks. You’re both measured by your partners and expected to not need anyone or express any emotions. So basically you get shit like you described where men end up having no self esteem so they are desperate for women to validate them but they also feel smothered and confused by the completely normal and human need for emotional connection that woman have been allowed to keep.
Patriarchy is a machine that turns normal humans in to abusers, and it takes a lot of work to deprogram from this… Especially when it’s constantly being reinforced all around you (like a lot of the guys who responded).