"Tear"ing us down?

A document I've been translating stirred my curiosity today about why we cry, and why is it that we, as women, are often accused of resorting to our "crocodile tears", to make the best out of a certain situation. I mean you've probably heard it all: women's tears are "the world's greatest water power", "stronger than any acid", and "every woman is wrong, until she cries". Confessions of a misogynistic mind, you'd ask? First, since it's really "uncool", according to our prejudgments, to see a man crying, it turns out that women do it 64 times a year, as an average, while men just 17. (Frankly, I'd like to hear what our fellow male bloggers have to say about those 17 times! What do you say girls? Would they be able to name the top 10 times they gave up to their tears, during the past year for example?). Now let's hear what we're accused of. It seems we have figured it all out; it's mechanical: We just release a salty, protein-rich fluid from our lachrymal apparatus, improvise adjustments in the muscles of our facial expression, add a few non-specific and incomprehensible vocalizations, and convulsively inhale and exhale air with spasms of the respiratory and trunk muscle groups! Hmm, we can turn everything into art, even crying! Now, whether those were the observations of really desperate husbands or not, and whether women cry because of lost loves, a silly romantic movie, or just because of onions, the truth is: it makes us feel better. What's more, researches have proved that emotional tears contain 20-25% more protein, including various hormones; and that a "good cry" helps in removing excess chemicals, which are not very good for the body. We live longer, have less heart problems, a more beautiful skin, because of crying. It's also a way of communication; perhaps the only way to express ourselves when words fail us, and we're only left with this call for help, attention or forgiveness. Some may call that manipulation, but all of the above show it's a perfectly healthy situation, don’t you agree? Let's not forget that if we can conquer the strongest of men with just a couple of our tears, that shows we're not the weakest human gender after all! W ba3dein, there are a couple of historic examples worth mentioning. Yes, guys, you cry too! Indeed, Francis of Assisi is said to have gone blind from too much crying. In the 12th century epic, Song of Roland, the lords of France weep bitter tears, pull their beards and faint from grief. And then, there's always Bill Clinton who constantly manage to tear up at need (Once, notoriously, Clinton was laughing and joking with colleagues at a funeral when he noticed he was being filmed. So he immediately became serious and welled up)… Anyway, who says manly tears are something to be ashamed of? Don't you just feel like giving him a big hug, and telling him that everything will be alright in the end? *For more information about crying and tears, check this interesting article*