Unseen Struggles: 24 Men Reveal Shocking Issues Society Ignored for Years
Ever wonder why saying “men don’t cry” feels less like advice and more like a cruel joke? The age-old stereotype of the unshakable, emotionless macho man has left countless guys wrestling with loneliness, depression, and low self-worth behind a veil of silence. It’s like asking a lion to purr — tough, awkward, and pretty unnatural. So when Redditor slowskyincog22 threw out a call for overlooked men’s issues, the internet didn’t just answer — it exploded with stories that peel back the curtain on the silent struggles many men face daily. From emotional abuse and paternity leave woes to loneliness so deep it’s practically a public secret, these revelations aren’t just eye-opening; they’re a call to rethink what it really means to be a man today. Ready to dive in and see why real strength might just be in sharing the unsaid? LEARN MORE
More often than not, being a man comes with the expectation to act in a certain way. The toxic stereotype of the masculine, macho guy tells us that they are supposed to be strong and unemotional. As a result, thousands of men never speak about their feelings and fight problems like depression, loneliness and low self-esteem in silence.
So when user slowskyincog22 asked to share some men’s issues that are often overlooked, Redditors quickly rolled up their sleeves. The thread went viral, collecting more than 41.8K upvotes and 18K comments and inspiring people to open up about how the male gender is a tough role to play.
Take a look at some of the most illuminating answers Bored Panda has collected from this thread. Make sure to upvote the ones that you agree with and don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I saw a woman attempting to hit her boyfriend outside a local supermarket. He walked away from her. She followed him and kept hitting him. After this went on for about 90 seconds he shoved her away roughly once.
2 cars immediately stopped and men jumped out of them shouting at and threatening this guy for shoving her.
Nobody did anything when she was attacking him.
Edit: there are a lot of people commenting that I didn’t help him either.
I reported the incident to the security guard. Both the man and the woman were bigger than me. I’m not a big/tough person, there are limits to what I would ever get physically involved in plus when the other people jumped out of their cars they could just as easily have targeted me if I had got involved.
I did what I could without endangering myself.
So I’m at the park playing tag with these kids I’m babysitting and out of nowhere this old lady comes up to me and starts asking all sorts of questions. Do you know these kids? What are there names? Can you call their parents for me? Even asking the kids if they knew me and when they answered yes, she responded with “you don’t have to lie, if you don’t know this man, you can tell me and I can help you.
The miserable Paternity leaves. Cause what man wants to spend time with his new born kid and a recovering wife right ! ಠ_ಠ
Loneliness. Many men tend to have a lot of friends, but never close friends or people they feel like truly care about them, which leads to declining mental health, and maybe worse.
Emotional abuse of men. My BF suffered that in both his marriages and I am SO CAREFUL to not say or do anything that could make him feel the way they made him feel. I try very hard to be sure he knows I value him for who he is, just the way he is, every single day. Even he doesn’t know how much damage they caused him.
I will never get over this 1950s assumption that women can’t abuse men. Women abuse men way more often than anyone realizes, and the system is stacked against men in so many different ways.
To the men who have been emotionally abused, I am so sorry, and I would encourage all of you to seek therapy. It really does help. To the women who love them: don’t stop loving them.
Height is a common thing to joke about, nobody sees a problem with it but it can really whittle away at your self worth when people always make fun of you for it
There are almost always more shelters available to women experiencing homelessness. In my city, the split is about 75% beds for women and children and 25% for men.
I understand that society considers women more vulnerable, but I live in a city where it routinely gets below zero in the winter. Hypothermia doesn’t care about your gender.
Society doesn’t seem to support a man who is without a job. There is pressure and programming for a male to be a breadwinner and no sympathy for when they want to be a house-dad.
Reason for my rant: My brother left a job due to a health issue. He has a 4yr old boy. His wife makes better money than him and they are financially secure. He worked too much which probably led to the health issue. I told him to take his time and heal. If he felt that urge to ‘provide’ that he could take over the house duties and give the nanny the summer off to connect with his son. I shared with him that I had been laid off a few times and each time I rushed back to getting a job even though we were secure enough because of the guilt I felt everyday of not ‘providing’. He took the advice, I could see him smiling more, he started a garden with his boy, he cooked every meal and realized he loved to cook. I was happy to see him being happy again. Enter my brother’s wife who says to us, “I’m the only bread winner now. I am so stressed out having to provide for this family by myself.” I saw the happiness drain from him and anxiety filled that place. He is now set to start the same job he had prior just appease the guilt he has from not ‘earning’. The guilt was confirmed by his wife’s statement on top of the male programming of not contributing unless he is making money.
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