It only takes one time: a woman who sees a man as less than for admitting his weakness makes him never talk about that stuff around women again.

Unfortunately, there are many women who react this way, so the cycle continues. I don't necessarily blame women for this, it's more about the social expectations for men, the moment they violate that expectation and are "punished" for it, they follow it to the letter, because they then know what happens if they don't.

Phew, I have very rarely heard something so wrong. Women are absolutely not traditionally an emotional support for men. In fact, being vulnerable in that way as a man is just about the surest way to make most women suddenly quite uninterested. Every woman has a story where some important man cries in front of her for the only time. In his entire life.

Women want men to be emotionally open as it applies to supporting them. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but let's call a spade a spade.

Wish they'd taught me this when I was young. They told me being open and vulnerable was attractive.

They also told me I had to verbally ask girls if it was okay to kiss them and if they didn't verbally say yes I was assaulting them.

Intimacy has not been absent from my life, but it has had a very small role.

That may be the traditional role of a wife, though even in marriage a man who dumps all his fears and worries on his wife will soon find himself without one. Women want a man to open up and share his feelings, but in practice a little of that goes a long way.

But in any case, it's not the traditional role of whatever women happen to be in earshot.

It’s not complicated. Men need women. But men need men, too. The needs are distinct and not interchangeable.

Perhaps the baggage is a projection based on your own experiences?

The problem is you only need one woman yelling at you or causing drama, or one man getting overly friendly to get a very strong sense of having to be careful. Most people, male or female, are perfectly good people with some flexibility to take a bit of strife and emotional turmoil. A lot of the bad vibes between men and women are about a select few individuals or ordinary people in particularly bad moods causing traumatic experiences.

My experience has taught me trust and safety are important to women. Sometimes a man is not in his best state ready to provide that solid rock feeling. It is generally not a good situation if a woman feels she is bigger or needs to be bigger than the man and can't put herself in his hands safely.