And the answer, says one University of Toronto expert, largely depends on your sex.
asserted
expert → say → sex
“If you’re a woman in the public sphere, you cannot win in terms of the expression of emotion,” said Megan Boler a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and acting chair of the Department of Social Justice Education at the university.
asserted
Boler → ’re → university
“You are hung in the court of public opinion either way.”
asserted
You → hang → opinion
Two recent examples of crying in public were tears shed by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran.
asserted
examples → cry → Smith
The reasons for the tears were as different as the people shedding them.
asserted
reasons → shed → them
She began by saying: “Let me start with the feeling.
asserted
me → begin → feeling
you understand the feeling, the rest makes sense.
asserted
rest → understand → sense
She said many Albertans are angry or even hurt by a decade of feeling like Ottawa “was working to shut our economy down.”
asserted
Ottawa → say → economy
Smith listed a number of grievances, including cancelled pipelines, emissions caps and electricity regulations, adding: “When a proud, hardworking people feel their contribution is taken for granted and their livelihood is treated as something to be phased out, some begin to ask a painful question.”
asserted
some → list → question
She paused for several long seconds and cleared her throat before continuing: “Does this country actually want us?”
asserted
country → pause → us
Boler recalled Hilary Clinton tearing up during the Democratic primary campaign in 2008.
asserted
Clinton → recall → 2008
She noted that, while it had the effect of humanizing a politician often seen as cold and unfeeling, it ultimately may have hurt her chances against her opponent Barack Obama.
uncertain
it → note → opponent
“It came back to bite her,” said Boler.
asserted
Boler → come → her
“People felt that it was an example of a woman’s hysterical tendencies and a symptom of the fact that women are too emotional to be in the public sphere or be political leaders.”
asserted
women → feel → sphere
In 2016, International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland faced backlash when she became emotional and choked back tears after announcing that talks on a Canada-EU trade agreement had collapsed.
asserted
talks → face → agreement
“Roll up your sleeves and don’t leave,” demanded Gerry Ritz, the Conservative party’s trade critic and former agriculture minister.
asserted
Ritz → roll → sleeves
Sheeran’s tears came Saturday during a concert in Philadelphia following a week of chaos surrounding his tour.
asserted
tears → come → tour
The musician had landed in controversy after his support act, rapper Macklemore, was dropped from the tour over pro-Palestinian remarks made on stage.
asserted
act → land → stage
Sheeran’s other opening acts then also withdrew in protest.
asserted
acts → withdraw → protest
“I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions,” Sheeran told the crowd.
asserted
Sheeran → have → crowd
“And I am making mistakes.
asserted
I → make → mistakes
And I’m so so sorry.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
I don’t want to disappoint fans.
asserted
I → want → fans
And I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”
asserted
this → want → planet
He became visibly emotional and said the attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, “was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.”
asserted
attack → become → pain
He added: “What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.
asserted
happening → add → Gaza
My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians lives, of children’s lives.”
asserted
heart → break → lives
Boler said displays of emotions by men are generally more accepted by the public, though even here context is key.
asserted
context → say → public
“Justin Trudeau crying when he was speaking about truth and reconciliation some years ago,” she said, “there was a lot of really mixed public response to that.
asserted
she → cry → that
A lot of people felt it was sort of using that emotion to render a kind of focus on him as an individual, or on how these historical horrors and genocide are experienced by white folks, when really the focus should be on Indigenous populations and how it affects them.”
asserted
it → feel → them
Tears of joy might be easier for people to stomach, she added, regardless of the sex of the crier.
uncertain
she → stomach → crier
“Another example that was perhaps one of the most widely accepted and less pilloried examples of public displays of crying was when Obama was elected and Jesse Jackson cried, and there was a shot of him crying that got used repeatedly.”
asserted
that → accept → crying
Oprah Winfrey was also photographed weeping that day.
asserted
Winfrey → photograph → ?
“Those were examples where there was I felt greater public acceptance of those displays of emotion as legitimate or reflecting something that was quote-unquote acceptable.”
asserted
that → be → something
Whether the tears are real or not is a more difficult question to answer.
asserted
are → answer → ?
“The genuineness of what a person is feeling as opposed to its performative aspect I think is very difficult to dissect,” Boler said.
asserted
Boler → feel → aspect
“I think the moment that it is captured in the public sphere in a political context, we are necessarily talking about a performance, right?
asserted
we → think → performance
“So it may very well be that the person is feeling the emotion genuinely, but … it (also) functions always as a performance, whether we like it or not.”
uncertain
we → feel → it
Tom Lutz, author of Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears, told the New York Times in 2010 that Bob Dole had cried “exactly twice” before his 1996 campaign for the U.S. presidency.
asserted
Dole → cry → presidency
“But in the early 1990s, Bill Clinton had transformed the political meaning of crying; it tracked very well with women voters.
asserted
it → transform → voters
…and 8 more, not listed.
The Aporia
