Our culture and socialization dictates that ‘boys don’t cry’, but that it is acceptable for girls to weep. Research has found that, before the age of 12, boys and girls cry as frequently as each other, but that after they reach that age, boys cry four times less than girls. Boys are discouraged from crying as part of a larger programme of socialization into masculinity.

This socialization involves teaching boys to ‘tough it out’ and refrain from expressing their feelings—except for anger; yet footballers cry when they miss a penalty and penitential presidents cry on TV (see Witchalls, 2003). What, then, are the ‘rules’ that we have been required to learn about crying in organizations?