An interesting Forbes piece looks at how too much crying from a woman in the workplace might be considered a sign of weakness but just a little bit lowers men’s testosterone. Here’s a snippet:
Multiple experiments showed that just the smell of a woman’s tears caused a dip in testosterone and reduced brain activity in areas associated with sexual arousal. But if tears are a form of communication, what messages are women sending when they cry at work—an organization already opposed to displays of emotion?
“Testosterone is a key power hormone that gets corporate executives in warrior mode,” says Judith Orloff, M.D., a psychiatrist and the author of Emotional Freedom. When a woman cries in the presence of a male colleague, “it’s threatening hormonally. Studies have associated lower testosterone levels in men with feelings of failure.”
A professor of management at the University of California, Davis, Kim Elsbach, Ph.D., has been studying the repercussions of crying in the workplace for over three years. In her research, Elsbach discovered that there are few situations where crying is “acceptable.” The worst offenses, she found, are crying in a public meeting or because of work stress, like a looming deadline or coworker disagreement, because it is considered disruptive and weak. Crying in a private performance evaluation is also considered unprofessional and often manipulative.
What would you think of a coworker [male or female] if you saw them weeping away at their desk? Whatever or what the hell?
