As a mom of three sons, I taught them from a young age how important it was to express their emotions. I wish you would have included how fathers teach their sons this "boys will be boys" mentality along with the stats about mothers treating their daughters differently. Since from my experience it's mostly men who are reinforcing this "boys don't cry" trope, which breaks my heart since there is only so much I can do in teaching my boys when they have to deal with the culture at large.
This piece is so important so thank you for writing it!