From the Times:
WHEN women first joined the executive ranks of corporate America a generation ago, they donned sober slacks and button-down shirts. They carried standard-issue briefcases and adopted their male colleagues' stoicism.
More than two decades later, women have stopped trying to behave like men, trading in drab briefcases for handbags and embracing men's wear only if it is tailored to their curves. Yet there is one taboo from the earlier, prefeminist workplace that endures: women are not allowed to cry at the office. It is a potentially career-marring mistake that continues to be seen as a sign of weakness or irrationality, no less by women themselves than by men.
I'm a big ol' cry baby. I wail when I'm tired, angry, frustrated, or disappointed. I also blubber at the end of sappy kiddy videoes. Ian has a sign language video that gets me every time. It really doesn't take much to push me into sob city, so I was very distressed to learn that I would be considered a pansy in the office.
It's time for society to stop discriminating against lacrimal effusions. Tears don't make you a sissy. It can be a nice release before doing all the manly stuff that a job may require. It's quite possible to have a good cry and then down size your workforce by a 1,000 people. Cry first and then reject another insurance claim. Cry. Then send some more troops off to war.