Western culture, particularly the US and similar cultures with a 'rugged individualist' streak tend to look down on the expression of emotion in males. Male socialization from an early age teaches repression and stoicism.
- "Big boys don't cry"
- "walk it off"
- "play through the pain"
- "two for flinching"
- "take it like a man"
- "never let them see you sweat"
Male archetypes in media are often the 'strong silent type', from Clint Eastwood's "Man with no name" to comic book characters like Batman.
Male socialization is so deeply ingrained that it is taken as 'natural 'law' by some. This is used as the basis for arguments against equal rights for women, as well as rationales for discrimination against LGBTQ folks, and trans women in particular. (TERF arguments crawl out of this space, but we really don't want to go there.
Male socialization and the privileges it confers are not easily given up, even by transitioning MtF folks. Newer standards of care accepted by some surgeons do not enforce the old 1 year real-life-experience requirement, and I know of a few women who have come up with rationales for continuing to present male and live in a male role even while getting their bottom surgery and FFS done, 'shopping' for letters and doctors.
One of these folks, "P", is fully post-op, but remains fully socialized as male, in fact an alpha male, and I dread being in groups where she is present. I know that this woman will dominate conversation, talk over others, move and otherwise act aggressively, in short, behave as a guy among women. And yes, she still does the stoic thing, no shows of affection, just a bottle of pent-up aggressions.
I see this to lesser degrees in other MtF folks, and honestly it does make me uncomfortable. Granted, as a sexual assault survivor I have my own issues, but I do not think that retained male socialization is one of them.
I have also noticed that some MtF folks never really had male socialization, but rather adopted a role as a male person, consciously acting out the male role while being largely self-aware of what they were doing. I think I am one of these folks. I was reared as the oldest child with a dominant mother, and was constantly the "girly one" in social environments, leaving me to a bit of a loner/outcast life until I started sneaking out of the house as a young girl. Once I was caught, though, the conversion therapy I received was focused on getting me to "man up" right down to testosterone injections.
I didn't get 'male socialization' from this so much as being terrified to be caught again and resolving to get my "male persona" perfected to have a safe place to hide. I feel fortunate in this accidental path, in that the persona has been relatively easy to dismantle and didn't interfere with female socialization, which has proceeded very well for me.
TL;DR: Male socialization in Western culture teaches men to suppress emotion, repress themselves, and is terribly toxic, informing all manner of nastiness, including odd 'natural law' rationales to justify persecution and marginalization of others.
