Dealing with overly sensitive men

Before you start judging me after having read that title, let me make it clear to you guys: I am not an orthodox, stick-in-the-mud prick who disapproves of men being sensitive. In fact, I would find it rather cute if a guy got teary while watching Me Before You.

However, there is a limit to everything. Having a breakdown because someone commented about your height or demeaning a girl who turned you down in order to feel better about yourself does not fall under the acceptable radar. If you have male friends like that who are sensitive about insignificant matters, you will already know how tough it can get to deal with them. Looking back at my experiences, here are a few things that I learned.

DO NOT STATE THE OBVIOUS ABOUT HIM

If you do not want to be bombarded with hate messages from your friend whom you just casually called “short”, then stay away from hitting on his insecurities. And here, hitting on his insecurity actually means stating the obvious about him being shorter than you. Short people are cute, right? On the other hand, even if he is tall, do not state that. Or if he is wearing clothes that looks like air was vacuumed out of them, do not be a nice friend and point out how ridiculous he will look in front of his crush. You never know what will make him go through another breakdown, again.

BE WILLING TO APOLOGISE

Let's say you sent him a meme that you initially thought was self-depreciating but somehow he ended up being the one who's offended - apologise to him rather that trying to point out how unreasonable he's being. If he asks you out and you turn him down, be sure to apologise. If you killed his video game character, apologise. If you teased him for being single, apologise.

GIVE HIM AN OUT

Your friend ended up getting butthurt about something a girl said to him and is now wallowing about it over the phone while you are trying to solve a Calculus problem. You can't even hang up on him because you are worried that it will hurt him more. Do yourself a favour and give him an out. Tell him you are busy. He needs to deal with issues on his own, especially when those issues are pretty trivial.

FILTER YOUR WORDS BEFORE SPEAKING THEM

I like to call my friends names. Who doesn't? Who doesn't like to playfully provoke their friends? However, you have to be careful when with these people. My word of advice to them: stop taking everything on a personal level.

SILENCE IS THE BEST ANSWER

If he asks your opinion on a matter and you think your answer might offend him, then better be silent than brutally honest.

P.S. If this article offends you, I am sorry.

Zarin Rayhana likes to spend her time by pondering over alternative theories about the universe instead of studying for school. Send her your theories at ericaavianazarin@gmail.com