I always smile to myself when I see a couple where the guy is openly showing adoration and affection to his significant other. Whether it is..

a pre-teen couple holding hands while standing in line
a young man with his arm gently draped across her neck while walking and periodically placing kisses on her cheek, neck or exposed shoulder
an older gentleman with his hand on the small of her back guiding her off the curb or any other form in which it may be displayed.

Love is a beautiful experience which deserves to be fully embraced. It is not something to hide or to remain in secret. Love thrives in the open, in truth and light. As women, generally speaking, it is easy for us to nurture, we are socialized through play and various social queues. We are allowed to experience and display the full gamut of emotions without our femininity coming into question. Unfortunately, for many men they learned quite early through socialization and social queues that of all the emotions available to humans, there are only a limited few deemed appropriate for them IF they did not want their masculinity to be questioned. For example, if a boy child hurts (physically or emotionally) many in his circle quickly tell him to...

Suck it up!

You are okay!

Big boys don’t cry!

...whereas a girl child is embraced, allowed to cry, to express her emotions while being held and comforted by her inner circle. Boys learn to suppress, while girls learn to express.

This quite possibly is one of the most damaging and detrimental experiences young boys experience because they grow into men who are not emotionally connected to self nor have the ability to emotionally connect with others. These boys can grow into men who only know how to express two emotions happiness and anger (while stuffing all others), which is a limiting existence because although they may not know how to express the other emotions they still experience them.

Therefore a man who has consciously made a decision and effort to expand his emotional health in order to fully experience his humanness has discovered the superpower of love for it is the catalyst to connection. Cheers to the men who unabashedly love...you are superheroes! - Misha N. Granado, MPH, MS