James McVey, of The Vamps fame, has written an incredibly important article for The Huffington Post about the ever-volatile balance of masculinity and emotions, and how it's time that men realise emotions simply "are not our enemy". 

In the piece, entitled "We Men Must Learn Our Emotions Are Not Our Enemy, And It’s Okay To Not Be Okay", the young musician looks at how perceptions and gender stereotypes have shaped men's responses to emotions. 

McVey writes: "Having the means to easily express ourselves at the touch of a button must mean that we are by far the generation who feel most comfortable in talking about our struggles and emotions? With this considered, I ask you two questions: firstly, why is suicide the single biggest killer for men between age 18 and 45, and secondly, if the rate of female suicide is significantly falling, why isn’t it for us men?"

He then examines the gender roles that have defined masculinity and underlines how dangerous these outdated constructs really are:

"The whole notion of the man of the house being the family ‘bread winner’ still stands. A huge section of men still feel the immense pressure to provide, and guilt when they can’t. Failing to do so consequently feels degrading or makes them feel ‘less of a man’. Men are embarrassed to admit when they have taken a knock, physically and, perhaps more importantly, mentally too. Why is this?"

"For me, I believe this process starts from a very early age. During school, boys are taught the mindset that ‘big boys don’t cry’ when they fall over in the playground. The strongest boys tend to shine through and earn their seat at the table of popularity. If you had asked me what I wanted to be when I was older at age eight, I would’ve said a fireman or soldier. If I ask you which characteristics you typical associate with these professions, what would you say? Burly? Courageous? Muscly? A younger me would’ve said they were big, brave and strong."

We also included James McVey in our "7 times celebrities went above and beyond" article for his work raising money for the youth homelessness charity, Centrepoint. Read more here. 

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Watch The Vamps' new music video for "All Night" here: