Clearly we as women have come a long way since then and over the passing of many hundreds of years have managed to prove ourselves just as strong-willed and tough as the male race that we are constantly compared against. Yet a question now looms as to how emotional men have become, and more importantly, are we okay with this?

When the first sounds of snuffling as Marley and Me draws to its heart-wrenching ending are not coming from you but from your boyfriend curled up on the sofa next to you, does it make you wish you had chosen James Bond instead so that he could spend the duration of the film informing you what he would do if he had a watch that conveniently doubled as a laser gun? And when you turn that handsome guy down and he starts to fill up with tears, do you wish he had professed that he never even liked you that much anyway, before angrily storming off never to be graced with your presence again?

Surely, a man’s sensitivity (even if he is always more emotional than you) proves that he is a confident and trustworthy person who is willing to be open and not hide his feelings behind pretending not to care because he thinks this is the macho way to behave. In the long run this will probably encourage us women to be a bit more open too and so a more balanced relationship can be created. As long as men show they can be caring and supportive, and maybe get rid of the spiders when we’re too scared, then I think they can cry at Coronation Street all they want. Maybe I’ll go and spear some fish while they do it…

It puts fear into me, as if you would change to please a guy, right?

When you first date a guy surely they are accepting you as you are, yet you can find some men who slowly try to mould their girlfriends. One minute it is, “my ex wore dresses like that and I never liked it” and the next “why don’t you dye your hair blonde?”

I think men are getting too brave, especially when they are openly giving women tips on how to dress, what make-up to wear and how to style their hair. I do not understand why men would date someone if they are not fully happy with how that person is. Men criticising their partners and sometimes even sulking or provoking arguments because they dislike them wearing a dress should be a crime!

I understand that men can sometimes feel worried when their partner wears a short skirt and belly top, that obviously is too much and can give the wrong signals to other men. However, what I cannot understand and never ever will is men criticising when their partner actually looks lovely in a classy dress, or making snide remarks about their weight. To me it is another level of bullying and can often cause women to develop a low self-esteem.

The only man who should ever be allowed to give fashion advice is Gok Wan so all these other men better step back!

Yes it’s not perfect, we still walk a thin tightrope with a glass ceiling just above and the threat of patronising short sightedness below, but we are definitely on our way. So what of the boys? If women are now viewed as equals in the boardroom, a traditionally male environment, is it OK for the lads to sit down with a glass of wine and empty out their emotions?

A woman can ‘have balls’ (a saying I detest) which connotes their ‘ability’ to adopt masculine qualities in order to be successful and forthright. Yet I can’t find a male equivalent. The phrase metro sexual has been bandied about but that feels more like a fashion label than an acceptance of femininity within men. All female characteristics when related to the masculine are derogatory, a perception of weakness. Why aren’t they moving along with us? Is it us, do we still want our men to stick to their stereotype whilst we increasingly break out of ours? Or is it that they are unsure of the new rules now previous gender definitions are increasingly no longer applicable.

I was raised in a home with an old school follower of the ‘keep it in’ male code. Our father was, and still is, the rock of the family. Unfloundering and immoveable, a sturdy foundation for three girls and a wife to build their lives on. We believed it didn’t matter what emotional upheaval occurred in his life as he appeared to carry on regardless. Whilst our house could be a hotbed of histrionics (remember 4 women) he was the calm, the boundary, the constant. Only once have I seen him cry and that was the day of his mother’s funeral. I am ashamed to say that as well as being so sad, it made me profoundly uncomfortable and confused; he was supposed to be the solid one whilst the rest of the world fell apart.

But the truth is  equality has to go both ways and big boys should cry. Men need to emote like the rest of us, it’s just that for them, it’s not really aloud. Women have always had the opportunity to emotional connect with others, especially of our own gender. When we lose a loved one, when relationships fail, when it’s a bad day at the office, it’s expected that someone will listen so we can vent and then move on. Those conversations accelerate the healing process and hopefully enable us to keep a level head. However men don’t have this outlet, or at least not publicly, to the world they are expected to go out with the lads, become a commitmentphobe or serial philanderer in order to process their emotional crisis. And that’s how they develop a bad rep because in the next relationship or when the next difficult time comes along that’s when the panic button is pressed. If they felt that it was, as BT would say, good to talk, maybe the whole men are from Mars and women from Venus schtick would disappear, because the truth is we are not that different.

We all get hurt and we all deserve to feel safe and loved. When men leave a relationship they have no fewer hang ups than the woman, and, wait for it, we can hurt them just as deeply as they can us. If we could really communicate with one another, try to understand, then maybe people we could stop second guessing each other. Although maybe scrap everything I’ve said, because if that happened I’d be out of a job.

There was a time when women carried handbags and men carried themselves as men.  Now men carrying what we often refer to as record bags or football bags is one thing.  I can appreciate that guys don’t want to carry all their stuff in their pockets all of the time and so a bag can be rather convenient.  However, when I see a man carrying a bag that resembles one I or my grandmother might carry, I want to laugh and point followed by screaming, “be a man!”.

Don’t get me wrong, I would never be so rude to anyone but I cannot bear the sight of effeminate heterosexual men.  Whatever happened to the bad boys and the ruggedly handsome?  The bad boys seem to have become limping monkeys rather than Michael Corleones.  The ruggedly handsome have become some mish mash of Converse All Star trainers wearing wannabe rockers only with clean hair, clean shoes and clean shaven rather than Kurt Cobains!

These men clearly have their hair cut every four or five weeks, spend as long as the average woman in the mirror, tease every strand of hair into place and view their reflection in every shop window they pass.  Is this what women want?  Sure we want a clean, somewhat presentable partner but do we want someone that self-obsessed and vain?

Is there a change in today’s society that deems these effeminate heterosexual men as part of the norm?  Is this what evolution now brings?  As I watch these “men” strut their overly preened arse along the pavement I can’t help but wonder which female would go out with such a bloke?  Maybe they are the norm now.  I on the other hand once broke up with a boyfriend because he jumped over a puddle he could have walked around.  I wanted a man’s man and that girlish jump was a clear indication he was a manbag carrier in the making.  Next please!