oddly enough I just finished reading a short story two days ago called "Anima" by M. John Harrison. A fascinating read. In it, an English journalist (the story is told from his point of view) describes his meeting and evolving friendship with a strange character: a man named Choe who seems bent on killing himself by taking unnecessary risks (riding his motorcycle too fast, diving into brick nets on construction sites, working on offshore rigs even though his profession is media design). Choe seems to want to befriend the narrator but also becomes suddenly angry at perceived slights or distrustful when he thinks he has revealed too much. Eventually the two take a trip to the North where Choe grew up and he reveals the details of his first (and only) sexual experience with a mysterious girl in a small wooded grove. He never sees her again.

I remember reading in the 1980s in some literature from the environmental activism movement that a new paradigm shift was occurring, in which the female qualities of compassion, nurturing, conservation and cooperation would replace the male qualities of aggression, greed, destruction and wastefulness.
I think we might have been on our way, but something went wrong. I do think American men are now more likely to vaunt their sensitive, communicative side but sometimes this is as manipulative in its way as aggression or being "strong and silent." Likewise women have made progress professionally but by taking on more traditionally "male" roles they become self-centered and dispassionate.
The key is for both the sexes to balance the positive and negative aspects of these tendencies, which we all seem to have within us. But men are still not allowed to show vulnerability,and women are still not allowed to demonstrate anger. Otherwise they earn the appellation of "wuss" or "psychobitch."