Why do we cry – and what can we learn from our tears?

Weeping is informed by everything from culture and identity to social standing - and studying it could help us better understand ourselves

It is common for people to scoff at tears as a behaviour and a subject of investigation. Tears are, they say, feminine, self-indulgent and melodramatic. It is not hard to notice, in those beliefs, the patriarchal assumptions about what should be valued and what should be mocked. Writing teachers will instruct students not to show their characters' sadness through crying, calling it cheap. On the other hand, there are those who proclaim the necessity of "a good cry", who indignantly defend weeping of all varieties and who see tearfulness almost as an identity. "I'm a crier," they declare, praising its soul-cleansing effects. "Get over it," their opponents instruct, demanding the shift toward progress and action that they believe crying prevents.

But rather than looking at tears with a predetermined belief in their value, or away from them in embarrassment or disgust, it can be clarifying to look through, into or around tears, to trace the small and large patterns that they create and reveal.