Men tend to be “internalizers”.  They keep their feelings and emotion to themselves.  They can be hard to read. Think: the masked man.

Women, on the other hand, are “externalizers”.  They tend to let it all hang out.  They are also highly expressive.  I often say women are like an open book.

If you get a group of women together, look out.  There will be high levels of disclosure –women sharing everything and anything.  No conversation topic is sacred.  From diets to their insecurities to husband problems, women seek connections and intimacy through sharing.

For men, self-disclosure is minimal.  Men stick to “safe topic,” like work and sports.  They talk to share information, not emotion.

So on the topic of New Year’s resolutions, he might tell you how many miles he wants to start running every week, but don’t expect him to tell you the underlying emotional reason why.

~~ Audrey Nelson, author of “You Don’t Say: Navigating Nonverbal Communications Between the Sexes”, Women’s Magazine