Yes this is a problem for me. I don't really dislike crying, but it definitely reduces my ability to enjoy another person's crying when my vision is blurred and I have to keep wiping my nose. The thing is, whenever someone cries in front of me, it's usually while we're having a conversation, and I can't help but get caught up in the same feelings that are making them cry.

I think crying can be contagious in any closely knit group. I've been to funerals where I didn't even know the person who had passed away, but I am close to someone who loved them. All it takes is for that person to get choked up and I'll cry with them instantly. Incidentally, every time I've seen a man cry, there has also been at least one female (either a spouse/girlfriend or just a friend) who was crying with him, solely in response to his crying.

In my experience drunken crying is also contagious, but this kind of crying only spreads to other people who are also drunk.

truffle wrote:

Yes this is a problem for me. I don't really dislike crying, but it definitely reduces my ability to enjoy another person's crying when my vision is blurred and I have to keep wiping my nose. The thing is, whenever someone cries in front of me, it's usually while we're having a conversation, and I can't help but get caught up in the same feelings that are making them cry.

I think crying can be contagious in any closely knit group. I've been to funerals where I didn't even know the person who had passed away, but I am close to someone who loved them. All it takes is for that person to get choked up and I'll cry with them instantly. Incidentally, every time I've seen a man cry, there has also been at least one female (either a spouse/girlfriend or just a friend) who was crying with him, solely in response to his crying.

In my experience drunken crying is also contagious, but this kind of crying only spreads to other people who are also drunk.

Also, crying while watching a play or movie -- in the theater or the cinema -- seems to be contagious.  I once read, online, someone's experience of watching Schindler's List in a movie theater.  He/she said that during the penultimate scene of the movie (Liam Neeson's "I could have got more"), everyone in the theater "was wailing."  I've always liked that description and can definitely believe it.
 

I don't tend to do this, but I'll say that I often cry with other people simply because I'm usually also involved in whatever is making them cry.  To be honest, I have a completely different set of issues.  When a guy is crying (or, more commonly, when I think a guy MIGHT be crying/about to cry) my heartbeat tends to quicken.  I guess it's sort of like a "whoa, this is it!" moment, since guys crying (mine, in particular) is such a big deal to me and something I fantasize about so frequently.  I tend to worry about that, because I'm afraid that the time will finally come to get to hold my boyfriend while he cries and he'll feel my heart pounding and get really weirded out by me.