MSN Nine News: Whether it happens at a wedding, funeral, a soppy movie or even the death of a pet dog, modern men cry at least six times a year, according to a new study.

The German Society of Ophthalmology has proven wrong the old adage that real men do not cry, with the more sensitive new age bloke letting the waterworks rip up to 17 times a year.

On average women cry between 30 and 64 times a year.

They do so for longer periods and in a more dramatic fashion than men, with full-blown weeping happening in 65 percent of all cases among women, according to the study, which collated different scientific studies on the phenomenon.

Men on average will get teary for about two minutes, while women can weep for up to six minutes at a time.

Women cry when they feel insecure, when they are confronted by situations that are difficult to resolve or when they remember past events.

Men, meanwhile, tend to cry from empathy or when a relationship fails.

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