Hm... Honestly... I don't really love myself. I have some self-esteem because I can do certain things well. I also don't really love others in my life very much, including my parents and siblings. In general, though, my emotions have flattened out over the years, and now I'm totally different from the teenage me.

For example, when I was a teenager and I saw an old Victorian-era house, I might be affected in some way and feel some way because of it. It might have a certain visual impact that gave a certain mood and certain feelings. Now for the older me, it's just an old Victorian house. It doesn't affect my emotions or give me any particular feelings.

I think at some point when I was a teenager, I stopped feeling love for my family. I didn't feel like they were there to help me or support me. Over ten years later, I still don't feel any different. I go through the motions so I don't hurt their feelings, but I don't really feel love or closeness to them. I can feel love for others like an SO, but it still takes time and it doesn't always come naturally. And even then, it isn't that I love myself-and-her-together, but rather love her.

So yeah, welcome to the charming world of being a "gentleman." Honestly, I think many men would continue being unhappy if they didn't have some SO to "soften them up" at some point. But even then I think it's too late for some of them, or at least they never seem to turn around.

The issue of suicide illustrates the problem clearly. Men tend to commit suicide about 3-4 times as frequently as women. When women engage in a suicide attempt, it is more likely to fail, and more likely to be a cry for help (i.e. looking for emotional support). When men commit suicide, they usually haven't reported depression, told nobody, asked nobody for help, and just kill themselves alone (at much higher rates, and much more likely to succeed in their suicides).

Fundamentally: I think the basic thing is lack of emotional support. When men have problems, they don't express themselves, and don't have others who are willing to help them. But also, society doesn't really have the concept that men have innate worth, so I think some guys can slip into self-loathing pretty quickly. They feel like nobody supports them, compliments them, or gives them validation, so they must be worthless.

It's hard to fully understand the situation, because all the issues are tied together in ways that are too complex for us to fully grasp. It's a problem that society also has to take responsibility for at some level (giving men and women meaningful roles in society). I don't feel that social movements like feminism are ready or willing to deal with these issues, though. And MRA seems very reactionary and fragmented, so I don't think that's very credible either.